Catch Up (10/22-10/29)

     I haven't been good at keeping you posted lately so I will just post pics of the non horse related things real quick and then update you on Phoenix.

Hung out with Kaylee

      Bought new boots cause my old ones were wrecked haha  

     Spent the night at Rocks and Ropes

    Had an awesome day/night at EFY express and had a blast at the dance haha

     Monday I rode my girl at the ranch and worked on flatwork and bareback.  Phoenix is getting better but we still are struggling with leads.  Wednesday Caulina and I went on a trail ride and I had a blast tearing it up in an English saddle, barrel racing bushes, and racing next to trucks while they did burn outs.  Learned were all the good riding trails are on our friend's property and found a flooded area to "swim with our horses".  Phoenix loved the water and played and ran in it and I got soaked haha.  Sadly I lost one of my favorite bell boots while playing so I'll have to collect it when it dries up.  

     Phoenix did great on the trail as we trotted and loped down roads and with friends and even at the end when it was dark.  I'm proud of my girl and sure we have a lot to work on but I'm proud of how far she has come.  OMG state is like 2 weeks away haha :P

     On Friday I had a blast on a trial ride with Caulina and Sierra.  We ran around and went swimming again haha.  Sierra showed me a shortcut on canals we are allowed to ride on that is a lot faster than running next to the road.  

Trail Ride

     On Monday I lunged Phoenix, tacked her up Western (with an English bridle haha) and hit the trails with my friend Caulina.  We didn't ride for more than 2 hours because I had to be picked up but I had a great time and our horses did good with the traffic.  We rode alongside the road and past our school, just talking and jumping logs and racing when it got wide enough.  I love going on trail rides and it has been a little while so Phoenix and I were glad to get out and I love having a buddy to ride with.

Week Overview (10/12-10/17)

     Monday was my sister's bday but I still got to ride my baby girl.  I walked over to our new ranch from the high school (took about 20min) and lunged Phoenix.  I brushed her down in the round pen because I didn't feel like tying her up and then we worked bareback for awhile.  She is getting better at listening to leg pressure and giving to the bit (though she got a little sassy today).  We are still struggling with leads but I'm hoping if we keep practicing our butts off we will have them down good for state in November.  I haven't been using spurs or a crop much lately at all but today I had to really get on Phoenix about working.  She got kind of lazy and refused to go faster than a walk.  I didn't have any artificial aids (nor do I want to use them unless I really need to) so I ended up bopping her with the reins and she listened fine after that.
     I'm finding my seat a lot better and I rarely even think twice about riding Phoenix bareback anymore so yay!  When we were done I hosed down my girl and put her back into the turnout.  Then I was picked up to go celebrate my sister's 12th bday and eat the awesome cake I baked from scratch.

     Wednesday was race day and so I grabbed Phoenix after school and took her out to the rodeo grounds to run.  I haven't ridden her Western or practiced barrels in a long time but Phoenix warmed up nice and ran an amazing 20.8!!

     I guess the time away from racing did us both well and I was definitely a lot less nervous to run.  I know we can do better and that with more practice we could maybe even get faster.  Sadly I only got to ride Phoenix twice this week because I went out of town on Friday to go up to CA to attend a Luke Bryan Concert!  

     The concert was a blast and Dustin Lynch, Randy Houser, and Luke Bryan sure put on a show (even though Luke was sick and had to improvise a little bit).  They all sounded great in concert and you could tell that they love what they do.  The covers they did sounded cool and you know it only got better once they started doing shots and drinking whiskey haha.  We all crashed hard that night and slept in a ton due to going 24hrs without sleep.  My sis and I had a mini picture session on saturday.