Another Day In My Westernaire Life!

So today I completed my transformation into a White Division Double A Rider in 2 ways.

1. SPURS
2. DIAGRAMS

That's right diagrams started today. I have to do 5 before next ride. So today I got Apache #77 for Junior 1 and Chester #122 for White Star. Thank goodness I got to wear spurs today! Apache has over sized ears that flop when he walks and he is adorable. But so slow. He was great for grooming. We rode to the Moore. Bill talked to us about how to ride with spurs. Loose rein, kiss, calf pressure, and finally do a little tap tap with the spur if he doesn't respond earlier. Usually that's enough. So we worked on building up and breaking down to eights and fours. Apache is bouncy! Oh my goodness! Then we got to lope in 4's. Apache's lope is absolutely to die for! I had to use my spurs to get him to fast trot and lope. I can't even begin to describe the difference it makes. Definitely feels different too. We also got to try 2 thread the needles and a pass through! We did awesome! We did have a Halt Ho (Stop Immediately) during the 1st thread. We talked through it gave more instruction and tried again. We did it very nicely. So after Juniors my friends and I went to the cafeteria and warmed up. I definitely did not wear enough layers. I was cold! I did remember my yellow leather gloves. We pulled out our binders and helped each other study for the quiz. One friend also gave me another Winddancer pin for my backpack along with a pin for Summer who was my 2nd Tenderfoot ride. Then we went to the Hutchinson Arena to check in for White Star. We went back to the water troughs and I was given Chester. He is a beautiful paint. So we spent a lot of White Star working on riding as a team not individual riders. Also a lot more discussion about spurs. It changes the whole way you ride and communicate with your horse but it is so much easier! Totally worth the whole wait through Tenderfoot. Chester's trot is SO SMOOTH! So much more comfortable than Apache. His lope though is more on the choppy side. Not a nice flowing gait. But we were loping very nicely on the rail. Dodging Cinder and Dakota. Even with spurs Dakota wasn't moving an inch! White star was actually really fun! I actually got a compliment from Danielle! Which if you know her means a lot. She sure pushes us. After White Star I went to the store and bought my Flag Boot! It is a piece of pipe or something with a leather strap. When we ride with flags we will put the flag boot around our stirrup and use it to help support the flag. It's just plain white right now. I will post when I decorate it. Then it was time to check in for diagramming. So 1st thing we did was hand in our 20 Sequences. Then we took  our first Sequence Test that actually counts. Out of the 30 or so riders on my team 4 got the pop one 2 weeks ago right. I was one of them :) Then we took our quiz. We had to label an arena and some arrows, name the color code, monitor + instructor names, and some questions from the White Division Basics. I think I did really well. I passed my Sequence Test 100% so far rocking it in Double A! Then we learned how to make a sloppy copy. Danielle stuck a giant sized version of the 4 maneuvers + line up. We could move around the room and we used Double Arena diagramming paper. It's just a quick sketch of what we have to diagram at home. A few numbers some really sloppy quick arrows and some motion dots ( - - - - ). It was very intense. But we got through it. We also learned how to fill in the heading of the diagrams. So for my homework I have to

1. Hand write my sequence 20 more times
2. 5 Diagrams

Here are the pictures!

Apache

Chester

Apache

Riding with my Spurs

Apache and I Loping

Chester

Chester and I loping in White Star