Yesterday was great. Later in the month I had signed up for a pre-vet clinic/information session that the University held to give some information about their vet program and their pre-reqs for getting into their program. I will admit after the clinic I was thinking "...I'm never going to get into vet school". In order to even make it past the first 'phase' of application review, you have to have a GPA of at least 2.75. Some colleges don't have a minimum GPA requirement but their mean GPA for accepted students is usually close or over a 3.0. I am not the smartest kid on the block when it comes to school. I get Bs. I'm almost as ordinary (hense the blog) college student you will find. I don't study 24/7, maybe thats my problem? But I also don't have a huge social/party life that takes over it, but when push comes to shove I really can put my nose to the grind and get things done.
I had gotten my friend Katy to attend the clinic with me, she is a senior undergrad student. After the clinic we went to the barn for a much needed day of riding. At this point in time the horse that both of us are allowed to ride allone (without Saddie or boss lady) is Mr P. Neither of us had a problem with switching during riding and Mr P really had his day cut out for him.
Oh, almost forgot, there was a pinto clinic going on at the barn. For the first time EVER I got to observe western dressage. Yup you heard me WESTERN DRESSAGE! I guess it is relatively new and I love the idea. So there were a lot of horses around using both the indoor and outdoor arena. It was a beautiful day out, and I'm sure it got to above 70 degrees, so Katy and I rode in the outdoor arena.
We got to the barn and gave Mr P a nice good grooming. He was such a trooper. We didn't bring him in the barn because there were clinic horses using the stalls so we groomed him outdoors. We brought Mr P out of the paddock and groomed him pretty much dropped tied the whole time. Even though there were many new horses coming in and out he stood right still while being groomed. See, I tell you he can be such an angle when he wants to be.
Katy had a bareback pad that she wanted to use after fixing it so we threw it on Mr P to warm up. I don't feel like I'm at the stage where I can trot around bareback, but it will come. Katy and I both took turns walking him around with the bareback pad, and Mr P did a fabulous job. There were other horses in the outdoor and he gave them his friendly ears and didn't pay too much attention to them. We did some really nice circles and he put up a little fight but nothing like in the past and it was nothing a little more outside leg couldn't fix, I really believe he enjoys riding outside more than inside. After he was nice and warmed up Katy put the western saddle on him and taught me how to put on a western saddle and answered some of my silly questions haha. Katy was more than willing to give me a mini lesson about western riding and I was ecstatic, because this was the first time I had ever rode in a western saddle (pony rides don't count in my book). It felt weird but nice at the same time. I feel like the western saddle holds you more in place and it's easier for me to relax. I walked and trotted him and it was great. It took me a while but eventually I got a nice sitting trot and Mr P offered to be nice and low with his topline. I did canter, and I am so glad Katy didnt' get it on tape, because I thought it was horrible haha! I knew I was coming too much out of the saddle. I was able to get a few nice strides where I wasn't so floppy. Then Katy got on and showed me how it was really done. She did such a great job, granted she has been riding western FOREVER, but still it was fun to watch her.
Just to make sure our day was complete, next we put the English saddle on P. I know you must be thinking we tortured this horse but he was so good!!! I couldn't resist doing some work in the English saddle. I got in the saddle and trotted around and I couldn't believe it. Not only were my heels staying down, but my calfs were flexing like they should!! Everytime I posted up, my heels sunk down lower. I was more than ecstatic!! It really gave my legs a good workout. I'm not sure if it is the new stretches, or if it was that I rode in a western saddle, but what ever it was, it worked. Katy got a video of me cantering around in the English saddle, and oh my gosh I didn't realize I leaned back so much >.< that is something I am going to have to work on! I am sure that must be my biggest reason why I flop around in the canter. I almost need someone to always yell at me to lean more forward (and by more forward I mean in comparisson to my position while leaning back).
So overall it was a great day! We rode for 2 hours and P was SUCH A GOOD BOY!!!!!
I couldn't of had a better day :)
Thanks for reading!
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