And we are bronze medalists!

We did it! With out first ride at NODA, Gadget and I earned our last score needed for the USDF bronze medal. Hani and I were thrilled and we toasted with our mimosas to a once far away goal accomplished. Although Hani is not a horse person, he has been my person during my entire ownership of Gadget. He has seen the many ups and downs, and he truly knew that this was once a very unlikely accomplishment. The rest of my rides were anticlimactic to the big achievement. Gadget is becoming such a steady eddy, and we are figuring out third level. One thing is for certain after this show -- no more second level. It's time to put that miserable level to bed.

Here's a video of the ride that got us the last score:

Comments

When old becomes new - update to my old Pikeur Diana!

Here is the finished product! It was a plain black jacket so I added white and light blue trim with RHINESTONES! It's very sparkly! Here's a closeup of the collar, which looks better than the pocket. Now I am going to try to add coordinating trim (minus the rhinestones) to the saddle pad.

2014 - New Year, New Goals

This past year was a great year for me and Gadget. Although we had our ups and downs, I've learned a lot this year. We made our third level debut, earned our bronze medal in only two shows, improved the flying changes dramatically, and earned Champion for Adult Amateurs at third level in my GMO. For 2014, I have several goals: Keep Gadget's back feeling good. I think I have found a good combo of chiro, shoeing, saddle fit, and vet maintenance to prevent him from getting sore rather than waiting until he's in pain. Hopefully it works this year. Continue improving Third Leve l. Last year was a great intro to third level, but I am finally learning to ride Gadget more uphill, which is improving everything. This year I want to try 3-2 and 3-3. The canter-halfpass is still tough for us, but it's looking better. I am going to work to fix things that are easy points -- halts, turn on the haunches, transitions, and good centerlines. I am going to focus on the quality o...

Kenny Clinic - May 9-10

As usually Kenny's keen eye helps me fine tune my work with Gadget. I rode Gadget a bit more forward than I do with Kristin, but I felt that I kept the activity in the canter an kept him true in my hand. On video, the canter looked great. As usual, I am still holding too much on my left rein, and softening solves nearly every problem. Things to work on: Left Halfpasses -- the quarters trail in both trot and canter halfpasses. Both Kristin and Kenny told me to ride Gadget with slight haunches in to the left. I especially need to do this (or think this) when going into halfpass. Otherwise, I lose the haunches through most of the movement. Very Collected Canter -- I rode 4-1 with Kenny and the circle with the very collected canter strides is tricky for me. I need to think of pushing his haunches in with my outside leg. If I try to get more bend from inside leg, I get a change. Left change - I need to soften leg reins and let him move that direction. (Changes in general need...

Dressage Day by Day

Search This Blog