winding down riding at this school

this weekend, we had our last lessons at the local riding school, but i haven't posted any pix of riding of late, so i thought i'd catch up a bit. both days this weekend, sabin rode her favorite horse, zidan. it was a bittersweet parting from him and i think he will miss her as much as she misses him. they have a special relationship.

zidan

sabin and zidan get a bit of instruction from peter on saturday

boogie was a naughty pony last sunday. that's cindy right ahead of him. isn't she cute?

here's a hint of the naughties.

being good for a moment.

sabin learned a lot when the instructor helped her school him out of some naughtiness.
it's actually good for you to ride a difficult horse.

we're looking at horses at a horse "dealer" on tuesday. we're pretty excited about that. he's where the school has bought most of their horses, so we're hoping he has the right one for us!

a danish nativity play

this autumn, sabin chose to go to something called "mini-konfirmand" at the church next to her school. she had so much fun doing that every wednesday afternoon that she signed up to be part of the nativity play that they were going to put on at the church. last thursday afternoon, there was a matinee of the play at the church. then, today, sunday, they performed again during regular church services. here are some scenes from both...the pictures aren't my best work, as i didn't want to use flash - both because i was so far away it wouldn't make a difference and well, i hate flash.

the church as we approached on thursday at 4 p.m.

it was so beautiful with all of the lights.

and you have to bear in mind that the sun had been set for half an hour by then.

a view inside the church.

sabin played a "julehjerte" - a christmas heart.

it's a nativity that tries to explain the meaning of christmas

for a contemporary audience.

it was difficult to capture everyone standing still.

the whole group.

a little glazed over from the photo session at the end.

a quick shot captured by karoline during the play.

and a couple of gratituous horse shots

from the last weekend of riding lessons 'til january.

it was COLD!

sabin's new warm riding jacket and riding pants came in handy.

they're her main christmas present, but she got to open them early.

it was THAT cold.

she loves zidan at the moment.

she really clicks with him.

his fuzzy ears make him look like a teddy bear.

christmas party at the riding school

on saturday, we got a taste of exactly how many students go to sabin's riding school! and it's a lot! we went for our regular lesson in the morning and the sun was shining on a fine, winter day. sabin rode zidan, who is her current favorite. he's the one that's a little character and likes to hold the whip in his mouth while i help sabin get on. he's exactly the kind of horse we need to get for her when the time comes. in fact, i think we'll even probably try to buy him.

after our lessons, we went out to a little bitty christmas market at a little bitty castle across the fjord. there was a horse to climb on there as well.

then, it was time to go back to the christmas party at the riding school. sabin was part of the st. lucia group. they wore white sheets tied with silver garlands and decorated their riding helmets with silver garlands as well and carried a candle. we all walked into the riding hall in the dark, just by the glow of the candles, singing the st. lucia song. it was so much fun! after that, there were æbleskiver and mulled wine (gløgg) and santa came and handed out candy.

again, it's so hard to get good pictures in the dark.

here you can see the whole group and the christmas tree in the arena!

it was so much fun, it really put us in the christmas spirit.

where are the 7 dwarves when you need them?

sabin's riding snow white on saturdays now. last saturday she fell off for the first time. snow white is a bit zippier and a bit more of a handful than the other horses sabin has ridden. but it was inevitable that she would fall off at some point and she had helmet and safety vest on, so all was fine. and it didn't make her too scared to ride snow white again this week.

snow white totally ADORES jumping

but you can see how we come into a situation where we fall off her occasionally.

it happened again today.

and that's ok too.

because it's how we learn.

but we do prefer felix

galloping girl

was playing with shutter priority settings on my camera today. as you can see, i'm not there yet (need giant, fast sports zoom lens next), but i loved the motion in these galloping shots...

latest riding lesson pix

because mom wanted to see our latest riding lessons...

she's riding lisette, the danish warmblood, for both lessons on the weekend now.

they seem to have been made for one another.

you can see how good she sits in comparison to others

they were told to lean back at the canter

they're learning balance,

so that's why she's leaning back like that.

far's giving her a leg up.

it was a bit dusty in the arena.

she likes to ride bareback at the end for the warm-down.

she still sits well, even without the saddle.

very concentrated.

riding outdoors for the sunday lesson.

we even went out on a little tour outdoors.

and back again for a few rounds bareback before sunday's lesson ended.

riding lessons resume

we started back to riding again this weekend. on saturday, sabin rode a new horse named lizette. she's a lovely danish warmblood and my favorite of all of the lesson horses sabin has ridden. if we get her a horse, it will be one like lizette.

my attraction for lizette could be due to her reminding me of our old beloved i'ma susie bar (without the hauling back on every halter and breaking it).

isn't she just lovely?

she just had such a quiet, lovely way about her. and she really made sabin look good.

the lessons have gone from 30 minutes to an hour now and i think sabin will make leaps forward in progress.