South Carolina Nice and Lotsa Lessons

Happy Saturday!  I'm back at the Atlanta Bread Company to use the internet.  My computer battery is running low, and some nice gentleman saw me searching for an outlet, got up, moved his breakfast, and offered me his table!  The South is definitely different.  People move a little more slowly, are a lot more friendly, and generally seem more cheerful than farther up on the East Coast.  On the way to my first lesson with Mara, I pulled over to double check my directions, and three people stopped to ask if I was lost and needed help.  Gotta love it!

The horses continue to go well.  Below is me with the boys loading up to go cross country schooling on Thursday.  Rufus, Bumblerry, and Pete went out with Sally Cousins to Full Gallop Farm, about 25 minutes from home.  I don't think I had had a cross country lesson since Florida last spring!

Schooling is always a good reality check to see where we are in our training.  Rufus hadn't practiced cross country since his last competition last November.  It is always encouraging when they remember what they learned last season.  We're ready to go!

(Rufus in the water jump).

(Practicing galloping fences around the farm). 

(Running Rufus through his gears around Full Gallop Farm). 

This was Bumblerry's second formal cross country school.  He found everything to be quite easy and unimpressive!

(Bumble jumping a roll top at Full Gallop). 

(Bumbleberry galloping at Full Gallop). 
(Bumbleberry practicing banks). 

Sorry I don't have any pictures of Pete.  My trust photographer Ayla had to take a time out to go and get her own horse ready to compete this weekend.  Pete stepped up to the plate and jumped happily around many of the beginner novice and novice jumps.  It's fun to train the horses who are smart and willing to try new things. 

Thursday we also went to watch the US Training Sessions again.  Below is Phillip Dutton during his jumping lesson.  

Yesterday I had two more dressage lessons with Mara Dean.  It was Bumbleberry's first "grown up" lesson.  Rufus felt better than on Tuesday, and I feel like he's ready to move to a new phase of his training, like graduating from high school to moving on to college.  Yesterday I also got to watch Liz Turnquist's lesson with Kathy Theissen, another Minnesotan who has ended up in Aiken.  I'm with horses all the time in Virginia, but it's been a long time since I took and watched so many lessons in such a concentrated period of time!

The boys will have an easier weekend of practicing and resting at home this weekend before gearing up for our first competition next Wednesday.  Tomorrow we may go for a nice walk in the famous Hitchcock Woods in Aiken to let them relax.  The perfectionist in me wants to keep drilling them and myself, but I also know that both horses and humans need some down time to digest and to renew. 

Have a great weekend!