Oh man that was rough

Rough couple of weeks; I've been very busy and have had a lot of stuff going on! I'll hopefully catch up this weekend, but it will take up a few posts.

So last time I wrote I was at the end of spring break and hadn't gotten much homework done. At the last Equestrian Club meeting (March 3rd), I was voted as the new Parliamentarian and on Tuesday March 24th we had a get-together with the old directors and the new directors. It was a lot of fun! We had lasagna and rolls and salad and lots of good deserts. The old directors are staying on until the end of the term, with a transition time for the new directors. Normally the new directors aren't elected until April or May, I think. We just hung out, weren't planning on having a meeting or anything, but ended up discussing a few things. One of the horses, Chico, had swelling in his back legs. No lameness, just swelling, probably from kicking his stall. We also have Maryland Day coming up, on April 28th. It used to be Ag Day, where the Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) college had a fun day. Now the entire university does it. I only know about the things the AGNR college and clubs are doing. The Equestrian Club is having a horse show, with halter, equitation, hunter hack and jumping classes. I'll probably be doing an equitation class, and maybe a hunter hack class. They're also doing a fundraiser by taking picutres of kids on one of our horses, then printing the pictures and making frames in horse shoes. The Animal Husbandry Club is doing an animal show where students show pigs, sheep, steers, etc. That's just a long explanation about what we were talking about at the get-together.

The next day, Wednesday, I had another great riding lesson! We did some more jumping, harder jumping. Sara, our instructor, had us doing 3 jumps in a row by the end of the lesson! It was a lot of fun, and I could really feel my improvement. I was surprised that she had me doing 3 jumps in a row, since this was only my second time jumping! There were two cross rails, and a normal jump at about 18 inches. I got a nice ego boost. Sara's friend was there, and said she couldn't believe it was only my second time jumping. I'm not saying I looked perfect or anything, I was leaning too far forward and didn't keep my lower leg still enough. And I'm sure plenty of other things. But it sure felt good! I felt balanced and in control.

Next post: 4-H judging and a possible job!

More polocrosse

Our lesson today was in the morning instead of night, since we're on spring break. No missing dinner for me! Our trainer taught us more about polocrosse - but this time, we were in the saddle! woo-hoo! Well, we also did a lot on the ground to get used to catching, throwing, picking up, and cradling the ball. Lots of fun, although my throwing will need a lot more work.... My hand and arm were tired by the end of the lesson. It was a 2 hour lesson, but we spent a lot of time on the ground learning practicing the moves. When we were in the saddle, it was mostly walking and trotting with the horses, since we're just learning this sport. I hope the club does start doing bimonthly polocrosse clinics/chukkahs (A chukkah is like the "period" of the game).

My spring break has been pretty lazy. I have gotten a start on my projects I want to get done during break, but I still have a lot more to do. I gave myself Saturday and Sunday off, Monday I did some work, and yesterday I went to my friend Linda's house to help her with gardening. She has a very small back yard, and just had a couple corners partitioned off for her garden. We planted carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, spinich, cauliflower, and radishes. Her fiance had tilled on Saturday, at least that was done! We added some top soil, planted, set up the trellices, set up the soaker hose, and set up the fence. All in all, only about 2 hours of work. The rest of the day we watched movies. And her fiance cooked us chinese for dinner, yum!

My mom has a very big garden at home (some pictures at www.mtaonline.net/docdent), and I never really enjoyed helping her out with the work; the weeding was the worst! I never thought I would enjoy gardening, but working in a very small garden like that I enjoyed. Go figure. As if I wasn't already enough like my mom... Not that that's a bad thing, I love my mom. I would just like to be more unique!

Well, now that I've caught up on my blog a little bit, I should really get working on those lab reports... yay...

Time to celebrate!

All right, Spring Break is finally here! I get a week off classes, although not off school in general since I'll be doing a lot of school work. But it's so nice to get that week off! I had a test today in physiology and I know I aced it! I think they wanted to give the class an easier test because the first two had such low averages. I also decided to drop Organic Chemistry for sure because I don't need it. One less stressor!

My riding lesson on Wednesday was, again, awesome. No more jumping, but we did some dressage, working on laterals (a new termed I learned for stuff that I had already been doing). We did some stirrupless riding, two point at the walk (I'm still sore from that today!). Then we did some bending, walking and trotting around in a circle. We did some cantering, but not much. I rode this big paint draft cross, he was so big and smooth. Responsive to aids, but not as sensitive as I like (well, what can you expect from a school horse? he's pretty good considering). Then we started working on laterals - half-passing, shoulder in, etc. I got a couple of nice compliments from our instructor - first she put me on the horse that had supposedly acted like a "dick" earlier, because she figured I could handle it. He was fine, no problems, though. Then she said that she didn't know what I was doing in the lesson program, that I should be one of the trainers! That was very nice to hear. I have a lot to learn, but it's nice to know that all my riding has paid off and is obvious. It's been a long time since I've done laterals, and even longer since I've worked on bending (not as applicable on the trail). My muscles knew what to do, though, and I haven't lost the touch for being able to tell when they're legs are crossing over under neath me. Hard to explain, but I can always feel when those legs cross over like they're supposed to!

We're going to have a lesson next Wednesday during spring break, but only 2 of us plus our instructor will be there (usually 4 students). So we thought we would do some polocrosse, and have a longer lesson. Start on the ground to get used to the net (stick? whatever it's called), then get on the horses and try throwing the ball around. I'm looking forward to it! I also met someone recently that lives about an hour away who has horses and is willing to let me ride one of hers. That's too far to go every week, but I think I'll go next week and get to ride on some trails! She's really into competitive trail riding (CTR) and endurance, and CTR being my true love with riding, I'm looking forward to riding with her.

Have a great weekend everybody!