Stampede Oh Yeah!!!!!!!

Wow so yesterday was AMAZING!!!!! Stampede groomed and saddled again and I started making a couple new friends on my team :) then I got Rock #31   My first thought was oh boy. Cause anyone who know rock know he has terrible ground manners and I had him my tenderfoot year as well. It was so weird because I grabbed him from the pasture and he was being a totally grump and pinning his ears at everything but I had to groom outside and he was eating the hay on the ground. He was staying calm so I let him and he didn't fuss AT ALL for grooming. I physically grabbed his head and made sure I had the right horse. He was an angel. The worst I got was two head tosses for bridling. But the weird part was anytime someone else came over he started being a grump again. But when it was just me I was fine it was so sweet! The ride was even better! We trotted and warmed up. Anyone who forgot their name tags had to stand without stirrups again. Thank goodness I remembered mine. Rock has a really nice slow trot. His fast one can be a little bumpy. So then we talked in the middle and went back out. Then we picked up the lope. We built pairs to fours and practiced circling the whole team at a lope. The first couple were aweful and really scary. But after a few more we got it and kept the pace consistent. It was a great feeling. So then we played the Catch Up game. It's done in troopers,pairs,fours,eights. Whatever the instructor wants. So I was one away from the rail in my four. The goal of the game is to go as fast as you can in control without leaving your group behind and catch up to the back of the team who is at a slow lope. So my group had a really slow owner horse on the rail. Two laps around and she just couldn't keep up. We tried to stay with her and encourage her horse. Finally my instructor said. She's not tryingb anymore (the rider gave up) leave her behind. So that left me on the rail and I booked it! Rock wanted to run so bad and I let him. My 2 other riders kept up with me and we caught up in less than half an arena. Man going that fast was great. We never stopped loping as the rest of the teams went. Then still loping we built 8's and did it again. Still never breaking the lope. 8's was really hard cause our inside had to stop on the corners for us to fit. We got it at the end but it wasn't as smooth. The pint of the game was for the instructors to see who was comfortable at what speeds. Then we walked the last 10 minutes to cool the horses down. We had to ride with someone we didn't know and get to know them. I walked rock around to the water. Man he was drenched in sweat. Poor baby. He did everything I asked of him the whole time. Stopped and turned on a dime. It was an amZing little connection. So then I had a little time to eat before classroom and then in we went. We started with sequence and turned in diagrams. I have 3 corrections and we diagrammed 15 more charts today. So 18 total. I passed all 3 sequences!!!!! I am done :) yay!!!!!! I'm super happy :) we are supposed to finish diagramming our drill next time so that's exciting. I hope we start riding it soon. I feel behind cause a lot of other teams are. But we are really focusing on basics which is good too. Overall it was a great day!