A Super Sunday!

The pony was a super start today for our ride! I gave him the day after our lesson off then just took him on a 45 minute bareback trail ride yesterday so we hadnt worked on our lesson learnings until today and man o man if I didnt have a perfect pony!
I tried to really focus on 2 things. 1) keeping track of my left rein and making sure I wasnt pulling with it and 2) not trying to 'package' him up to much and getting him working more from his hind end and getting more correct. That was a big fault of mine recently I think. I was trying to put him together way to much and was I was holding him up with the reins. Today he was very light in the bridle and carrying himself. Everything was much easier! Our leg yields reached the wall from X both ways by the end and our transitions were much better. We also worked on our trot to canter transitions a little. We spiraled in our trot circle and leg yielded out to a bigger circle to ask for the canter and I tried really hard to be firmer with my hands so he could pop his head up in the transition also and we got 2 nice ones, one each way, before I quit. We did a little bit of lengthening on a circle like we did in our lesson and he was awesome! I could push him out and bring him back with just my seat and he didnt bring his head up or fight it at all.
It was just a great ride overall and I was SO happy with him! We kept our ride short and sweet because he was such a star! After we stopped I walked him down the road to cool him out since the weather was nice and sunny. I love my pony :)

Adorable? I think yes.

My little toy/mini aussie got an adorable coat today! It was on major sale at Wilco for only $8!

Iz a little bit hyper all the time and not very smart but my mummy sayz she still luvs me!!

Along with that I got a gallon of this special shampoo that my Aunt and Uncle used in Bend that worked really well on their guys. It is normally like 30 something dollars and I got it for 9 on clearance! I spent 18 bucks and saved over 50 on 2 items! I would say that is pretty good for not planning on getting any of those things.

Adorable thing number 2 of the day? My mom got her early birthday present today. She ruined the whole cute surprise I had but whats new? So meet dog #6 (crazy hoarders? I think so...) Jinx a 5-6 month old mutt :)

Adorable thing #3?

Last August getting ready for a horse show!

Going out to see this adorable face :) If you can look at him without smiling you need therapy. I washed his feather with my new shampoo and it looked even whiter then it did after last weekends washing which is a great sign. Then we went on a 45 minute bareback trail ride in the forest as the weather was super nice. Ride times come out tomorrow, CANT WAIT! Tomorrow he gets his face clipped (wiskers, bridle path, goat hairs), on Friday he will get a full head to toe bath and Alanna and I are having a tack cleaning party while we watch Bridesmaids (she still hasnt seen it! Im pretty sure I have watched it 10 times now..!). Then Saturday we head to the show!
Teacher Mary got us a beginning of the show season present, white show gloves! I am going to have to tell Mystics Mama Rhein and Teacher Mary got us a present because then we know he will really be a star at the show so he can show off to his girl friend. Thank you Mary! We will keep you well updated at the show even if we do wish you could be there with us :)

He loves his Teacher Mary

Yup, he really does! He says:
I love my Teacher Mary. She gives me lots of cookies and she pets me and tells me im so cute and she also makes my mom ride me lots and lots better so I dont have to be going around all embarrassed because my mommy doesnt know what she is doing. I mean we all know that everyone is looking at me anyways!
Love Mystic Pony

We had a great lesson last night. Definitely got some things to work on but we have gotten better in some areas we have really been working on also! Our leg yields are slowly but surely coming along and he is getting much easier to ride in general tracking right (his hard side, yay!). We obviously wont 'fix' all our problems in a week but I am going to really work on riding into my corners and using the short side wall like it is a wall and not cut it off so we can have a more accurate test. I also need to keep working on my left rein that I like to take too much contact with. I have been working hard on it and have gotten better but its still hard at the canter for me. Another thing is I really need to help him out more when preparing for our lenthenings so we are not just running across the diagonal because I didnt get him pushing from his hind end.

Im really excited for the show to see what kind of marks and comments we get. I know we have lots of work to do in first level still but I still feel confident that if I can ride a solid accurate test with him that we will do well!

