Days 24-28

Day 24 Sunday January 27th 2013
On Sunday I got to work with Lendon, we worked on consistantsy and confirming that Tee adn I had a good foundation to move onward with. After going threw the basic Walk-Trot-Canter and transition work we tried some leg yields and extensions.
The leg yields were good, a tich unsteady and fussy at times but got a lot better by the end.
The extensions were unbalanced, rushed and messy at first but they got better after we schooled them a few times, especially on the long side. 
In the afternoon we had a fitness test :-)
We ran a timed approx 1/4 of a mile and did push-ups. The fitness testing is sort of a baseline for us to follow, we are expected to improve 10% each week. We also had a current events discussion with Theresa Davidson.

Day 25 Monday January 28th 2013
Day off! Jenny and I spent the morning/afternoon at the beach with a couple of the other WIT girls, can anyone say SUNBURN? :-P
At 6 we had the weekly group potluck, it was Italian night! Who knew we had so many good cooks in our program?!
Then at 8 I went to a zumba class! Talk about learning something new that is out of your comfort zone!

Day 26 Tuesday January 29th 2013 
We worked on riding each and every thing I did like it was in a test, just to practice accuracy and geometry.
We attempted to catch the canter work up to the trot work by doing at least twice more canter work than trot. Leg yields were nearly perfect and extensions were a bit better.
In the afternoon we were able to audit the Global Dressage Forum, I felt so lucky to be able to go since it is normally so expensive. The lectures and demonstrations were soo informative and interesting, I definitely enjoyed being able to see some of the best horsemen/women in the world share their experiences and techniques. 

Day 27 Wednesday January 30th 2013
Worked on putting a few test movements together to see if they would work (does anyone see a trend with the test theme? :-P I wonder why??)
Schooled the canter transitions quite a bit. We discovered a few exercises to help make them more reliable: tracking left it helps to ask him to lower his neck and then ask so that he is already very soft and willing. Tracking right we tried bending left and then bending right just as I'm asking for the canter so that he again stays soft and so I don't over bend him to the inside too much.
In the evening we had a lecture with Schleese Saddlery on saddle fitting. I think it helped a lot of people understand more about their saddle, their horse's back and how they can help make the horse more comfortable.

Day 28 Thursday January 31st 2013 

Today was a pretty exciting day! WIT had our very first schooling show held at HGF. We were able to ride new tests and test what we have learned in the "show situation". Everyone took it very seriously: bathed, braided and full show clothes.
I decided to ride Training 3 twice since Lendon advised that we go for a solid training level test our first time out.
On our first test we were pretty inconsistant because I apparently forgot how to ride. Although it could have been a lot worse I was kinda bummed after our final salute. We scored a 61% on that ride
Our second ride went SO much better! Still not as good as our normal schooling days but again that was my fault. The test went a lot smoother with less bobbles and less bucks which was helpful! :-P We ended up scoring 68% which was a surprising jump from the first test!
In the afternoon we were able to sit down with a FEI TD/Ring steward and have a Q/A discussion with her. Questions ranged from anything from drug testing to awards ceremonies to FEI rules.


I cannot believe that tomorrow is February 1st! Time flies when your learning a lot!!!

Thanks for reading!