Best Day Of The Year! (So Far...)

I realize this is a little bit late but bear with me as I recap the beginning of my week and explain why Monday, January 16, 2012 was hands down the best day of the new year...

The day started off exceptionally well because despite my lack of sleep, we had no classes that day due to the MLK Day Holiday! So to celebrate, Emily came over early that morning and she, Evan, and I all went to Equus Now to look for new breeches and other fun horsey things to buy. After leaving with a brand new pair of black full seat breeches and a pink sparkly curry comb, we all went to Waffle House to eat and relax. After we were full of breakfast food we hurried home to change and head out to the barn, where once there we cleaned up our horses and prepared for the lesson we had schedule with Juli for the day. Well, our lesson really helped put the finishing touches on our games online and helped me progress into the basics of freestyle riding!

First Juli helped me fix our often crooked back-up during the yo-yo game, making it look crisp and clean. Next we worked on really getting the sideways game to click for Rydel by half-circling her to the wall and then using a forward motion with her carrot stick toward her hindquarters and balancing out the nose with my rope hand. Rydel really picked up on the whole concept very quickly and she also helped me learn a few things about her thresholds. You see, Juli helped me realize that Rydel has 3 types of hesitations- "I cant", "I'm confused," and "I wont". While sometimes these three hesitations may appear similar, upon closer inspection they are actually very different and need to be treated differently. This is a huge insight and I think I know it will improve my savvy when dealing with this situations. During the whole lesson up to this point Rydel was very relaxed and didn't feel the need to move her feet as much (like she had done so much in the past). In fact, she even offered to come up to Juli and stand by her confidently. With Rydel feeling so calm and focused we decided to saddle up and work on a few freestyle techniques, at which point another boarder brought her horse into the arena along with her trainer and both of her parents...Great! However, just when I thought Rydel would get nervous and distracted with another horse, riding in the arena, she did great by staying calm and keeping her attention on what I was asking her to do! We worked on getting into the power position for stopping, and "tromboning" the reins. We also learned how to do a hindquarter yield by using an indirect rein (my new favorite thing to practice)! Overall it was a great lesson and I though the day couldn't get any better...Boy was I wrong!

When I got home I got on my computer to catch up on Facebook and relax as usual and eventually I got around to checking my email. Much to my surprise, the Parelli Team had already processed and scored my level 2 online audition and I PASSED 2++!!!!

I was so ecstatic (and honestly shocked) to see that I had done so well! It is really a huge motivator to myself to keep going with the levels program and keep striving for the best- especially considering I didn't even want to send one in in the first place! I am so grateful to Pat, Linda, and everyone who supported and helped me so far! This really is a great start to the year!!