Work!

Shadow has really been showing me what he can do lately. I think the fact that he is 17 only plays a role in my mind. He has been amazing me week after week as we lesson with Dom.

We have started jumping, as I mentioned in a post a while back (i think) and he has been doing great.
Gymnastics are what we are currently working on and he keeps proving to me that he will get it and be good at it.

I took an "almost fall" two weeks ago that scared me/took what was left of my riding confidence i think. So last week i was being a cry baby as Dom pushed me to continue our jumping lessons.

I should know by now that Shadow is my personal baby sitter. He would never do anything to hurt me and if things do go wrong he does his best to save me and keep me out of the way of anything that may potentially hurt me, but i am just not as tough of a rider as I was when I wasssss, let's say 10! lol

Blurry Picture from a Free Jumping video

Mike catching my "fall" on camera.

My body never actually hit the ground. My right leg got stuck in the stirrup, but i managed to wrap my arms around shadows neck and put my left leg down on the ground. When Shadow felt me hit his chest he put on the brakes and saved me! Now known as "The time April didnt' fall off" -_- lol

Dom continues to push me through our lessons even though i want to cry every time i see her touch a jump and Shadow continues to surprise me at how well he does and how good he really feels. What stifle injury?! :) 

This weeks gymnastics, Shadow rocked it. That last verical looked HUGE to me while I was riding, but it measured out to be only 2'6" and Shadow cleared it with room to spare, which means.. higher jumps. AHHHH 

KNEES!

I was scared, as you can see all over my face, HA

Video, I need ALOT of work, so don't even pay attention to me up there, but Shadow is doing EXCELLENT.

After a GREAT lesson on Saturday, Kris, Arrow, Shadow and I prepared for a 8 mile hunter pace in the Assunpink. The first of many paces held by Monmouth County Hunt. It was so much fun!

We got off to rocky start, it took us an hour to get shadow on the trailer. Kris has first parked in the parking lot where there are some rocks which were hurting shadows feet (problem #1) so I asked Kris to pull onto the grass, still with no improvement.. We tried everything to get him on. Finally as a last resort i asked Kris to pull Arrow off the trailer so i could try and load Shadow. I pushed the divider out of the way and handed shadow over to her, and like that he walked right on, Arrow loaded on again not problem and we were finally on our way. 

I was a little nervous based on this only being our second time doing a pace like this and it was longer than the last one. We didn't have a great start at the last one either, which added to my nerves, but I tried to stay calm. 

Shadow and Arrow did absolutely amazing. It was the best 8 miles I have ever ridden. The view was gorgeous and the horses seemed to really enjoy it. Every chance they got they were cantering through the open fields or trotting through clear trails. Shadow had a BEAUTIFUL slow collected canter and his trot is FINALLY perfected. I spent countless days just trotting, trotting, trotting and now it is a thing of the past. I don't have to think about it anymore, we just do it. 

I know it is a lot easier for Shadow to canter straight and in large areas being he still doesn't have the balance he needs to carry himself and me around corners in the indoor, but that is still in the works, I have spent literally NO time on it at all, i don't even think about cantering, but i think now it is time to move on to it and get it perfected because his canter is in there and it is amazing. 

It is great to see that the horses enjoyed the ride as much as we did, and they get along so well. Arrow is a great friend to Shadow, almost reassuring him that everything is fine and doesn't mind when Shadow rests his nose on his butt and Shadow keeps Arrow calm when they are side by side on the trail and Arrow just cant wait to run and I can't wait to do it again. They make wonderful partners. 

 I could not be anymore proud of Shadow, as Dom says all the time, it is too bad I got him so late in his life because we would have made one hell of a team if I could have installed all this work into him at a younger age, I do sometimes feel as though I am working against the clock, but Shadow has other opinions and shows no signs of slowing down. He is my best boy <3