Luvs My Ponies

Hi, everybody! This weekend I completed the AHA (American Hippotherapy Association) clinic Equine Skills Level II. I am so excited! There was a chance that I might not have been able to do it, but everything worked out. I have now completed all of the AHA clinics that apply to horse leaders and side-walkers in therapy. There's talk that they might be coming up with some more curriculum and I hope that they do! These clinics are pretty fun and great to get when you work at a hippotherapy center like I do. :)

There's also a helmet story I wrote about me and my mom for another helmet contest on Riders4Helmets' website. You can read it here:

http://www.riders4helmets.com/2011/12/the-day-i-made-a-promise-to-myself-by-madison-hood/


See you guys soon! :)

Hi, guys! Here's a link to what I had to write for a Riders4Helmets contest to win a Charles Owen helmet. If you want to see why I think we as riders should all wear helmets and how important I think this campaign is, you can read it here:

http://www.riders4helmets.com/2011/11/charles-owen-“strap-one-on”-helmet-contest-entry-24-–-by-madison-hood/

Thanks! :)

Guys, I have an extremely busy month coming up. There's so much that I'm doing. For starters, I am participating in/working an AHA (American Hippotherapy Association) Equine Skills and Treatment Principles Level II workshop. I am also planning on filming for my PATH International Instructor Certification on the 7th. Then Ryan Bell, one of my favorite instructors, is coming back into town and I plan on taking a lesson with him on Oreo. Not to mention getting ready for Christmas.

Needless to say, I am going to be busy. However, I will still come on here and give you guys updates.

One more update before I sign off...I am going to enter the USDF University Program in January. I am so excited! I've been looking forward to it for a while now. :)

ttyl! :)

Hey, everyone! As some of you may know, I am a BIG supporter of riders wearing helmets, no matter the age or discipline of the rider. Well, I entered a contest with Riders4Helmets where I had to list my top ten reasons why you should wear a helmet. I thought I'd share those with you all. Here's the link:

http://www.riders4helmets.com/2011/11/top-ten-reasons-to-wear-a-helmet-–-by-madison-hood-troxel-helmet-contest-entry-34/

Visit http://www.riders4helmets.com/ to learn more about this awesome campaign. :)

Hi, all! To those who remember, I said earlier this year that I wanted to show Oreo (who I am now leasing) at a dressage show later this year. Well, I was able to do that! We showed in Intro A and Intro B with final scores of 70.00% and 63.125%, to place first in both classes! Here are some pics of the show:

Right before they rang the bell



After Intro A



Oreo's a ham...gotta keep an eye on that camera! :p



Halt down center line




Oreo and his ribbons :)



Hello! As many of you may now know, NARHA (formally known as North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) has changed their name to PATH (Professional Assoication of Therapeutic Horsemanship) International. You can find out more about this fabulous organization at http://www.pathintl.org/.

As you may know, I was going after my instructor certification with this organization this year. I attended the workshop and certification process, but I was not passed. I made an error in my teaching...I did not explain my riding skill that I was teaching to the students. I passed the riding test, but not the teaching portion.

The news isn't all bad. All I have to do is record myself teaching another lesson and send it in to PATH. I have to pay a resubmission fee, but it's not bad. Plus I had a really great time at the workshop and met lots of great people. :)

So, my certification has been set back a couple months, but don't worry...my name will be on Registered Instructor status soon! And I can't wait! :)

My handsome buddy :)

Hey, guys! My trainer just gave me a new horse to work with. He was in need of someone to ride him and just basically be his buddy, so I took on the job. :) His name is Oreo and he is a 12 year old Paint/Arabian cross.

Oreo and I have a little bit of history. I first met him when I started working at the farm. I wanted to ride him, but unfortunately, he had gotten injured and was on stall rest for quite some time. I hand walked him every day and was the first one to ride him once he got the ok from the vet.

At this point in time, I had Cappy as my project pony. This year, Cappy moved to our barn's other location and he has a little girl leasing him, so I don't need to ride him like I used to. But since Oreo needed someone and he and I are both at the same barn, it's worked out pretty good.

