Photo of Sara and me at our riding lesson two weeks ago when it was really, really warm! Bella loves Satchmo, but Satchmo wants nothing to do with her whatsoever. (We think he's gay; well, not think we know he's gay!) Satchmo is on the right; see how he's avoiding looking Bella in the eye? He just tolerates her and puts his ears back and tries to bite her every time she gets near. Does she get the message? NooOOOO. She's such a floosey!
Saturday I went to a dressage schooling show at Legacy Stables. The good news is my ride time was 2:40 and 3:20 because I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, and I didn't have to ride in the freezing cold. Around 10:00 I went out to the barn, got Bella out of othe muddy paddock, pulled her mane, did some of her forlock, but not a great success at that, clipped her nose and made her look pretty. Since her feet were caked in mud, I got a bucket of water and washed off as much of the mud as I could. I know the water was cold, but there was nothing else I could do unless I ran up to Cathy's and got hot water from the tap; no way that was happening; I would have spent half the time just going up and getting water! Anyway, got several layers of mud off and we could even see her hooves, and her feathers were somewhat white. At 12:30 or so we loaded up Bella and took off for Legacy Stables. The distance wasn't too far, but since we went back roads, it took almost an hour to get there! We went to get my number, etc., and found out I was riding at 3:10 and 3:50 instead of the earlier times. What can you do?
We sat around, chatted, and finally got Bella off the trailer to tack her up; we went down to the warm-up ring, and Bella was in a great mood. Did not need the whip at all. Did my first test and I got positive feedback except for the bad canter depart on the right lead. I told the judge, "Here's the story. I pulled on the reins, gave her leg, and she didn't know what to do." The judge thought it was funny; I was just telling the truth! got a 61.30, but no ribbon. Second test I rode and afterwards, the judge said, "What about that second test?" I thought I had done a horrible job! On the contrary, she said I did a much better job of riding and not being a passenger. Whew! Got a 63.57 and second place. Two personal best scores EVER!
Had a riding lesson with Sara yesterday. For all the years I've been riding, it's finally beginning to feel comfortable, and I'm feeling more confidant. Only took about 9 years to get there. Sit back, I tell ya, sit back.
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