2nd Lesson

This morning was my make up lesson with Jacel! She's so sweet. I'm so grateful she came to me. 

We're making progress! She was much more relaxed and Jacel noticed that she's holding her rhythm much better. So we did our walk warm up and then went to the trot. She wants to fall in tracking left, which makes me over-react and make bad choices. Ha ha... Don't cross my hands over her neck. That just pushes her more onto her inside shoulder. Instead... I need to use my inside leg (duh! For some reason I keep wanting to put my outside leg on because I feel her tipping and not being square, but... it works when I use the inside leg, not the outside) to push her back upright. And then I can bring both my hands to the inside to open that hole up for her to lift her shoulder up into. Bringing them to the outside doesn't work. And when I do that, she gets more upright! And yes, she's still going to make smaller circles tracking left than when we go right, but she's crooked. That will take time. And it will get better! 

Also, I need to stop nagging her. Remember, she doesn't know this info. Nagging her just confuses her. I need to teach her the aids. And that means that she has to give me the right response, or at least a thought in the right direction, so that I can release the aids. The learning comes in the release. So if I'm nagging and getting no response... that's not teaching her. If I ask and get no response I can then ask harder. And if I still get no response, ask harder! Then when I get the response, release. Then I can ask softly again and most likely, I will get the response. But that's hard for me because... I don't know. I nag without thinking about it. So conscious effort for me! 

Then Jacel had a good discussion with me. She said that the mare is quite lovely. She's not yet ever said NO. She's offered answers that are wrong but that's just because she doesn't know the correct answer yet. When Jacel was showing me hwo to ask her to move her barrel and she ignored her and Jacel poked her hard... and she still ignored her, and then Jacel really poked her hard... Lyric moved. But Lyric did not pick a leg up and aim at Jacel.. she did not snarl at her. So... remember that! She really is trying. Her getting quick isn't her being naughty. It's the only answer she's been taught so she's offering it to me. It's a wrong answer for what I'm asking, but she doesn't know that. So it's my responsibility to teach her that one leg at a time means move your barrrel and NOT go faster. I can politely ask her to not go faster and thus, teach her what one leg means. She'll get it. She's smart!

So then Jacel asked if she could hop on. She wanted to show me an exercise and felt like it would be easier to show me than talk me through it and she also wanted to feel what I was feeling. She hopped on and Lyric was good! She started tracking right and did the Square Circle game. Basically... you walk in a square. In each corner, you close your thighs, half halt, shorten their stride, and then make them turn more square like. It's kind of disengaging the hindquarters, but really, it's just getting them to move their shoulders and hind limbs off your legs. So you almost want to do a turn on the forehand but a very baby, beginner, turn on the forehand. It encourages them to use the hind end and step under themself and soften in the body. So they started. And there was some resistance but nothing major. Jacel said that it was just her setting the boundaries and then Lyric trying to figure them out. She fussed and got bracey, but then once she gave, Jacel gave. And within a few laps around the square, she started to get it, and was using herself nicely and stepping under and so soft and light! So then she went left. And she was like "OH... good grief!!! I see what you mean"!. ha ha! Yeah.. I'm not making stuff up! She leans HARD on that left leg. ha ha. But interestingly, going that way went much smoother. Maybe because she already had learned the rules from the other way? 

So then I got on and tried it and it took a little bit, but we both figured it out. I had to remember to half halt and shorten her stride first. And I had to work on my timing to release the aids quicker when she started to give. But we got some nice work. Jacel told me to practice that (maybe not every ride so she just started doing the pattern) at the walk only for the next week or two and then when she came back, we could try it at the trot. She told me not to try the trot on my own. We weren't ready and I would try to fix things and make it worse. 

So then she wanted to see her canter. It was better! She still leans hard and struggles with the left lead but we got better. Especially when I sat down like a dressage rider instead of a jockey. But she kept her rhythm and when things got a little hard, she actually broke to the trot rather than running faster. Jacel was super pleased so we quit with that. She wanted to reward her calmness rather than panicking! I agree!

So then we were chatting and I had told her how I was threatening to sell her and she said we would work through trailering. She thought it might be a gait issue and perhaps I should just try loading and hauling in the box stall for a bit. Which was my plan. And she also said that just because she was a "chicken" didn't mean she wouldn't make a great event horse. She pretty much told me to have faith and give it time and she thought that we would make a great team. And then we talked about other things... and I had my arm resting on the fence and she was behind me and she just stuck her chin on my arm and rested her head on me, rolling her head onto my shoulder. Awwwww... fine, fine, fine... I won't sell you! I love you too Lyric.

So then we headed back to untack and as I was walking her past the trailer, she *On her own accord!!!* put her two front feet on the ramp and looked at me like "See.. I'll load.. please don't sell me"!. ha ha! Good girl Lyric, good girl! I gave her lots of praise and then backed her off and untacked her. 

We were having too much fun and too much education to take any photos! And I didn't even get a selfy! Oh well.