Rain, Rain, Go Away

Kenz and I went down to the barn on Saturday, and it poured. We met with Suzie at Mack Hill, and drove down to Wildwood with her. It was raining lightly when we tacked up for the dressage portion of our lesson, but nothing major. The real rain was coming later.
We tacked up as soon as we got to the barn, me on Justin, Kenz on Quinn, and Abby on Cimmy. We were going to start with the Beginner Novice B dressage test, despite the fact that neither me or Kenz could remember it that well. Justin was rejecting any form of contact, so our main goal was accuracy. The test went well, and was one of the better tests we've done so far. We finished the test, and the right lead canter was a bit better than the left. He had a nice straight halt, and our centerlines are getting pretty good. I need to work a bit more on sitting through the downward transitions and perching a little less.
Kenz and Quinn did well, Quinn's contact is coming along really well. His canter transitions were better on Saturday, he had a few really nice ones. The accuracy wasn't as great, but the test looked alot nicer than last week. We might still have a chance at Pipestave.
Abby ended up doing a shortened version of the test because she and Cimmy still need to work on their canter transitions and cantering in general. They just did the test minus the canter circles, and they did pretty well. The concept of dressage is new to Abby, and she's doing a great job.
After the dressage tests were finished, we worked a bit on Justin's left lead, and then brought the horses in to untack and let them relax for a little bit while we set up a little cross country course around the trails. Of course, as we're carrying muck buckets out the the trail, it begins to down pour. However, we still opted to set up our course despite the weather. We used a large puddle as a water complex, with a barrel jump on the out, and then you went up the hill to a birch jump. From there, it was a short distance to a log jump and some hay bales. They you went out to the trails and jumped a log that we rested on two large rocks, then you went all the way up to the muck bucket jump up the hill. The rest was all trail with no more jumps, with the exception of another "water complex" which was really just a large puddle.
Kenz went first, and Quinn jumped the barrels the second time through the water. After they landed off the birch jump he spun and Kenz came off. She hopped right back on and continued on the course. However, she did not realize that we weren't supposed to go all the way around the corn fields, and took ages to get back. We all figured that she had fallen off again, so Suzie sent me out before she got back. Turns out that she had gone around the cornfields, and ran into some geese, turkeys, and deer in the process.
Then it was my turn. Justin, being the good boy that he is, jumped everything on the first try. I hadn't realized how far off to the left of the trail the much buckets were, and I had no crop, so when Justin started to run out, it was hard to stop him. He did jump it, despite annihilating the log on top of it. We then cantered most of the way back, including through the deep puddle. We had to trot down the side of the rocky trail, and walked at some points because it was pretty slick, but overall we had a good time. I think cross country isn't really going to be an issue for Justin.
I'm definitely excited for Pipestave. Things are looking good, and ride times will be up this Friday. Our lesson is on Sunday this week, so I'll have more updates for you then.

Update?

Well, it's been a long time since I've updated. We're definitely going to Pipestave, so there's lots of practicing to be done. I guess I'll start with last weekend.
Me and Kenz came down on Saturday morning, and helped Suzie finish up the chores in the back barn. Then we set up a jump course, one of my favorites so far, and started to get our horses ready. Kenz still wasn't down to the ring by the time I was on and warming up, and after I had time to warm up at the trot both directions, we were a little curious as to where Kenzie was. Turned out that she fell off. Typical Kenz, got on bareback to ride Quinn to the barn, and fell off when he spooked. I still did the jump course while she iced her leg.
I've been having major issues with my position lately. My leg is solid, but due to a sore back, I have a really hard time getting my shoulders back and keeping them there. I have to constantly think about it, and then other parts of my riding suffer. I'm still working on getting horses on contact, because when I was first taught, I was taught incorrectly. Then I rode Panzer, who just didn't go on contact. At seventeen, we didn't want to bother working on contact until he could trot around the outdoor sanely. But that's a story for another day.
This past Saturday, I rode Buzz instead of Justin because someone that was interested in Justin came to ride him. She liked him alot, but her father seemed skeptical about them getting a horse, and about Justin's age. Buzz was fun, he's definitely come a long way from the last time I rode him. I had a rough time getting him to bend to the right, but the left was pretty nice once we got going. After we did our dressage tests, me and Kenz went out on the trail and for a nice gallop around the corn fields. Race horses are so fun.
One thing that really made me feel good was that Suzie told me that a true testiment to the work I've done with Justin is that he didn't buck, turn his butt in, or crow hop once the entire time the person rode him. He really has come a long way.