First Time Around the Track with the New Pony

Hi everyone!


I have neglected to post recently because I wanted to wait until after I figured out my horse situation. I recently sold Bella... She was just... Quite... Opinionated and I felt like every ride we had together was a fight. Also, last Fall when we began working with my wonderful dressage instructor, Kathy Wood-Copa, I fell in love with dressage. Bella didn't really like dressage very much at all, so when the time came when my mom suggested selling her, I didn't stay opposed to the idea very long at all. She went to my old riding instructor (probably the only person who would've bought her), and I have to say, I haven't missed her really at all.


After we sold Bella, we began the horse search for the third time. For a long time, we really couldn't find anything around our area, so for Christmas, my present was a trip to Virginia with my dad to look for a horse (and of course the horse herself). I had a wonderful time riding all of the different horses, and even though some of the horses were... A bit... Different from what I was looking for, I thanked each and every one of them for the ride, taking each ride as a learning experience.


The last day of the trip, we were quite discouraged. We had not found anything the previous day, and we had looked at the majority of horses the day before. But the last day, we had two horses left to look at. Both of them were amazing possibilities. The first one was Crimson, a 5 year old OTTB who had evented Novice and schooled training level. I loved his personality and he had a nice way of going with a great dressage background as well as jumping. I thought no horse could beat him after we left. However, the very last horse we went to look at was America. She blew me away with her willingness to work, sweet attitude, and "point-and-shoot" jumping style. For a few hours I pondered this difficult decision, but soon it became clear that America was the right choice. After we flew home, we called the owners and told them we would buy her.


A few weeks later, she was shipped up to New York. Her sweet personality continued, and I couldn't have been happier with her. Unfortunately, she was shipped down during musical season, so I was very busy and could not ride, but just about a week ago I resumed riding again. She is proving to be a very nice horse! Her dressage needs a bit of work, and I still need to get to know her, but these things will come with time. She definitely has amazing basics and I can't wait to begin lessons with Kathy again! As of now, I'm riding with the owner of the barn that I board at. She is an amazing rider and definitely a role model that I can learn a lot from, and she just bought a 9 year old Paint horse, Hawk, who she is working with. He seems to be coming along beautifully.


Today, we rode in the arena and worked on a bit of dressage. We just walked and trotted today. Then, we went down to the track (more of a circular trail) for the first time. America was amazing, and seemed to really enjoy the company of Hawk. She didn't even flinch at anything, and we had a fabulous time. They look adorable together, the two pintos.

Rica and I on the left, Hawk and Toby on the right :)

As we keep working, I will definitely keep you updated regarding our progress!


~Lydia and her Dutchess <3