I’ve said before, how much I enjoyed riding Miss Lucy.
Here she is, in all her glory! I credit her to my love of jumping as an adult, as she was a really solid, steadfast jumper and always took me where I wanted to go.
Look at us, so brave!
Lucy at Bear Hill
Yeah, sentimental old me- lately I feel like I’ve been saying to people- hey stop with the mare-bashing, some of the NICEST horses I’ve had have been mares! (ok, so maybe I just leased them, but man, i loved those girls!).
One such mare was Lucy, who is now a school horse with her owner Cathy Harrison, with the Harrison School of Horsemanship. I rode her when I was getting back into riding during university, after having take a year or so off.
I started riding at Bear Hill with Cathy when it was still operating. Lucy was very good to me, as an adult coming back after a year or more off, and we took to jumping together really well. I would have loved to buy her- I recall she was going for $4,500 but I couldn’t afford a horse at the time (broke university student!) and felt really glad that she was going with her current trainer to be her school horse.
I remember snowy days, misty days, cold days, rainy days. All good days when I was getting back in the saddle.
Without further ado- photos of Lucy- loved that girl!
Go girl!
Misty day- hard to believe this was almost 10 years ago?
I have a painting of this one!
Lucy at Bear Hill
I have this done up as an oil painting too!
Loved this girl, wanted to dedicate some more photos to her!
Bear Hill- over the barrels
She was such a lovely little horse, very game and very engaging. I also fell off her while riding hungover- she spooked at a pylon, and she did sometimes have a buck (but not compared with what Oats had! hah!)
Oops short spot!
Really liked her jump, and she helped take me back into riding after a few long months off for school…Well, more like maybe a year even? Now she is a riding school pony (still) with my former trainer, who has had her for years now. Man, I so wanted to buy her when I left school (she was $4,500) but I could’t afford to! Well, I’m glad she is still around and doing well as a school pony!
whee!
Here’s me and Lucy again, it looks like it’s time stamped for July 15, 2006. Loved that girl! She was such a lovely ride. We enjoyed our time together at Bear Hill very much.
Now on to my current beast…Hah I can barely remember my rides from the weekend, but they were pretty good I think…
Saturday– Flatwork with Oats, as we rode during a beginner’s riding lesson. I was expecting to feel bored by it, but in my work with Oats getting increased contact, our flat rides have actually felt HARD. They are physically a LOT of work!? What the heck? No horse-shaped balloon here. We did transitions on a circle; trot-canter-walk-trot-canter-walk. And it was tough!
Sunday– Hmmm now I really can’t remember… Oh wait, I wanted husband to take some pics or a video, and promptly rode Oats over a few small fences set up (haybales, x-rails, and a few verticals 2′) and he was great! We even trotted a small 2′ oxer! And no husband…So, no pics. He came down to the arena as we were cooling out. Booo!
Tuesday– More flatwork on a circle. Transition, some nice canter work that felt pretty connected. Trotted a vertical. Oats had a lovely canter.
Wednesday– Group lesson with Sarah and Donato. Yay! Oats was a tad cranky at Donato (who is this monster running up behind me???) but he can deal with. I was very proud of our canter work- over the ‘death circle’ of poles that foiled us many times in the past in the summer. Our canter has gotten SO much better, it felt great! We moved on to trotting, then cantering a crossrail, then working over a small course of 4 or so jumps. It was great! Donato was a very fancy jumper, just a bit quick.
So that’s our week in an nutshell. Taking today off (I do usually ride Thursdays) because I am going to a Mounties concert! YEAH!!!
Circa 2005 to 2006? Here I am with Lucy again, I loved that girl!
She was a bit behind my leg that day, but still managed to be pretty cute.
I believe it was quite snowy this day, hence we are back in the indoor arena.
I know it’s a day late for Throwback Thursday, but I finally uploaded a bunch of old videos from my time riding at Bear Hill (before it shut down in 2006 or 2007?)
Most of these videos are from around 2005-2006. I loved riding Lucy, she was such a special girl.
It’s amusing to go back and watch these. I feel like I have improved- haven’t I?
So–Funny Friday happened yesterday and today is Throwback Thursday. We’re all topsy-turvy!
The adventures of Mr. Oats 