October Wrap Up

October was a pretty busy month for us. It is almost always the first really actually nice month in Florida, and this year did not disappoint. 

October we had: 

• 21 rides - seems to be about what we average
• 3 dressage lessons in which we worked a LOT on our trot-canter transitions
• 3 jump lessons in which we did bending lines and a bunch of bounces
• 1 cross country schooling at FHP in which Yoshi was the BEST BOY and jumped all the novice things
• 2 shows, both at Majestic 
• 3 phase schooling show where we won our entry division on a not so great 36.1 dressage score
• Jumper schooling show where we put in two solid rounds for his first time over their fill 

• 6 rides in the equibands, but I did start trailing off to the once a week use in the end of the month. These I think are a really important part of our canter transitions though. Once I realized no fireworks were coming with cantering under saddle in them, they REALLY helped me get the feel of his back staying UP during the transition
• 3 trail rides around the neighborhood, totaling 9.2 miles of walking
• 8 trailer rides. Dude is a solid traveler AND is starting to feel comfortable enough to eat hay even when traveling solo. I'm hoping this is a trend that continues. He chows down if he's with a friend, but had only been lightly picking at hay when he was by himself till the last two weeks of October when he seemed to realize he was also fine by himself. 
• Restarted clicker training with a head away approach to receiving treats, he's such a quick learner
• A couple of massage and body work sessions. Ms. GY shows me things she learns from her Masterson Method courses and Yoshi seems to really like some of them. 
• More work on clippers. Still not there yet, but when I was watching the barn for Ms. GY at the beginning of the month, I took more liberties with leaving my crap sitting around and kept the clippers right by the crossties so it was a great reminder to just plug them in and work for a few minutes each day. That dropped off after they came back though and I had to be a good boarder again and not monopolize the whole barn ;) 

November goals: 

• Yoshi is off to boot camp again this week while I'm out of town. The hope is to solidify his canter and his transitions as well as have JT pop him over fences once or twice. 
• I work EVERY weekend of the month, so no shows this month. This and the change in weather means I want to get him out to some trails at least twice this month. He is SO solid on them and seems to really enjoy exploring. We live within 30 minutes of a bunch of parks to ride in and the bugs should be much better than the hell ride my friend and I took in August or July. 
• Keep plugging away at clippers... and give him his first clip of the year. I'd always been a full clip kinda gal because I have zero ability to clip straight lines. But I'm not drugging him just to fulfill my aesthetic desires, so I think this winter I am committed to a high trace clip that lets me leave his ears. If anyone has any tips for doing a trace clip (or anything that requires a pattern anywhere), please tell me!