These Last Two Weeks!

So, I realized I haven't been great (read: really bad) about blogging these past couple of weeks! Here's just a little summary to catch everyone up to date. Gambler has been doing really well. I am very impressed, thankful, blessed... you name it. He has matured mentally so much, it just blows me away on a daily basis. He still of course has his expected baby moments, but he has gotten much more respectful on the ground and under saddle. Baby's growing up!

Two Sunday's ago, my best friend Ada came out to ride Gambler. She adored him, and it made my heart happy. Ada is honestly the greatest person ever. She has helped Gambler and I through so much, and we wouldn't be here without her. She is one of the most, if not the most, talented rider I have ever met, and went to IEA Nationals last year! When she's famous, I'll get to be all "yeah, that girl was my best friend, holla!" and it will be awesome. Anyhow, she's going to start riding Gambler whenever she is free and, Lord willing, will be the first one to jump him at a show. :) Dear Ada: if you're reading this. I love you. Incase you were wondering. Well anyways, Ada rode Gambler and adored him! She had a huge smile plastered to her face the entire time, and it was basically the cutest thing ever.

Ada even jumped Gambler over his first cross rail, and it was seriously adorable. I have jumped him over a few cross rails in the past and the log out in the field, but this was his first time cantering a jump, and he took it like a little pro. Since, I have jumped him twice, and am on cloud nine!

Then and now! How times have changed! :) 

I honestly can't even believe how far this horse has come. It just blows my mind. Tuesday, October 8, marks two years with this horse. I am so beyond proud of the progress we have made, and am excited for the progress that will come within the next two years. Gambler has gone from a skinny, timid, awkward, disrespectful, confused, three year old, and is slowly turning into a star. Now he shines with health and confidence, is generally well behaved, is learning every day, and is five and a half! When I met Gambler, I was a thirteen year old with absolutely no clue who I was. I was hurt, and sad, and scared, to name a few things. I was utterly lost, had no faith in anything, and didn't love life. I am now fifteen, full of love for Jesus, and passionate about life! I am so thankful to the Lord for having blessed me with Gambler. We both saved each other in various ways, and I know for a fact that my life would not be the same without this amazing horse. I feel so beyond blessed to call him mine and pray that we have forever together.

Gambler is continuing to learn how to move correctly over the back, and get round. He is doing wonderfully at this, and improves every day. I continue to joke that he wants to be a Western Pleasure horse, because he'll oftentimes put his head down in the dust and just jog along with no care in the world!

His canter has also improved in leaps and bounds (and strides, I s'pose). He is slowly starting to get more balanced, especially going to the left, which is his hard way. His corners are still kind of atrocious and terrifying, but we'll get there. He had  kind of developed a "dirty" canter, in that he was always trying to trot, so I have started riding him in spurs. I don't need to use them, but I think they have helped him mentally in that he knows that he will get a little poke if he tries to trot. Now, he doesn't even try, and just canters along like a perfect little pony!

He is continuing to do well for his leaser. I am sure he enjoys the relaxing time he gets with her. I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing Gambler and I with Florence's presence. It really sparked a change for the better in our training, because I realized I needed to just get out there, ask people for help, and it would all be okay. With the stress of school, it's nice to have someone go out and love my horse for me once a week. And he sure deserves the rest.

I did some tiny tiny tiny cross rails with Gambler last week under Florence's guidance, but they were so small he was able to just step over them. I had a jumping lesson with Heather this past Monday though, and it was so beyond amazing. I just can't even believe how blessed I am to have this fabulous horse in my life. He takes such amazing care of me, it blows my mind. We started off with cavelettis, then to a small cross rail. I was tense, and Gambler got that. As Heather put it, he wanted to take care of me, so was sucking back and hesitating, as if waiting for me to tell him it was okay, and then he'd just trot over that. Because we weren't really getting anywhere, I got off, and we lunged him over a larger jump. My word! This animal can jump! Them knees! Then I got back on, and we cantered a jump. I was still a little tense, but Gambler was ready, he was just taking care of me. I prayed through it, and loosened up and relaxed a little. It was so amazing and fun. Our last jump, which Heather didn't get on video, was perfect. The second pole was raised to a vertical, so we basically jumped a (baby) oxer! Yay pony! So proud of him. He just blows me away, he took such wonderful care of me and jumped like he'd been doing it his whole life!

