Lessons Well Learned...

Saturday was the learning day, put on by Oklahoma Eventers and hosted at Woodlands Equestrian Centre. The high for the day was 34 degrees and the wind was bone chilling, but being the dedicated horsepeople that we are, there was a decent turnout. I had an 8 am dressage lesson on Stretch with Chrissy Pappas. Although she didnt really tell me anything that I didnt already know was a problem, she helped me put it all together so that I could work through the problems which is exactly what I needed! It was a great ride and despite the cold, Stretch and I had both worked up a good sweat. Throughout the day were unmounted sessions pertaining to eventing, and of course lunch was provided. At 3:30 Alex and I went out on cross country for a lesson on O'Malley and Stretch with Meg Ferguson. It was a great school! We did all of the training jumps, and several prelim. Stretch also schooled the water great, which included jumping a bank in and cantering through and off the prelim bank! That was my goal for the day and anything beyond that was a bonus. We had a minor mishap at the steps into the second water, and luckily there was no water at the time! It was a prelim question jumping a series of three banks down into the water. Stretch made it halfway down the first one before changing his mind, sending me flying through his ears to land on the bottom step. After a quick body checklist, I shook it off and remounted. After a bit of an argument and several attempts, we made it down the banks in one piece. We also jumped our first trakehner, brush fence, and ditch and bank. All in all it was a good, worthwhile, and productive day! Those rides certainly give me a new bout of confidence going into the Spring season, which kicks off Feb. 4 with the hunter/jumper schooling show in OKC doing the .95 and 1.0m jumper classes.