Merry Christmas 2011

  I've been so busy!!! This is the one month that is constantly keeping me occupied!! Oh my.... First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all had a lovely time, wether you got snow, rain, sun or fog. (-:
  Udex and I have been doing so great!! It's been the same routine recently. Riding, playing, lunging, or another fun thing like that. Today I let Udex play and he was bucking and crow hopping! We caught one little session on camera!

 
  I got the most amazing gifts!! A very close friend, Heather, was so kind and bought me the item of my dreams.. A sony handycam!!! I've wanted one for almost a year now!!! She not only got me a handycam, but one of the nicest ones sony makes!!! It's amazing!! I'm so thankful for such great friends. Also two other families were so kinda as to give my family and I gifts. It amazes me how nice people can be, even with times being hard like now!
  I will write more later! As for now I'm super busy! Once again, hope everyone had a lovely time! Enjoy the video from Udex today! Hee-hee!

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

Lovely lesson with Lux Dressage!

  I've been so busy lately with giving lessons and riding! It's so nice to have nice fitting tack and to be able to ride my silly horse again.. Aaah! It's been a liiitle over a week since I've last posted.. and it's really crazy to think just how much has happened in that short period of time!!! First off, Udex has been gaining weight left and right! I swear, every time his blanket comes off he's bigger!!!!! He gets his beet pulp, corn oil, power pellets, and "complete" grain mix twice a day. It's been doing him wonders!!! I'm really happy to see him gaining weight finally! It took forever to find the right, nutritious, tasty, proportional combination for him but we've done it! Anyway, there were a few major things these past nine things that are worth writing about. I'll make a paragraph and maybe a picture or so with each.
  I planned on clipping Udex this year, like always. He's a sport horse that works his muscles to the max with every ride, lunge, free run, arena session... you name it! How fair is it to let him get really sweaty and chilled?? It's not. So that's why we clip horses (well, at least for me.) Half way through a somewhat high-trace style clip, my clippers died. Udex looked like a mauled horse. Chunks of fur clipped here and there, and other places still coated. Ah!!! What could I do though? Nothing. So poor Udex had to look a little ridiculous for a while!!!
  Verena Heinz from Lux Dressage is my new trainer!! I'm so, so, SO excited about this!! Yesterday I had my first lesson with her! She also finished my clip on Udex! She did such a great full clip on him! She left his face and hind legs on. It took almost two hours, yet she was so patient and calm with him!! I'm so thankful she was kind enough to finish the job.. She also managed to fix my clippers as well!! The lesson with her was great!! She has to be one of the best riders I've ever seen. I think everyone knows how still and quiet Edward Gal can sit a horse... I thought it impossible to sit a horse more still. Then I watched videos of Verena and was proved wrong! She sat the horses from the videos I'd seen so beautiful. Not moving at all!! I was really eager to see how her seat would be with bumpy rocking horse Udex!! WOW!!!!! Beautiful!! Not moving at all while Udex cantered and trotted! It was magnificent looking!! My camera died. ): I wanted very badly to take videos! I'd never seen a more elegant rider before!
  Besides having such a graceful seat and being a talented dressage rider, Verena is an extremely kind horse woman; which to me is important. She said riding Udex she could tell he has much fear of the reins and legs (from his rollkur past). She respected that. She didn't force him to do what he wasn't comfortable with. He was throwing his head (from fear) and going like a Lama, but she helped him to gain confidence, and every time he relaxed and went round, she would instantly praise him. By the end of her time riding him, you could see he felt better about going round, and was more calm and trusting. I think it was really good to see a professional rider ride him, and still see that he was afraid. It made me feel better knowing that it wasn't just me not being a good enough rider for him. Most the fear is made up in his head. The pain was once there; yes. However, it's gone now and I'm making sure it never comes back. He just needs to trust me 100% on that. It will take time to have him get used to this new way of life, but I think once he realizes everything is okay, he will be okay.
  It's very probable that I'll be moving Udex to Verenas barn to further progress in training for the both of us. We will be training daily there; which is what we both need if we want to have a future in this sport. I'm really excited about this!! Everything seems really clear when I think about joining their lovely facility! The opportunity to train with such elite riders is so tempting!! I also know that at her stable, there would be other Udex's. Horses that are dressage from tail to nose, flashy movements, similar personality, similar builds... I have a feeling Udex would be extremely happy there..
    I have high hopes for the future at this moment!

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

 

Possibly going to America?

  It's been lovely riding with Udex! He's totally comfortable in his new saddle, which is refreshing. He doesn't throw his head at all! He does still go like a lama, but very rarely. I think the lama act is more so out of fear of pain. With every ride he's learning there is no pain so no need to go as lama. Every ride after a bit, he realizes that and stops being Lama-Boy. It's been all rain here in Germany, so unfortunately the horses are cooped up in their boxes. Udex has been hot to the touch- I like! The slightest leg movement and zooom! He's off! He's been giving this huge, floaty trot! That's not even his extension, just his regular working trot. I asked him for an extension and got this amazing result. It was so floaty I could actually sit it smoothly! I could feel the lift it had from the ground. HUGE! My friends eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw that big movement. Sometimes I frustrate myself because Udex is a grand prix horse, but I am no grand prix rider yet. I sometimes wonder that if someone more experienced had a seat on his back what amazing movements I would get from him! Oh well, just means I have to learn it faster!! (-:
 More news! We may be moving to The U S of A soon! Perhaps Wyoming?We're going to move back to the states sooner or later. It's really all just a matter of time. Anyways, there is a slight chance we may be moving before October! Exciting!! That means Mr. Udex would be taking a plane trip! I've read up about it and from what I've heard there is usually three stalls. The tallest horse in the middle and smaller ones to the side. My first thought was "Oh great. My 17.3 hand Udex who has horse-phobia in the middle of two strangers mid air! Aaaah!" Oh boy!! I'm getting excited thinking about this! I'm a bit bummed about the quarentine and not being able to see him until thats done, but other then that I think I'd easily accept the fact Udex is flying.
 Oh well more updates later I guess! Obviously I'd love to stay here as long as I can and train! However it's about time to start our name in America!! (-:

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."