It's Wednesday Again

Oh, how I'm glad that it's finally Wednesday again. Now, I'm going to try my very best to give ya'll a report of my ride today, but that's going to be very hard. Why, you ask? Because I think I broke my left pinky finger. Long story short, my dad threw a football at me and it hit my hand and bounced off of my pinky. PAINFUL, right? No freaking kidding.

On the other hand (haha, get it, the other hand), tonight I had a wonderful ride(s) that made me feel like I was floating on air. Yes, I was that happy. Why? I was so darn happy because today I got to jump the most perfect angel of a horse (the best jumping horse EVER). I think you know her. Her name's April, and she's a 14 year old black mare. Yep, you know her... that horse that I jumped on April 1st. =D

Today, Erica set up a jump course (with six jumps! cool, right?) while I trudged out in the mud to get the three ponies: Tarzan, April, and Pete. When I got the horses in - with some difficulty - I put them in their respective stalls and hauled out April's pink tack box. I took maybe 10 minutes to groom April and then tacked her up. I put Erica's saddle on her, April's usual bridle, and the jumping boots that go on the horse's leg to protect them. I also tried out a pair of half chaps (things that go on your boots that keep your leg from moving around) and LOVED them!

I got April out into the arena, got on, and warmed up with walking and trotting for maybe 20 minutes. That's when Erica (who was riding Pete - he's turning out to be quite an OK jumper... he has potential) said for me to try the course. Heading off at a canter, April and I soared over the jumps with a few difficulty. We did the course maybe 3 times total, and then I cooled April down while Erica rode Pete over the jumps. Pete was very messy and sloppy in his jumps the first time, but the second time he was OK. =D Then, Erica told me to switch her, so I did. I got on Pete and attempted to jump him. Yep, attempted.

We had some problems with running into things, and so we had to redo the course about a million times. Fine by me - I love jumping. ;) After we got that all settled and done, we had to cool down April and Pete, 'cuz Madison was coming to ride... and supposedly learn to canter.

Madison got there and BOY, was that a disaster. I rode Tarzan and had a wonderful time; we only cantered once, got rid of the stop'n'go problem -

PROGRESS! -

and I mostly focused on Tarzan. But when I did occasionally looked up at Madison, she was flopping all over the place, her heels were sky-high, her hands were all spread up and  apart so that they weren't in the right place, the list goes on. Anyways, after a while Erica tried to get Madison (riding Sonny) to canter on the lunge line. Well, that didn't go so well. Madison is scared of cantering, and Sonny was being a total butt and wouldn't canter. Oh, well. Maybe next time?

After that, we had to hustle up and put things away; we were running late! So, we H-U-S-T-L-E-D up and got in the truck! Erica took me home - I'm exhausted after 5 hours at the barn and 3 hours riding 3 horses. ;) But I don't have school tomorrow (Thursday, April 8, 2010) and I'm very ecstatic about that! I'll catch ya'll later, with updates and randomness!