Milwaukee Light

The first week of November brought the 'fall back' an hour as a part of the yearly daylight savings. While this is great for a morning, 6am lesson, it is less great for the last lesson of the day on a Monday. My trainer visits our farm weekly, on Monday evenings. She teaches all the instructors and ends with me. While beginning at 4pm seems daunting due to the heat in the summer, it is almost impossible in the winter. A start time of 4pm means that by 5pm it is dusk and by 6pm it is dark. 

Cue the lights. We do not have electricity at our barn. Instead, we are fully powered by Milwaukee battery operated lights. We have several lantern type lights that cast a bright light over the grooming area and tack room. For the arena we have two tripod lights that can be moved around. They sit on the hill and provide enough light in the arena to where you can see where you are going and see the jumps. 

I was skeptical, but I am here to say they work. WallE and I had a great lesson at 6pm, by Milwaukee light, on Monday. The two lights lit up the side of the 180' arena closest to the barn. The side furthest away was darker, but you could see where you were going and what you were stepping on or over. 

WallE was a superstar. We showed off the canter transitions we have been working on during the warm up. WallE was very responsive. Then we began our jump lesson by warming up over a small crossrail. We worked on the short and long approach to the crossrail. Once that was under our belt, we moved on to full courses. 

Laura set two verticals on the long side, a one stride combination on one diagonal and a large vertical on the other. Though line, diagonal, diagonal, line may seem easy to some - it can be daunting. Nevertheless, WallE carried me through and was so good, we moved right along to the next course. Vertical, diagonal, rollback diagonal, vertical. Laura kept changing the course and WallE kept being a superstar. He was so forward, I had to half halt a few times (which if you know WallE is a feat). 

WallE and I had a great lesson on Monday...all thanks to the Milwaukee lights.