Five weeks remaining.....

Well this morning I had the realization that including today I only have 5 rides left before I graduate.....not prepared at all. My morning started out with Red Liberty and it went MUCH better than the first ride. I was more comfortable and remembered my spurs too. My stall card design also won!!!! I was super excited. I rode 8th four all three drills so that was super exciting. I helped get the horses set up at the trailer and headed to costuming at 10. With move ups we have to refit the entire team. It felt really pointless as I'm only riding in the costumes one more time. But it's okay :) They put the senior boards up in the cafeteria too so that was super sad but exciting. Costuming finished pretty early and I ordered my Alumni jacket and senior ad.....very emotionally exhausting day, but it has to happen. Graduating is inevitable. My leaser surprised me by bringing Bo out. I broke down into tears, I was just so happy to see him. It's been almost a month. I got to take him into a tenderfoot class and climbing back into his saddle was a feeling to amazing for words. I also bought him a brand new tack set (Sparkle Angel Wings) but I haven't gotten to try it on him yet. He's walking without a limp now, but we have decided he is only going to be able to do Sunday's annual show. Walkthough went well, I was 3-7, 4-6, 4-7, and 1-1. Those were tentative annual positions. I'm absolutely fine with them but I would prefer not to ride in the same four twice. I finally got to go to Red Ropes after a few conflicts, I really need to put in some practice time before annual though, yikes. We had some people trying out for Red as well. The ride was kind of a mess. We have the maneuvers down but we really need to focus on polishing the details to make it show ready. September did really well, she was a little less jumpy but still a spazz. My stall card also won for royal! But they chose another submission for the seniors that is also super cool. After class it started to drizzle and eventually turned into an absolute downpour. Everything got soaked but we loaded the horses into the trailer to keep them dry. And with the end of this post I am down to four rides, I guess I should get started on my speech.....

My Birthday Ride!!!!

Wow, what a day. I got out there early that way I could watch my friend's first ride on Red Team, then I had walkthrough at 12 and I rode similar positions to last week. I wore a birthday sash and it was nice and cold so I was happy! Then it was a race to decorate September for Royal. I put purple ribbons all over her hair, jewels on her face, and glitter words on her butt with flowers and butterflies. The ride went really well! We actually got four drills in so that was incredible!!!!!! September tripped in the last drill and was limping a little but she walked out of it just fine. It was a good birthday ride. Then I raced over to the JI trail ride on Gypsy and she was FANTASTIC. She adores the trails, definitely her happy place. We had a lot more people than last year so we couldn't do as much. But it was still a ton of fun and I'm glad I got to go.

First Official Red Liberty Ride!!!!

THE DAY WAS FINALLY HERE OMG!!!!!!!! I was so excited to get to go back into the class and actually be a member of the team. I got the email with the diagrams and nearly died of excitement. Getting to actually ride the drill was phenomenal. We are riding the drills with 9 fours. 1-8 are team and 9th is points. I rode 3-8 twice and 3-9 once. Reno definitely needs spurs just for some added speed so I will remember that for next week. Fours 1-4 are the main team spots 5/6 are secondary team spots, and 7/8 are like a team point combo mix so I'm pretty happy with my positions, I know I won't get the really good spots since I'm new. Then I had a walkthrough at 12 and was 4-6, 4-8, 1-1, and 2-7. I LOVED my spots. The ride went really well and I rode a horse named Radar because September was unavailable. He was a ton of fun and I really liked him!

A Long Emotional Day

So I woke up at 5:30am, and got ready to head out for the day. I didn't have class until 10am but my friend was giving me a ride since my car broke. I watched Red Dressage tryouts at 8 and got breakfast at 9. My 10am class was just the yearly JI meeting. I knew I wasn't in Top 10 this year but I get to go on the trail ride anyway because I'm a senior so thats awesome and it's scheduled for my birthday yay!!!!! It was pretty brief so that was awesome. At 12 I took my leaser's horse Gypsy into her first class, it was a junior class but they ended up going on a trail ride so I just worked her in the arena. I'm developing a habit of looking down when I'm riding a new horse so I really gotta stop that. She's 100% Tennessee Walker so her gaits definitely take some getting used to but she's come a long way! Then I watched the beginning of Crimson before I got September ready for Royal. She was fired up today holy cow. We also rode with Flags today so that was awesome to get back into that habit. So September likes to jump the pee puddles in the arena and thought it would be fun to do that while we were running down the rail and then get scared of the red door. Oh dear. I stayed on but it kept me on my toes the whole time. I rode 2-1 and 4-5 today. We only got two drills in but then we rode around to YMCA and played catch up! I got to be on the rail and man can September move! I so wish I could've done it with Bo but she was amazing and hugged the rail like a champ and everything. SO MUCH FUN just getting to let them run. They were all super hot and sweaty after so it took me a while to cool her down. Then we let her drink and roll. She worked hard for me so I made sure to take good care of her in return. I had a small break and then I went to my last WL1 ride. Poor Reno was on his third class in a row so he wouldn't go above a trot which was okay since we were in the white anyway. I got to call one last drill and then we rode in the back that way new girls could begin to take the front. It was very sad since a lot of my friends are on that team but I'm so excited for my first red liberty next week. Then I helped with jumps for WL2 and load up the trailer so I left probably about 6:30pm. It was a long day but well worth it :)