HOW DID YOU CHALLENGE YOURSELF THIS WEEK? ENTER THE ECOGOLD CHALLENGE! WEEK #5

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chelly on August 3, 2009 at 12:30pm

My challenge this week has been two fold. First, I have trailered my horse across Ontario on a long weekend without any major headaches thus far! I wanted to go home to visit family and friends, but wanted to spend the time preparing my horse for our first horse trial of the year, coming up this weekend. Physically, getting up at 4 am on Saturday, and driving 7 hours, and doing everything necessary to help her be as healthy and happy as possibly along the way was challenging, but successful! She feels better than I do!

Second part of this challenge has been to maintain my focus on preparing for the show this weekend. Planning is key and it's been hard to explain to some of my non-horsey friends why I can't just "take a day off". My horse and I are working towards a personal best this weekend, and we're very close to getting there! Balancing my non-horsey life with my horsey life has been a huge challenge for me, and I really think this week has been a golden week for me moving past that problem!

Chelly

Permalink Reply by Christianna Capra on August 3, 2009 at 5:47pm

This week I challenged myself by having our first equine assisted therapy session for Spring Reins of Hope. My healer horse, Spring worked with a set of twins (age 5) a boy and a girl. The girl was very excited to be with the horse and the boy who is mild autistic was there to recieve the healing energy from the horses.

I was a little bit nervous - being the first time and all. We did an hour session that included mounted work - walking with leaders in the arena which went really well. The rest of the session was spent on the ground in the grooming stall, in the wash stall with water and also outside with the horse. I was most amazed by how the horse interacted very differently with both the kids, with the girl he was very inquisitive and playful. With the boy he was very serious and incredibly precise with his movements and gestures - he repeatedly reached to touch the boy's crown chakra with his lips over and over again.

I felt very successful afterwards, knowing that if I just released my fears and trusted the horse all would be fine and it was.

Four days after the session I received an email from the mother of the twins saying that she has seen a lot of development with her son. She tributed this to the time spent with the horse. Quoting: "thank you so much for a magical experience, Spring is an amazing healer. thank you".

I cant wait to continue and grow - the reward is so huge emotionally.
So I am proud and invigorated for this week.

Christianna Capra
Spring Reins of Hope, Getting to the Horse of the Matter
NY/NJ

Permalink Reply by Cindy Toth on August 3, 2009 at 7:40pm

My challenge this week was to jump my TB. Its been six years since we cantered fences together and when we used to jump regularly it wasn't pretty. He was a dirty stopper so that if I did not ride perfectly to the fence, he did a "you-go-first." There were even times the front two legs would come off the ground and then he would whip back and I would land on the fence. I almost never jumped ahead or caught him in the mouth. He was just dirty.

I stopped riding for a couple years due to college and started getting back into riding as an outlet to stress. Our partnership has matured over the years and we've actually started to really come together. I asked my friend to pop him over a few fences just to see what he would do. He cantered around like a hunter pony and my friend said he was being so super that I had to get on. With very shaky legs I picked up a trot both directions and then a canter as a quick warm-up for myself. Trotting the first fence was horrible and it did not get any easier with each fence. You just can't let your guard down with a dirty stopper. But he was perfect and his gait was springy and light. I forgot to breathe cantering the fences but it was ok because I survived! It was an amazing feeling afterward and such a relief.

It gave me new drive to continue dropping my stirrups and ride more regularly so that we can have another jumping lesson in the near future. Even though the fear still grips me breathless, every little fence is a huge milestone.

Permalink Reply by Leah Klaassen on August 5, 2009 at 1:07pm

well, my whole week was a bit of a challenge. nine long lessons riding a s---l---o---w old man horse.
he jumped pretty well, but everything he did was in slow motion. my stirrup fell off and i ate the dirt twice in one lesson (once over a jump). it was a bit of a challenge not to just lose my temper with the darn horse, but i managed to stay positive. he taught me not to let the horse win a canter battle, and not to lean to far forward over jumps!

Permalink Reply by Diana on August 8, 2009 at 9:25am

This past week I ultimately challenged myself to ride 50 miles each day for 3 days in the Shore to Shore Endurance Ride.

On Sunday, Bask N Coins and I finished 9th in the 50 Mile Endurance Ride out of 19 starters. On Monday, I rode another competitors horse, Collected Ballast, in the 50 Mile Endurance Ride to finish 19th out of 20 starters - my horse had gone the day before and I was asked just to get him across the finish line sound, which we did while slowing down to help a rider in trouble get across the finish line too. Tuesday I took off as Bask N Coins had incurred a muscle cramp on Monay with my mom due to deep sand footing, cold temperatures, rain and winds. Wednesday, Bask N Coins and I were back in fine form to finish 5th out of 17 starters in the 50 Mile Endurance Ride.

Talk about challenging! The trail was technically challenging - deep sand footing, twisty turny trail in the bush that had you feeling like you were constantly pole bending, The temperatures were mid-70's to low-80's, humidity was moderate, so you had to electrolyte every hour and use any and all available water when you found it. We camped out every night with base camp moving as we crossed from the shore of Lake Huron towards the shore of Lake Michigan (I didn't stay to complete the 5-7 day competition) - I tell you camping in the back of a stock trailer is not fun when the temps dip at night to the 50's.

On all days my ride time was 5-7 hours for the 50 miler including just under 2 hours of mandatory holds, so we averaged 8.5 - 10 miles per hour.

I'm so pumped about the week that I plan on heading back in the next couple of years (hopefully next year) and riding the days I haven't yet ridden.

Permalink Reply by Michelle Synnot on August 8, 2009 at 3:19pm

My challenge this week was to learn how to ride properly in a pelham. I haven't ridden with two sets of reins since I was a teenager. I would really like to graduate to the double bridle one day so I figured I had better give it a try.

I spent the first 15 minutes warming up just using the snaffle and keeping the curb rein slack and then slowly getting the feel of putting it into action.. I diddn't have a proper flat rein in my tack box, so I ended up using a braided rein, I plan to go purchase a flat set as the braided is quite cumbersome.

I actually had fun.. it was neat being able to use each rein independantly for different aids and my horse was quite happy, blowing and licking and chewing. I really lowered my stirrups and practiced riding in a dressage seat as opposed to my usual forward seat. I actually found it was a lot easier on my back and really felt connected to my horse through my seat and had a good sitting trot, perhaps the best I've had yet! This is a big deal for me as he's got a huge step and I've always had trouble learning how to sit it. (I still have to learn how to sit an extended trot though, how do people do it!!)

I had such a nice relaxing ride... perhaps I'll switch to dressage!!

Permalink Reply by Lucy on August 8, 2009 at 9:49pm

My challenge for this week was to do my first training level dressage test and to do it on a horse that I have only ridden a handful of time. I completed it today and it was such a fantastic feeling to get through it and to have done as well as I did. While we did not come home with a ribbon we still came home with a great experience and had a blast and a score that I was quite proud of. In order to complete this challenge I first had to overcome my fear of cantering which I finally did about a month ago.

Permalink Reply by Patricia at ECOGOLD on August 10, 2009 at 9:33am

And the winner is...Chelly. Congratulations. Please email your shipping info at patricia@ecogold.ca so we can send you the ECOGOLD halfpad.