Progress Report

MEGAN: Today I was in charge of Charlie again, so after feeding, turning out, and doing the indoor, I cleaned two stalls, scrubbed water buckets, and went for a handwalk/graze. While Simba and I were out, I thought about what I was going to do in my ride to make it better, and planned what we would work on. Upon returning to the barn I helped rotate some difficult turnouts and tacked Simba up. We had a great ride, warming up in the field and going to the indoor to work. Nikki gave us some pointers at the end while she was teaching, and we accomplished a lot: maintaining bend, thoroughness, and energy going from shoulder-in to renvere; medium trots; simple changes on the centerline; counter-canter; walk pirouettes; a very little bit of rein back. So, I tried to be to the point and we were done working in about an hour, warm-up included. Yay!! After a bath for Simba I went over to the main barn and tacked up Danny to go on a hack! I love that stallion-he is so wonderful and has so much personality! We had a lovely hack and after brushing him off again, I put him away and grazed Lily in her paddock to start her turnout (she likes to run). After bringing her in, I did lots of laundry in the office and at 2:00 went to the hunter barn to tack up Horse for Nikki. I warmed him up, and really worked on getting him to bend around my right leg and stop hanging on the right rein, instead coming into a connection on the left. He was better than yesterday (good job, Annie!) and Nikki said that he felt good, just to be sure that he doesn’t run in the trot when trying to bend and supple him. I scooped Mica’s barn and did a few saddles, then put Horse away and cleaned up in Mica’s barn. I scooped breakfast, swept the feedroom and tackroom, replaced the towels for the morning, took the dirty laundry to the office, put saddle pads away, and carried three bags of feed over for the bins which were running low. After her barn was all set I helped Nikki in the main barn and we went home. By this point it has been raining for about an hour, and steadily increasing in strength. Upon coming home I went for a run, showered, and made macaroni and cheese for dinner. After watching “So You Think You Can Dance?” I read a bit for the Festival and went to bed. Tomorrow is Friday, then my day off! (Don’t worry; I will still be at the barn!!)

SIMBA: Mom sure had it together today. When she got on, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. We worked hard (in the heat, might I add) but didn’t work too long. We have a lesson with Annie tomorrow, and then I hear that we are going to hack on Saturday. Yea! Hacks in the woods are the best, except for those nasty yellow flies. Well, I am off to bed. Pupil, you get an A- for the day- you could have been a bit more to-the-point in the canter work, and more inventive in the exercises for shoulder-in to renvere. Overall, a job well done.