Horse show travels: St. Paul, MN

A few weeks ago, I found out that one of my coworkers was slated to go to Minnesota to cover a reining show. And it was her birthday weekend, so she wasn't terribly excited about going. I, on the other hand, was a tad jealous, since I had never been to that part of the country. When I told her I'd go in her place, she was SO excited, and so I booked my flight and eventually was able to cross two new states off my bucket list: Minnesota and Wisconsin!

Y'all. I've never thought that Minnesota or Wisconsin were very high on my list of places to see, but let me tell you, they were BEAUTIFUL. At least at the time of year I was there. I'm not sure I could handle their winters. But when I was there over the weekend, everything was so green, the weather was pleasant, and even the farmland areas I saw of Wisconsin were gorgeous (and farmland isn't my favorite scenery). The old farmhouses and silos were so picturesque, and I was definitely that tourist on the side of the road taking pictures. And the people I interacted with were as nice as they could be. Possibly the best thing about the trip, though, was that I didn't have to explore the state(s) in a minivan – this time I was upgraded to a Jeep Patriot!

The reining show, which was in its inaugural year, was very good, and the show organizer was super nice. Hopefully I'll get to go back again next year.

Reining is hard to capture on a cell phone.

Monday I went out to see my ponies, and I was really excited because Chica was going to be used for a lesson. The little girl had just started taking lessons with my jumping trainer after coming from another barn, and during her first lesson, she fell off, making her terrified of the horse she had been riding. Part of the problem was that she came from a western barn, where they only taught her neck reining, and since she's now trying to learn English with all of its direct-reining glory, she's having a hard time transitioning. Since Chica does both, the instructor thought she might be a good mount for the little girl to learn how to direct-rein on, while at the same time building up her confidence again. Isn't it so funny how 14 years later, the horse that first shattered and then rebuilt my confidence is now helping another little girl find hers?

The instructor's opinion on Chica after the lesson: "She is worth her weight in gold." I'd have to agree.

Rosa was there too, obviously. I thought that riding her and making her focus on ME and not Chica would be good for her. Now that she's 3 and a half years old, she's lately been trying to assert her rebelliousness (I knew she was too good to be true, as easy as she was to saddle-break!) like any teenager, so our last few rides have been interesting. The one before this one, she bucked with me in the saddle for the first time. I stayed on and told her how I felt about it. While she didn't buck with me this ride, she certainly felt like she was thinking about it, but I managed to keep her moving and busy and we ended the ride on a good note. Plus, her turn-arounds suddenly improved exponentially last night, which was a pleasant surprise. I think we have a little ways to go yet in getting her lope more consistent, part of which is due to my own lack of confidence now that falling off hurts a lot more than it used to. But I'm happy that she is capable of learning and settling down even with Chica in the arena.