6/27

Daisy was a doll today :) new videos on

not too bad! A little buck, but we got both leads, which I'm not gonna fight over. Parts of these will be used for my Findlay tape, which is *yikes* due Thursday!! Hopefully I can get some more footage in there, before I mail it off.
Lease starts that day too, decided we were just going to stick with her since she's being such a brat to me. So that's one month, and my friend Sam, the hunter queen, is going to come out to my hacks and give me helpful critique (thank god). Then in August off to Beisel's for a few lessons to get my form down a final time :)


things are falling into place!

hack time

I did hack time on this gorgeous but witchy little mare named Daisy today. Unfortunately no videos because I was riding alone, but soon, promise!
It took me a while to get into the swing of things and we couldn't get a right lead for anything, but I accept full blame and in the end, we at least got our left (didn't want to end on a bad note, and honestly, further than I've gotten with her before without being bucked).
She's one of two potential leases for next month, so we'll see how Raven goes and I'll keep you posted on the decision :)

<3

k;ho

I've decided I'll be going to Findlay in the fall, and instead of riding with BOTh teams, I'll hopefully be doing IHSA and getting a dressage lesson at least once a week SOOOOOO
go hunter-jumpers :)
registration is next Friday, ON MY BIRTHDAY :) / :(
and I move in August 20th! I can't wait, riding every day again!!
(and I'm leasing in July! :) )

so much excitement going on!!

future possibilities of excitement: internship at Los Angeles Equestrian Center, working student position at Up-N-Over Stables, Mickey D's transfer, studying abroad in Ireland for a year :)

!!!

got a chance to go hack out with Gus earlier today, new vids!! I know my position is horrible, but hey, at least I'm finally back on a horse, right? :)

fall '10.

No one reads this. I don't know why I'm posting to it. Whatever.
I need help :/
I have several AMAZING options for this fall, and am absolutely clueless.
My ultimate goal is to be a pro rider/ trainer. I'd settle for equine vet, because I know that's the most practical.
So here are the options:
1) Otterbein, for an Equine Science major (pre-vet), and Physiology minor, where I could ride on like, three times, work at the barn, and ugh, I love that school, even though it's super conservative and I'd stick out like a sore thumb...
2) Findlay, where I could be a Hunter/Jumper major and do pre-vet, as well as ride on the two teams. I don't really like the campus, but love the riding MAJOR.
3) Meredith Manor, trade school, where I'd work at the barn all day and just RIDE, constantly, and if chosen, I could definitely pursue a degree at WVU (but ew, West Virginia..)
4) Up-n-Over Stables, an eventing barn in Indiana has contacted me about a working student position...which would be cool, but I'd need a side job, and a place to stay, blah blah blah.
5) Stay here and ride and work full time. Save all my money, either attend school next year or just blow school off all together (I kind of feel as though it's a waste of time in what I want to do, why not just do an apprenticeship with a good trainer?)




I DON'T KNOOOOOOOWWWW :(

Zoey Darq Thunder

Zoey Darq Thunder is a 6 yo Friesian/Arabian sporthorse, foaled June 18th 2003 (we have the same birthday :) )
She has a strong basic dressage training and is located about an hour north of Columbus.
She's gorgeous, and I've always wanted a Friesian.
She's in the $4's.

Guess who I'm going to look at Sunday morning :)

AHHH Four days and I start riding again :)
I'm hoping to get a working student position at an eventing barn locally, and split the week between there and KEC.
If I take a year off from school, I should be (dependent upon finding the perfect horse) getting my first baby by the end of the summer :)

Things have never fallen so out of place to end up so perfectly in place before. I'm amazed.

goal:

in the next year, I need to ride as much as possible, get in super-fly shape.
If that works out, I might be able to gain a working-student position at Fox-n-Firkin Farms in OC, California next summer.
:) let's go.

?

I have a question pour vous.
Should I....
pay to ride at Saddle Lake on their little quarter horses in case I'm stuck at UC next fall, ergo, I would be eligible to show IHSA next fall -- this would annoy me, but it'd probably teach me quite a bit...

OR..
should I use that money to go ride at a different barn on...non-quarter horses? More hunter-eventer...no neck trolling horses?


HELP ME. If I go back to Kubicki, I can full lease through summer and get shows under my belt? :)

I can NOT wait to see where I end up next fall (or even this summer!!). I've spent all week visiting Findlay and Otterbein. And I like that Findlay offers a more "professional" approach to riding, in that it's a major, but I think Otterbein may definitely be the better fit...I've never felt so at home, which is SO strange, because it's a tiny conservative school in a tiny conservative town.
Either way, I know wherever I end up, there will be huge advancements in my riding :) and this blog will be HUGE after just one year.
Sorry I haven't updated, I haven't ridden in two weeks :( soon though!

3/12

So I rode Emmett in my lesson again last night (really, really wish I had gotten video). He's this 17 something hand AQH, which I generally don't like, but he's GORGEOUS. He always pushes himself into the bit and usually doesn't pull - amazing. He'd make a gorgeous dressage horse.
Anyway, when we started cantering he wasn't going, so I gave him a little tap with the whip and little butthead bucked. Luckily, I didn't go flying (although if my position had been better, I may have even kept that stirrup :( )
And at the end of the lesson, the sub instructor said I could jump him :) so we started out with a baby 12" x-rail, to get Emmett and myself warmed up (god, I haven't jumped in forever), and she just kept raising it, which I totally wasn't expecting..
We ended up doing 2', and kept going until my position got bearable and until he stopped knocking the rails. Our last jump was beautiful! :)

So this is my riding blog.

My normal one is medinaee.blogger.com
and that's all collective and whatnot. Other websites are posted in today's entry on there (formspring, twitter, youtube, facebook, etc).
This is going to be the IMPORTANT blog, because it will be where I keep tracking of my learning and training techniques, progress, etc, as well as links to videos on the tube.
This way, I'll be able to keep an eye on myself, and hopefully, readers will come critique me. CRITIQUE me, not ABUSE me. K? K.
I won't have a video from tonight's lesson, but I'll post when I get back.
Thanks lovelies!
( www.youtube.com/theericamedina )