Lesson with Lendon

MEGAN: Boy, what a day! I was in charge in the Main Barn because Nikki took the day off and grain over there takes forever. Then, for some reason, turnouts took longer than normal, and before I knew it I had 45 minutes before my first lesson with Lendon! I groomed Simba quickly but thoroughly and walked him for awhile to get him totally warmed up. Then, in the warm-up in the arena, I made sure he was in front of my leg, doing transitions all the time. My lesson was very good. When Lendon comes back (she will be gone for 2 days) she wants to see better canter from walk and begin able to trot out of nowhere. Bend through the corners, especially, needs to improve as does my tendency to drop my left shoulder. However, she only mentioned forward in general once or maybe twice, which is a huge accomplishment for me! I hosed Simba off and let him dry while I cleaned his stall, also giving him more hay and water. Then, after scooping lunch in Mica’s barn and in the main barn, I rode Chuck. We had fun and my last canter half pass was great! I was then supposed to ride Zamora with someone, so I was sure that Annie was in the ring when I got on her. She was very lazy and a bit unwilling to bend, and I was disappointed in the way our ride went. Because I was still working with her, I missed getting on Astro and after scooping dinner in the main barn, hacked Deauville. He was very good and we had a nice time out in the field. Rachel and I then fed the Hunter Barn and the Main Barn, but when I went to scoop she disappeared. So, I ended up scooping mostly by myself while Mica did laundry. After cleaning out the feed room I went home and was planning to go to Mt. Kisko to collect donations for the fundraiser. Lendon wanted us to do some things for her, so we changed two lights, moved blankets upstairs, cleaned out a closet, organized the front porch, and moved boxes downstairs. Then I re-did the flyer for the fundraiser using Lendon’s suggestions, and Rachel was in charge of writing an email. After a bit, I was also able to get the necessary signatures on all my show forms and go to bed. Though long, it was a great day!

SIMBA: Now she has Lendon making her ride better. Ahhh! Though I enjoy a better balanced and more correct rider, she made me go forward again and now she has me bending and stretching in my neck, too. But, if she can fix her left shoulder, all this work might be worth it. Though I won’t admit it to her, it was fun strutting my stuff and we had some really nice moments. I hear that there is a schooling show tomorrow and that we will do a test- should be fun! I enjoyed a nice hand graze with Mouse at the end of the day, and even got dinner a little early. If I get food early, it can be considered a good day. Well, Mom tried to convince me to be good for this show tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. Even a star like me can’t perform without sleep!