Another week, another experience :)

    Hello Viewers! It's that day of the week where I sit down with my coffee and write my blog. Last week wasn't quite as packed or exciting as the week before, but it definitely did have some awesome highlights :).

    To kick this week's blog off I'd like to announce that I made it to the open field. I'm finally out of the fenced-in area and allowed to ride in the public field. It is a whole new experience going from a big fenced-in field to a large open field. The horses feel the difference of being in an open space and being allowed the room to run, run, run. All the horses feel more excited and anxious to go. Although they are sometimes tougher to handle, it is an immense amount of fun letting them gallop out in a wide open space. I can't wait till January when we get out on the track.  If I could compare it to anything it would be letting a bird fly loose after it was in a large caged in area. Yes, it has room to fly in the cage, but in the open it has all the room it wants. The horses feel the same way; they are excited to no longer be in an enclosed area and to see that they can just run to their hearts' content. I've greatly appreciated riding in the public field :).

    Although my form has greatly improved and I'm looking better each day, I do have some things I need to work on. One of the biggest things is being able to develop softer hands. By this I mean being able to feel the bit in their mouths and being able to control them, slow them down, or get them to relax by barely moving my hands on the reins. The best thing I could compare this to would be an egg toss. You want to catch the egg as carefully as possible. Clenching the egg as it enters your hands will break it, but having too soft of hands and letting the egg fall through your fingers and drop to the ground will also break it. With a horse, if you pull back too hard too fast on the reins, it will irritate the horse and it will get more out of control. But if you do it too gently the horse will grab the bit and run away without you being in control at all. There is a fine line in becoming soft but firm and this is what I need to work on; to be able to feel when the horse relaxes so I can slowly give back some tension or feel the horse pick up speed so I can gradually get him/her back into control.

    I'm almost halfway done with my vegan diet. I've been going strong and even turning down ice cream and cookies for dessert; before I never would have dreamed of doing that. Last week I decided to try a new dish that I made up on my own and it was delicious :). I started off with making home- made bread dough with flour and yeast. I then rolled the dough out into very thin sheets and cut the sheet into squares. I then placed broccoli or squash on them with a slice of vegan cheese, and folded the dough over to make a pocket. They turned out phenomenal :). After tasting my first one I thought that it would be even better if I had a sauce to go with the pocket. So I took vegetable broth, worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and a pinch of sugar and added a little bit of flour to thicken the sauce up. This formed an excellent dipping sauce. What made it even better was after I was finished with the pocket, there was some of the bread left in the sauce which made it a little thicker; it turned into an excellent soup in the end. Two great dishes in one. I believe it was a great find on my part. :)

    I think it would be really neat to get all my viewers involved. So to do this, if you have any questions about my journey, the school, or anything else, please leave a comment and I'll do a Q&A in my next blog :)



                                                Have an excellent week!