Doing Well!

Hi everyone,

Hope everything is going well. We are all doing great here. Nancy Dotti of Contact Saddles came and visited us yesterday. She did a check up on my two Albion saddles. Wistar is in a SLK Ultima and Warado is in the new Platinum Ultima model which was sponsored by Nancy. I also am in an Albion KB double bridle and the Ultima girth sponsored by Nanci. She flocked them both and got them fitting the boys just right. You can schedule a saddle fitting yourself by going to www.contactsaddles.com Nanci does travel. She also left me with a beautiful 18" Platinum Ultima 18" narrow twist, narrow seat, med/wide tree that I will have available for sale when I get back if it of coarse has not alrady sold. I head over to the LA Equestrian center on Tuesday for our first competition with Wistar on Friday and Saturday. Wish us luck...

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

The horses are doing really well. Everyone has settled into their routines and we have been working diligently every day. I have been really thinking a lot about how much I appreciate all of you that have supported me through this journey. I feel so blessed to have you all in my life and really couldn't be living this dream without you. Every day I am so thankful to have such wonderful horses to ride and be in this position of learning and bettering myself in my riding skills.

Last weekend I was able to travel home and see many of my clients and husband and it was so wonderful how welcoming everyone was. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Alex for your never ending emotional support and pep talks, Charlene for you amazing horses, your life lessons and your friendship, Ashley for your hard work and dedication to me and the horses that you groom everyday and make look immaculate every time they step out of there stalls, Terry for you support through all of the years and your United Airlines passes when we need them, Chris for taking time out of your very busy schedule to come down and shoe my boys so I can keep them at their best, Marli for your beautiful Newsletter that you did for us that was so well written, Paula for your constant friendship, dedication and endless hours of hard work in trying to get me funding so that I may stay down here long enough to reach my goals, Belynda and Kiesha for keeping the horses and the farm going while I am away, Jenny and Sue for all of your help with the grant writing, to Debbie McDonald and Kristina Harrison for your acceptance and your teachings, and to all of my friends, family, sponsors, and clients that support me everyday I can't tell you enough what you mean to me. Thank you for everything that you do. I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

Weekend Complete

Hi There,

Well the weekend is complete and we are resting today. The horse's hand walked a couple of times and everybody relaxed. We moved to the farm where we will be staying for the next two months, "The Paddock". It is very nice and safe. Sunday ended nicely at the show. "Little Man" was a little tired but put in a very nice test. He finished with a 65% and I was happy. It got up to 90 degrees and he was a little doggy.

Wistar was super in our lesson with Debbie. He is really getting the idea now of the hotter reaction to my aids. We kept it short because of the heat which he I am sure appreciated.

Tomorrow the other three boys arrive. They left this morning and should be here about 9:00 AM tomorrow morning. We are all ready for them and I will take pictures so you can see them as well. I also will get pictures of Warado up so you can see all of our group. The picture up is Ashley with her boy Windtalker. That's all for now.

Jen

First Day of a New Season

Hi all,

Well the season has officially started for me this year. I had a first level ride on our Warado today or "little man" as we like to call him. He was very well behaved and did an excellent job for his first time out this year. He won his class with a 70.258%. I will work on more expression from him through out the season and see if I can get him to second level by May or so. He will be five later this year and he is extremely easy to train. I won't push it with him and see what develops.

This weekend I will continue to work with Debbie on Wistar. We had another wonderful lesson today. Reinforcing all of those pesky little half halts. We had him sitting nicely today in the canter and the trot work. She is really emphasizing to make him extremely forward thinking to my leg when we work on any sort of Piaffe work. That he is not to lean on my hand and must think more trot when my legs go back and off for the Piaffe aid. Then I can work him down in the neck to make him lift up in the back for a more correct positioning. That's all for now. I show "Little man" again tomorrow and will lesson again with Wistar. I will let you know how it goes.
Talk to you soon.

Developing Riders Clinic at LA Equestrian Center

Hi There,

Well we finished our third day of the Developing Riders Clinic today. I feel like I learned a lot and got a really good feel for how the connection needs to feel in the piaffe and how I still need to further develop better self carriage and hold a more consistent rhythm. It can be overwhelming at times at how much there is to learn but I felt like I got a real good grasp on where things need to go. I primarily worked with Debbie McDonald for the last three days and Klaus oversaw things. She is a wonderful instructor and I highly recommend if any of you ever have the opportunity to work with her you jump on it.

The first couple of days we worked on getting Wistar more supple in his body and not me trying to supple him only in the mouth. We did a lot of bending exercises and she really emphasized half halting more often but much quicker and then immediately activating the hind legs in the moment of releasing the half halt. It was like "Get of my hand but keep your hind legs moving." We worked on this quite a bit until he automatically would activate behind even when I was patting him on the neck. It was a great feeling.

Today (the third day) Debbie got on him herself and wanted to work this exercise a bit more thoroughly. He looked lovely and she got him really up in the neck and kept his hind legs very underneath him in the piaffe with the croup honestly lowering. It was very inspiring. She had many good things to say about him. I will continue to work with Debbie through the weekend. I had contemplated doing his first Grand Prix this weekend but I would rather utilize this time with Debbie before she heads back further north. I feel that I have many little things that I would like to perfect before I take him into his first GP test. All and all I am very thrilled with the week. Wistar worked very well especially after his long journey. I will work him very light tomorrow to give him a little break. Take care.

Jennifer