I Thought Holidays Were Relaxing!

I was wrong.  My last exam ended Thursday morning, and instead of gettign the nice relaxing weekend I'd been hoping for, I got a family Christmas get-together!  Fun, but hectic, busy, and occasionally chaotic ;)  Anyhow onto the riding part.
Thursday: Went to the barn to free lunge Cadence.  She was awesome, so at the end I unhooked her, and we walked back towards the arena gate together.  I realized I'd forgotten the lunge whip, so I headed back over and picked it up.  This happened to coincide with my dad arriving at the barn, so the resulting incident could have occurred for a number of reasons.  Cadence perked her ears foreward, and started to trot.  That lasted for aobut three strides, before she took off bucking and tearing around the arena.  This continued for about five solid minutes, with her never slowing down.  I was so worried about her getting hurt, but she looked like she was having the time of her life!  After I FINALLY caught her, she went back on the lunge till she was responding nicely, and not tearing around the arena.
Also rode Bailey.  Cantered him for the first time in a while.  It was fun to concentrate a little more on my position, and to ride in a dressage saddle!  I really do enjoy dressage, and have missed the comfort of long stirrups ;)

Friday: Lesson.  Cadence was good, much more even.  Barb commented a while back that Cadence looked like she had a bit of power, and I got my first real taste of that.  As she evened out, she's been putting on muscle, and she was anxious to show it off! Family arrived Friday, and I was up late.  Bad idea, since I had a 9:00 lesson the next morning.

Saturday:  Cadence was fantastic!  She did her first gymnastic which was through two cross rails set up between a set of stools and two barrels.  What a brave mare!

So after riding Cadence I went to ride Majik, the little Morgan mare.  I was so impressed with her!  She was clearly not too pleased about my asking her to work, but she really strutted her stuff for me!  Aside from constantly going behind the bit (a habit I hate) she was phenomenal.  She had a lot more training on her than I expected.  I later found out she'd been trained to second level dressage, but her owner (probably not knowing what that meant) failed to mention that to me.  Anyhow, long story short I had a riot on her.  Tehehe, she had the oddest feeling caner though.  It felt so odd after Cadence's large powerful canter!

Sunday:  Went to ride Bailey.  It was freezing, but I was still riding around with nothing more than a shirt and one measly little sweater on.  That said, I tacked up in clothing suitable for antarctic travel.

Monday: Rode Cadence again today.  She was ready to rumble in the canter, and down right pissed that I wouldn't let her.  That mare's really got some power in her when she wants to.  When she throws her head up, she goes all springy-and-bouncey-on-the-spotey.  You can tell she's starting to power up.  Now that she's much evener, I've been able to start bending her to the left a bit.  She feels so fantastic when she gets going nicely, she really is a joy to ride.

Two Down, Two To Go

I have a new acronym for myself : MLIC (My Life Is Crazy)  None of this average stuff for me.  Today I:

-Went to school at 9 for a music theory exam
-Left at 10:30 to go to the barn
-Lunged Cadence (She was alright, but fall in a bit)
-Hopped on Cadence and worked in the walk and trot.  Her boyfriend, Bronx was in the ring so she was a bit distracted, but awesome all around.  Her constant left bend is all but gone!
-Left the barn at 12:30 to head back to school
-grabbed a slice of pizza on the way
-Played my flute exam at 1:35
-Left school (again) at 1:55
-Came home to study.  I still haven't gotten to the study part yet...
During the next week I have:
-A lesson (on Cadence) and an exam tomorrow
-An exam Thursday, and hopefully I'll lunge Cadence and ride Arty.  Thursday's my last exam
-A lesson Friday (on Cadence)
-Ride Cadence and Arty Saturday

-Ride Magik Saturday.  A lady from Arty's barn is going away for a few days, and wanted me to exercise and love her 7 y/o morgan cross who was backed and trained english and then left out in a field for two years.  Her rider's ridden western her whole life, and is sort of out of depths with this whole English thing.   She's the mare in the pictures.  She's stubborn and egotistical (in my opinion) and her mom spoils her a bit, but she has the basics and was started really well (backed and trained by Elaine Ward).
-On top of that, I still don't know when I'm supposed to be riding Bales.  Ah well, I'll get around to it.