I am so excited to learn with Gambler and get back into jumping as he learns how to jump for the first time! It will be a great experience for both of us, I think.

I am also so proud of him for how he went for Heather. She rode him for the first half of our lesson and couldn't stop talking about how wonderfully he was doing! I look up to Heather so much. She is such a talented rider and trainer, who has so graciously allowed me to learn from her. Her saying that I have done a good job with Gambler is the absolute utmost compliment, and I feel so honored for her to think that.

The rest of this week, we have just been doing flat work. I also rode Auggie yesterday. Preparing for Month of Hell, also known as No Stirrup November, by dropping the stirrups for the whole ride! I can do no stirrups on Gambler, piece of cake. He is comfortable, and I am so used to riding him that I can sit his stride very well. Auggie is a whole other story. His trot is bouncy, lofty, lurchy, inconsistent... awful. It isn't that lovely to post, with stirrups. It is even less lovely to post without stirrups. And sitting?! Oh boy.  Somehow I did it, though! Poor Auggie has really been run through the gutter. He had that nasty abscess and then was sound on and off. He came in lame on Monday, so the vet came out and did extensive (synonym for expensive) x-rays, and thinks there may be a bone chip that has gotten irritated due to the abscess. Today he finished up his round of antibiotics, but poor guy hasn't been feeling so hot as a result. I rode him very lightly yesterday just to stretch him out, but he was super groggy and lethargic. Today he was running a fever, wasn't eating, drinking, or pooping. Poor baby, hopefully he feels better soon.

Today my ride on Gambler was great! It actually started pouring rain as I was tacking up, but the sun was still out! A few minutes after I started riding, I saw a rainbow! Of course had to take a picture! Isn't it gorgeous?! I feel so blessed to be able to bask in God's beauty, while worshipping Him doing what I love best, thanks to the talent's He's given me. Oh, I just love my God!

I also adore riding in the rain. Any rain. Hot, summer rain, or cold, winter, sleet-y rain. There's something just so awesome and fun about it! Luckily it stopped raining though, so we didn't get drenched! Today I worked with Gambler a lot on circles. Circles til he dropped! He did really well and is definitely starting to get more balanced, even going to the left. Our last trot was nice, stretchy, and he was bending around my leg very well. I'm hoping to be able to take another lesson on him within the next few weeks, because Heather always makes great progress with him within just one ride!

We also did lots of canter work, and he was great! We had some great walk-canter transitions yesterday, so today we worked on canter-walk transitions. Piece of cake for this pony! He's so fabulous!

He gets tomorrow and Saturday off, which I'm sure he's ecstatic about. He has been an absolute pill to catch this week, so a couple days off will hopefully let his brain recuperate from the overload of work (shocker... he's been ridden every day this week. Novel concept!),  so that he's well behaved and respectful on Sunday. I'm excited because I'm taking pictures of Kim and Rita on Sunday! So thankful for this amazing barn; amazing people, amazing horses... The Lord is so good and so faithful! He has blessed me with so much, and I am beyond grateful. Gambler really is the biggest blessing in my life. I know I say that on essentially every post. But it's true. He makes me smile so big. He makes me laugh. He makes me cry sometimes, and then he makes it all better. He makes me so darn happy. When I'm with him, I'm content. He's the best de-stressor ever! He's taught me so much. He's taught me how to not give up, and he's taught me how to ask for help when I need it. He's taught me how to forgive, he's taught me how to ask for forgiveness when I mess up. He has taught me to trust, to close my eyes and trust that someone will catch me when I jump. He has taught me that being trusted is a privilege, not a right, and how to earn someone's trust. He has taught me how to love, he has taught me to not take love for granted. He has taught me how to pick myself back up every time I am broken, and he has picked m up and glued me back together. He accepts my crazy, my scared, my angry, my happy, my sad. He accepts it all, and forgives me when I do something wrong. He loves me, he tests me, he entertains me. And I love it. I love every minute of it, even when I don't. Because what this horse has taught me is priceless, worth more than all of the money and hard work and sweat and tears that has gone into this animal. It is priceless. In these past two years, I have learned so much. I have so much more to learn, but luckily I have the best pony ever who will be by my side while I learn it!