Oreo is a blast to ride! He's the sweetest horse I have ever met. He's fantastic in therapy...sometimes the kids call him the cow!

I hope that later this year, I can take Oreo to one of the local shows. I gave him a show name just a few weeks ago. He'd never had one. I dubbed him Milk's Favorite Cookie....couldn't resist the whole cookie theme lol :)

Anyway, Oreo and I are making great progress together. He follows me around the arena like a little lost puppy! I love him and look forward to seeing what we can do together. :)

I had my first horse show of the season today! I rode Captain Hook (aka Cappy), my fav pony and main man. We got four firsts and three seconds!

Cappy and I had a blast. He was so good for me. Ribbons don't matter, he did almost everything I asked him to do the minute I asked him to do it. We were a definite team and it showed. I am super proud of him! He most certainly made me look good out there!

Doesn't he look cute all braided up? This is the first time we've braided him since we've had him.

Cappy's given me a lot of firsts with my riding: first project pony, first horse show, first true friendship with a horse, first farrier bill.... I always hoped he'd take me to my first blue ribbon. Well, he did better than that and took me to my first four! He's my buddy :)

Anyways, here's some pics of us at the show. I'm so glad at how well we performed :)

Oh, and props to my main trainers, Jessi and Susannah! Without them, this wouldn't have been possible :)



They couldn't have paid me to quit smiling :)




Very nice trot, Cappy



I really like this shot :)

Little horse, big horse :)

Back at the farm with Cappy, his ribbons, and my wonderful trainer, Jessi



Cappy and I before our lesson with Ryan

I just had one of the best experiences of my life! Yesterday I got a lesson with a Grand Prix level dressage rider and trainer. I am one lucky girl! His name is Ryan Bell. I took the lesson on my favorite pony and he really liked him. We had planned on doing some jumping, but we were making so much progress on the flat that I asked to keep doing that rather than jump and he was ok with that. One thing we were working on was Cappy cantering from the walk. He has never learned that and it was cool teaching Cappy something new. He was such a good boy and tried super hard for me. Through Ryan's coaching, I felt like I was riding a totally different pony and I felt like a different rider. It was awesome!

I was going to have another lesson with Ryan while he is still in town, but sadly, the other pony I was going to ride was a little off, so I'm not going to ride him tomorrow. So I guess I will have another lesson when he's back in town.

At least I have had the opportunity to watch some of the other lessons he has been teaching. You can learn a lot from just watching and listening to a lesson. In fact, Ryan wants me to record other people ride so that I can look back on it and reflect and learn. It doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I wish I had pics of my lesson, but the girl who was going to take them had to go ride, and I didn't know this until after my lesson. Oh well. I guess I'll get pics next go-round. :)

It's not every day you get to take a lesson with a Grand Prix level trainer and I am very fortunate that I was able to take a lesson since he is so busy. I totally plan on taking lessons with him whenever I can when he's in town. :)

Haha, Grady's posing for the camera

 Hi, everyone! I recently got a new dressage trainer. This now makes 3 trainers for me. I am super blessed! Our lesson went very well...it was actually my first official dressage lesson! I am very excited about our new journey that's about to begin and I thought I'd share some pics :)




I love how long my leg looks in this pic



This is the most relaxed at the canter I've ever been!



I love Leslie <3

So, that's it for now. I'll continue to keep everyone updated :)

My first taste of cross country...sort of :)

Hello all! First, thank you for coming to visit my blog. For this first post, I'm going to tell you who I am and what I'm about.

First off, I work at a barn. I've been there for almost two years. It's my first barn job and I absolutely love it! It is a facility that offers three types of riding programs: hippotherapy, therapeutic riding lessons, and regular lessons. I assist in the hippotherapy and therapeutic riding lesson programs and I train with both of our trainers in the regular lesson program.

I am starting to teach riding lessons of my own in the regular program. This summer I am going after my NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) riding instructor certification. I am super excited about it! Then I will be able to teach in our therapeutic riding program as well.

I have come a long way in the two years that I've been with horses. I think that is because I know this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I didn't get into the horses till I was 20 and I'm so grateful that I have them.

I will be keeping you updated on what I'm doing, so check back often. Again, thanks for stopping by!