Introducing Gracie

It's basically April in February these days.
Gracie is the 16-year-old (!!! I legit thought she was like 7 or 8 until I looked this up just now.  Homegirl looks good for her age!!!) quarter horse mare that I will be showing in addition to Leo on Saturday.  She spent her days before CEC in the Western world, but has developed a real talent for jumping over the last few years.  She's a really fun ride (although I tend to equate her canter with sitting on a box of rocks that a random person is rattling), and has been fantastic with helping me rebuild my confidence these last few weeks.

longest gif ever.
I've ridden her a handful of times and she is a really fantastic horse to ride if you want to really work on improving your EQ -- and your use of leg (so much falling in to the right).  We had a somewhat disharmonious ride last Friday - again, not the most comfortable horse, and much less forward than my usual steed - but started syncing up quite well during our lesson on Wednesday!

Totes in sync.  We're kind of making the same  face.
Both Wednesday and Friday, as you can see above, I warmed up using the EquiCube because I hate myself and like to kill my back for fun I'd never used it before and have been wanting to try it out for a while, and didn't think that Leo was the best horse to test it out on.  I definitely noticed a difference in how much leg I was using/how much easier it was for me to remember to add leg between the flat work and the jumping work, after I ditched the cube; I definitely would like to keep practicing with it!

Ran out of Gracie pics, but Leo got a haircut for the show!
Gracie and I will be competing in the Open Hunter division on Saturday, and despite my inherent dislike of hunters, I'm pretty excited.  We initially were going to show in jumpers, but my mom will be in town and requested that we not spend the entire evening at the show as well as the entire day, so hunters it is.   Leo and I are skipping crossrails and starting (hopefully) in the 18" class. I'm excited to see how he handles the show environment - I would really like to show him in jumpers next time.  Fingers crossed he surprises us all and is a professional champion show horse machine.  Or, you know, that he just does things like listens and goes places when he's supposed to and jumps all the (appropriate) things.  

Comments

  1. TrainwreckInTealFebruary 24, 2017 at 4:54 AM

    Good luck at the show! So excited to come cheer you on 😁 annnnd now I'm reminded I should probably pull out my EquiCube too... 😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kaityFebruary 24, 2017 at 7:29 AM

      I love it except for when I try to shorten my reins at the canter ... And when I try to 2 point with it. Lol. Can't wait for tomorrow!

      Delete
  2. TheFoxRiderFebruary 24, 2017 at 6:14 AM

    Good luck at the show! Looking forward to hear how it goes :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. KateRoseFebruary 24, 2017 at 8:48 AM

    Have a blast at the show! :) Gracie sounds fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  4. emmaFebruary 24, 2017 at 11:32 AM

    Good luck! And I've always wanted to try riding with one of those cube things haha

    ReplyDelete

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