Prim and Popular :)

Mystic pony got his warm bath yesterday. I just did his legs, tail, and mane though because it wasnt super warm outside so I felt bad doing his body. I left him inside today so I could get some good (and clean!) conformation pictures of him today for a project I am doing in my Equine Marketing class. He looks SO much better all cleaned up! I know it will all be ruined tomorrow when he goes back outside but is a good start to be sparkling clean for our show.
Teacher Mary was also out at the barn with Alanna and I tonight giving Mama Rhein her pre-maternity leave bath and clipping before she leaves for her foaling barn tomorrow. Side note: we will miss you Mama Rhein but cant wait to come see your little Scholar when she is born :)  Im actually not sure I have ever shown a picture of her on here. She is Mystics  not so secret crush. She is a fancy dressage pony that shows 3rd level right now but is going to work towards PSG for next summer after little Scholar arrives!!

Mamma Rhein! She is due at the end of March

I love this picture of her! She is so sweet!

Anyways Mary was giving Rhythm his pretty dressage tail and it looked super good. I was thinking that Mystics wouldnt look good with a nice dressage tail so Mary and I went and looked and decided to give it a try. I just know any other Gypsy people out there would be shaking their heads at me but it really makes him look much better and now he doesnt have the little side hairs sticking up his butt and getting super nasty, im sure it isnt comfortable to have your hair up your butt all the time! It turned out super cute on both the boys! We are slowly but surely cleaning them up for our show. Im going to clean up his head, ears, and bridle path next weekend along with his 2nd bath. I will post his super handsome pictures tonight after I get them from his Auntie Alanna :) She got some really good ones!

His dressage pony tail! You cant see it great but its there!

Gettin some love

So handsome :)

Poor pony!

A new Wilco farm store just opened up in Lebanon (about 20-25 minutes from us) recently so today Alanna, April (our fabulous barn owner!), and I headed over to check it out. We have a Wilco in Tangent but it is a small one and this new one is supposed to be a big one! They were also having a good sale so we figured we would check it out. It was tons of fun and I came home with Mystic pony beauty products, vet wrap (only $1 each!), dewormer, Berry horse treats (20lbs you know he loves his treats!), Chicago screws for his leather halter, and some grain for Sky.
The shampoo came at the perfect time because I need to start cleaning him for our first show of the season! His feather and tail have gotten 'stained' from being on the pasture daily, stupid mud, and his mane is just FILTHY from rolling outside and not having it washed because of the cold... even though we do have a wash rack with hot water. Because of my car incident yesterday (which is another story but basically my car tried to kill me...) I have to get my mom to take me to the barn and pick me up after her agility class which means I will be at the barn for like 4-5 hours tonight... Meaning, Mystic pony is going to get his bath on! I know he will just go back out in the pasture but if I do it this weekend, next weekend then right before the show and leave him in then hopefully he will resemble some kind of white! That is my hope at least...

So.Much.Hair.

I cannot believe how long Mystics mane has gotten even in the last 6 months! It is growing like crazy! Sadly it has thinned out towards the bottom of his neck, I think maybe his blanket rubs it... I dont think he is rubbing it himself but maybe? Im going to wash it this weekend since the weather has been ok and it is SUPER gross. Maybe that will help, we will see!

Dont judge him for his brown hair!

He has had almost a week off :/ definitely not ideal 3 weeks away from a horse show. I was out of town from Friday to late Sunday and then came up sick so have spent the last few days in bed. Yesterday I did go out and brush him, re-did his hair, and went on a 20 minute bare back ride outside. I did notice that he had dropped weight. Im not sure if maybe its because his work is getting harder or what but I think im going to bump his grain up. Alanna did mention that it might be good for him to go into spring on the lean side because we all know how much he likes his food! With the green grass and all he will definitely plump out! I never thought we would have weight "issues"! Just the opposite of most :) He doesnt look terrible by any means just not as filled out as I would like/am used to with him!

Some time off

I took a weekend trip with my dad, step mom, and step sister to Sisters for a basketball tournament so Mystic has had 3 days off in a row. Im sure he is thinking he is living the life right now! He goes back to work today, however I am starting to get sick so im sure our rides wont be as long. He will appreciate that one to haha! The show is in about 3 weeks now so I really need to crack down. Luckily we found a show that is 2 days in April and they are technically 2 different shows which means we will have 3 qualifying opportunities instead of 2 which helps take the pressure off. Even though I shouldnt be worried about scoring above a 55 % (not sure that I have even gotten a score that low?!), I am. I have a PERFECT pony and as long as I remember my tests (seems to be an issue with my old age LOL!) and give him a good ride we will do good. The worst part about having such a nice pony is that when it doesnt go as well as planned... we all know it was all my fault!