What I've been up to continued...

Tuesday: Had two lessons on Pingu, one group lesson with Daniella, we worked on more changes but needed a whip today. I think both of us are tired. I also had my first private lesson with Gabi, she put me in spurs and they made a world of difference (see facebook video). We worked on canter departures and staying calm through the downward transition to trot. I still feel like I'm better than I thought they'd think I am, Lena in particular is very complimentary of my riding (she has no idea how much that means to me). She's the one who took pictures of me and Pingu, and filmed the video. Some of the other girls are talking more to me, since I've started spending a little time in the kitchen with them as they cook. We talk about the lessons and the theory, I'm getting alot more comfortable here. Today I walked into town to buy a phone and internet stick, it was really pretty just walking around! I feel a little better about getting around alone now too.

Wednesday: Two more lessons, today was pretty good with Pingu, we worked more on trot extensions. Gabi and her husband gave me a bike to borrow today!!! I'm so excited about being able to get around faster now!

Thursday: Whew, two more lessons, one was a jumping lesson though, that was a nice change, Pingu is a hard one to jump though. We had to jump from the trot because he's kind of hard to control, he used to do very very high jumps and I think gets a little over enthusiastic. Since I have a hard time following his head and neck over the jump I think I should practice on another horse until I get better. Its too hard to follow the movement when i have to hold him back to the fence. Aaron's coming to visit again today, so I need to get groceries, time to try out the bike!!
I rode around for an hour before I found the grocery store, turns out if I had just gone straight on the road from the school I would have found it. Soooo tired when I got home, but I was able to create a recipe for a bean and sausage stew that I really like. Hooray for figuring out how to cook over here!!

Friday: No Pingu today! I don't know what to do! :( I'll be ok haha, I'll just give him carrots as I walk by his stall. Gabi gave me a private lesson on Little Lupo today, he's a 5 year old they have in training there. He's actually really really nice, as long as I remember everything I'm supposed to do. I rode him again in a group lesson in the afternoon, all we worked on was bending, responding to the inside leg, going forward, and not getting distracted by the wind and birds...then some bike riders raced by...so much for that idea. I really like Lupo too though, he's the blackest horse I've ever seen, kind of short too, so he reminds me of a less tragic Black Beauty. Pictures will be taken soon!

Saturday: I meant to video the girls' jumping lesson today, but the tylenol pm made it a bit hard to wake up, so I slept in til my lesson. Pingu and I worked on leg yielding, I think he was in a bad mood because of the rider switch yesterday. Gabi told me that he's pretty sensitive to that. I helped out with chores even though its not my day, some of the younger girls tend to skip out on helping sometimes and the others were getting frustrated at the lack of help and quality of work being done in the barn, so it seemed best to help keep the peace. Matt came to visit today, he helped me get my computer set up (yay internet!!) so now I have a connection to home! We also found the mall, so I'm going shopping on Monday haha, very excited!

Sunday: We had to work the barn today, I thought we'd have the day off, but no such luck. All the girls got the day off from riding though...except me, haha go figure. Pingu was a bit difficult today so the private lesson was what we needed. We covered everything from leg yields to flying changes. I took a nice long nap today, haha for about 4 hours, I'm not used to riding so much and having the guys come over two days in a row is wearing me out. Its a good tired though, I just hope I get used to it soon so I can do more throughout the days!

Thanks for reading guys!!! More specific posts on the horses, their care, the weather, the program, and my friends here will be up soon! As well as my daily journal entries! Keep enjoying your summers!