Why Helmets are so Important!

We all know we are taught to wear helmets. Although, some people don't wear helmets all the time that they ride. 

Examples of riding without a helmet.

Some people who don't wear helmets say it makes their head hot, it's unstylish, or it gives me helmet hair. These people do not know what can happen if they get in an accident.

Courtney King Dye

Courtney and Mythilus

Courtney King Dye is an astonishing rider who was at the Beijing Olympics. 3 years ago, Courtney suffered a traumatic brain injury due to her horse that slipped and fell on top of her; thing is, she was not wearing a helmet. Although she has suffered from her injury, she is still striving for recovery with speech therapy, occupational and physical therapy. But, her financial coverage for her speech therapy was cut off. She is grateful that Lendon Gray and another person whose name I believe is Blythe Clark, ( I can't understand Courtney clearly from the video) who started a fund to help cover her medical costs.

Please raise awareness for those you see who ride without helmets. Show them this video of Courtney and tell them "This could be you if you keep riding without a helmet."

Our brain is the most important aspect of our body. It is fragile to injury and needs to be protected.

To Show or Not to Show....

Hey guys! So I have thought long and hard about next spring show season and I have decided not to show. It's costs way too much for me. It's like $300 a weekend and I just don't have that money. As much as I would like to show, I am deciding not to. I shouldn't complain because others spend a great deal more on shows, but I am just not that well, to put it bluntly, rich. I am so busy with school right now, the only type of job I can get is the random babysitting job. I am going to start saving my money for IHSA Team shows which is what I really want to do. Also I need to start saving up for a car. I'll still be doing my riding lessons so that I can maintain my riding time, but as for shows, I won't be able to do those. This also means I am not getting a new saddle, bridle or martingale. I don't need those until I actually own a horse of my own.

Winter Yet? Christmas Soon?

GUYS! There are 50 days till Christmas! Isn't that exciting?! Time to go shopping! Haha! No. This year it's a small Christmas. I like small Christmas's because it's nice. No fuss over gifts.

 I'm still getting things for my dog, parents and Hercules.

Hercules is just getting an apple since he isn't my horse. MudLynn I think is getting an orthopedic bed from L.L Bean. I don't really need anything since I already got my Christmas present early which was my Barbour jacket. I love that jacket so much! I'm not saying what I am getting my presents because my mom follows my blog, well reads it actually.

I put a Christmas countdown on my blog now! :)

My family and I have a few Christmas traditions. We go to nearly every Christmas craft fair! There are so many amazing crafts and goodies that we see. People are so talented. Then, this year we are going to Christmas in the Country again at Triple R Ranch! It's nice to experience Christmas in the country. We also have traditional trips to Target and Barnes and Noble where we have a spending limit, I think it is $30 but I am not sure.

Do you guys have any Christmas traditions? 

Achey Achey Me

Oh my gosh you guys, you have no idea how sore I feel right now. Trust me, I feel asleep right as my head hit the pillow. I was THAT tired. And then I woke up this morning with incredibly achey shoulders! I'm using my cherry pit bag to try and help sooth my shoulders a bit. My right shoulder hurts a bit more because it's the shoulder I landed on when I fell or flew off of Hercules. Man, that pony is so getting work next Monday! He got today off so he could rest after being ridden for two days straight. Thank the lord I needed a rest. 

How do you guys sooth your muscles when their sore from a ride?

Ways to Try to Avoid Sore Muscles

So currently I am very very sore from my two days of riding at the clinic. I realized it is because I do not do my stretching exercises like I used to when I was in my high school gym class. So I have figured out what I am going to do!

1. Do yoga at least once a week.
2. Look on YouTube for workout videos made specifically for equestriennes.
3. Start taking my dog on more walks. 

I have found some videos on YouTube that I am going to try.

How do you guys stay in fit for riding?

Ryan Minor Clinic Day 2

Today's part of the clinic was very interesting. We did some flat work, jump work and had a few falls. 

For flat, we worked on shoulder in and haunches out at the walk and at the trot. Hercules started out really good in the beginning but he was a bit speedy at the trot when we were working on those two exercises. We also worked on the transition from the trot to the walk to make it look much cleaner and easier. After that, we worked on trotting over three ground poles that were set in a curved line. 

When we started jumping, that is where it all changed... We started by cantering over the curved line towards a small oxer, I think it was about 2 feet. It was okay, we had a few refusals but I made him get over it. During one try, he stopped on his breaks and a flew and summer salted over his head. But that did not stop me from getting back on again. I got back on and tried again but Ryan stopped me because he sensed that Hercules was refuse again. So Ryan got on him and literally worked him up to a sweat. He went over the oxer, green hill like wall, a low cross rail and a higher cross rail. Hercules still tried to refuse the jumps but he was just forced to go over them with some pushing with a crop. I think he jumped him over that course at least 6-7 times. I learned that I now need to ride him with a crop. He is no show pony that is ridden multiple times a week, he is just a lesson horse.

I really wish I could lease him so that he would get ridden more but I can't since I don't have enough money. But I know that I will work him even more when it comes to my lessons. He is getting tomorrow off since he was ridden two days in a row. 

The clinic was an amazing experience and really helped me to improve some points in my riding and jumping. My leg muscles are so sore but it's a good sore, my left forearm actually is a bit sore too.

Day 1 of Ryan Minor Clinic

The clinic was amazing! Ryan Minor is an amazing equestrian, his riding is flawless. 

We worked on schooling our horses this morning. The things we did were a series of posture repetitions around the ring. So, we started by warming our horses up at a trot to get them going and moving forward. On one long side, we would stand in our stirrups with our leg slightly behind the girth with helped strengthen our balance and leg. Then, we would be half in-half out of the saddle on one short side of the ring and lastly we did an exaggerated version of a two-point position which is really when your body is at least an inch off the horses neck on the other long side. 

After that, we pushed them up into the canter. He had us hand gallop our horses to get them to move forward a bit more. And then we basically did the same thing we did at the trot to help balance our core and strengthen our legs at the canter. It also forces the heel down even more, and it hurt my ankle a bit because my boots were tied a bit too tight. They still need to be broken in a bit more. 

We then started to do the jumping which was a trial for me and Hercules. I learned that I had to stay sitting in the saddle and not leaning forward because that weight tells the horse unconsciously "I can't do it" and it causes them to stop or refuse the jump. So, what we had to do was to sit in the saddle until the horse took off over the jump and sit in a two-point position and then after we landed, I had to sit back in the saddle to keep him going. Hercules and I mainly jumped the two diagonal jumps. We aren't ready for the oxer that the other two girls were doing. One day we will be. 

The schooling we did over the jumps was pretty interesting. We would be tracking to the right at the canter and going towards the yellow jump and then either landing with the right lead or waiting to do a simple change, and then we would ride the short side and turn towards the red jump. As we would keep doing this jump pattern, it sort of looks like a figure eight.

I can tell you, my legs are KILLING me. Literally, I didn't know what muscles that were in my leg that I hadn't used before.

Overall, I had an amazing experience and cannot wait until tomorrow morning for the course jumping part of the clinic.

I know it's blurry but it shows my posture over the jump

Ryan telling me about my riding