Jenny Salinger

Wait- how do I do this???
I am suffering from a terrible syndrome, let me tell you the symptoms: excessive asleepyness, unfunctionality of brain, inability to form words, sudden violent unconsciousness. I have even made sure that I had spare time in the evening to blog and catch up on work but I have discovered that if I want to be productive I cannot come home if it is past 12pm. So to those of you who frequent wifi hotspots near Wellington prepare to see a lot more of me....
February 10- 24 Condensed Version
2/10 Lesson with Lendon and Anatomy test :/.
2/11 day off- Kayaking, fun times.
2/12 Daniel Martin the Spanish Olympian that rode Kim Boyer's Grandioso in the 2012 London Olympics generously came to teach us at Hampton Green while him and his Spanish teammate Juan Manuel were in town for the USPRE party. I was lucky enough to ride with Dani. His all out attitude and demand for power and energy kind of kicked our butt, which was exactly what we needed. Leo and I both worked really well with Dani and had a great ride. We even got to talk to Dani and Juan about their experience in London. Head over to http://www.topiberian.com/ to check out video footage and articles of Dani and Juan's trip to Wellington (look close and you'll see me in the background :)
2/13 Day two with Dani. Today we tried our best to come into the lesson with all the power that Dani so fervently asked from us. This allowed the focus to be placed more on throughness and expression within movements. Tonight was the USPRE party. From the flamingo dancers to the wonderful catering by Frederic Boyer to the lovely Spanish horses this party immersed you in Spanish culture.
2/14 {Happy Valentines Day! -corny moment here, thanks for the box-o-chocolates mom & dad :)Day three with Dani (I simply cannot believe that I was able to work with Dani for three days!!). These Spanish guys work you hard in your lessons, its all business. By day three Leo and I were pretty beat but we were still producing some of our best rides. Today was even more fine tuning, I had a blast.
2/15 Workout in the barn in the morning followed by a lecture with Jenny van Wieren who oversees USEF High Performance. After that we hung around to show grounds to watch some of the tests. Then a super uber fun hack day in the rain with Allyssia.
2/16 Show season has definitely kicked off- we began the day by supporting some of the WIT gals at their show. Then a lesson with Lendon. paraphrasing here but... "Dont settle, when you really ride for it it is amazing."
2/17 Despite my light complaining it was nice to finally be cold again. (well 40 degree cold, hey when your in florida the lower temperatures hit you hard). Lesson with Lendon- We worked on solidifying my rein contact and ensuring that I stay balanced and even in both reins throughout the ride. Then later on we had a lecture with Lendon on double bridles.
2/18 Happy Presidents Day! I took a job babysitting for a trainer in the area and got to hang out with an awesome kid hiding from scary bears and driving around with Lightning McQueen and the friendly lions. Breakfast for dinner potluck, PJs mandatory followed by a gym visit. Yup we strutted into the gym in our ducky and Eeore pants.
2/19 Lesson with Koryn Staehling, Courtney King's assistant. She was a lot of fun to work with, and she liked my pony :) We worked on putting together a few of the second level test movements. Afternoon lecture with Betsy Lebelle from Dressage Today on working with the press. We had a mock press conference where three of us were being 'interviewed' at 'young riders'. My story, as assigned by Lendon, was that I placed 2nd after having a traumatic fall in the warmup when my big fancy warmblood got spooked by some girl named Ally's paint (Ally you are getting my imaginary dry cleaning bill :) All fun aside this lecture was really helpful and I hope to get an opportunity to use my newfound press conference skills.
2/20 Lesson with Lendon. More work on the 2nd level movements, especially canter to walks. They are getting there. Thanks to Katie we were able to get a tour of the Sanctuary at WEF showgrounds. We got to see and even experience some of their therapeutic equipment. I got to use the Magna Wave on my back and it's 'shock-like' pulses felt great on my sore muscles, the horses must love it. We also got to stand on the vibration plates while the staff told us about their benefit for blood flow and tissue growth. It was a very cool way to spend a few hours.
2/21 Schooling Show (did you catch on by my last two lessons being on test movements). We rode Second Level 2 and 3. I had never ridden either of these tests and we did quite well scoring a 60+ and 63+ and receiving the title of high point second level for the show! To wrap up the day we did Equilaties with Betsy Steiner- check this out for yourself, its great. Lecture on Chiropractic and massage work for horses then a quick Food Truck Invasion stop and night check with one of the girls. {so I kind of, just a little bit, lost my wallet at food truck but thanks to the kindness of a man named Tom who found it and called my farrier Nacho whose number was inside, who then called me, I was able to get it back. Keep up hope there are some kind people out there}
2/22 Game Day. White Fences take two- this time it was recognized. We had a really nice and rideable Second Level Two test and received a 61+. The best part of the show was having the judge come up to me and compliment my equitation and my "soft" hands!
2/23 One of the troubles that comes with showing your event horse in straight dressage shows is that when it comes time to ride your second test the horse becomes confused. To the horse we do one dressage test then comes cross country. So I decided not to sign up for the show today and take Leo out for a bit of a run, get our cross country fix :) This was a much needed adventure for both of us.
2/24 Whoops, sorry horse I lied back to dressage. Today we rode Second level test 3 scoring 65.296! Yay!! Qualifying score number one check (ahh). Thank you to everyone who came out to see me and help out. Back at the barn we had a lecture on how to use the Balimo stool. This is a stool that swivels on top which allows you to move your pelvis as if you are on a horse and work on body alignment and use without putting the stress on your horses back. [to be honest you are going to have to look this one up on your own if you want to know more because it confuses me a little].
Cha Cha
-- Jenny

Catching up on some pics...