Making grown up choices.. or pouting...

 Ugh... so, I was supposed to go XC schooling with Beth and Jamie today with Lyric. It's a schooling show at Stableview and they have schooling today and the show tomorrow. I have been hemming and hawing about it for a few days but finally decided to just go and do it. And then... I realized it was $106 to do it! Not counting fuel and coaching fees. Man!! That seems steep!! But I guess it's because it's an "all phase" schooling. So I can school in the dressage arena and the stadium course. Except, I don't need to. Or really want to. So... after thinking I decided that since I cross country schooled Thursday in the humidity and then hauled to Aiken for her vet visit, maybe hauling to Aiken to school cross country again two days later isn't fair. Not to mention that my vet visit was super expensive because we got ALL the x-rays. And I had to buy new bridles. Cheap bridles, but still. So... I decided not to. But then panicked again because I got to thinking about how it's getting closer and closer to RRP and Lyric still hasn't gone anywhere but Ashland and hasn't really cross country schooled anything above starter for that matter. And while it seems like there are a ton of shows around, I can't seem to ever coordinate going to any with friends or my life, so... But then I talked to Kelli and she calmed me back down. She reminded me that I'm not going to RRP to win, or to sell Lyric, or to promote my training. I also am technically not 100% committed to going if it's not the right thing for Lyric. And she has been pushed a lot recently and has been walking away from me in the pasture. And maybe that's foot soreness but maybe it's being overwhelmed. We know that she is sensitive and needs time to process things and think through them. It's also mega hot and humid (although today was actually a beautiful day to go school cross country as there was a breeze and cloud cover and it was quite nice really). And Kelli also reminded me that there is still time! There's still plenty of time to get her out schooling, maybe somewhere I have a free voucher! And there's still other shows to get her to. And perhaps we need to breathe and let her brain settle again before I really overwhelm her and create an issue. Like, maybe that's what happened with the trailering. Maybe not. And our bond is better now, but... I should listen to her and hear that she's a little frazzled and simmer down on my end. So.. ahh... I felt much better about it. Until I got up this morning and it was nice and "cool" (comparatively). Sigh. But oh well. It's still the right choice. And because I'm still sad and stressing about Dan, I'm just pouting. It's a beautiful 4 day weekend for me. Well, a beautiful today and a hot and sweaty rest of the 4 day weekend and I've only got two horses to ride and I can't be in Aiken jumping. Woe is me. Sigh.. I know... I know. And I did spend time thanking God for all the blessings in my life and apologizing for pouting. And praying that He heals Dan. 

So anyways.. I did get to sleep in. Kind of. Til the horses started banging on the buckets! After I fed them I ate breakfast and was going to go grab Lyric for a ride but... it was dark above. And the radar showed some rain within 45 minutes. But I thought... I have time.. They're not always right... but it looked like they would be right or they would be right but late, so I opted to wait. I went inside and did invoices and it did rain. Nothing major and not storms but rain. After I finished it was lunch time and the rain had quit. It still looked like it might rain some more but the radar showed it all moving out. So, we got tacked up. Since she had been hauling a lot, we opted to ride at home. And since I wasn't sure that the thorowgood fit her at the show, I pulled out the county dressage saddle and put it on her. I actually think it fits nicely and it seems to still allow her to move her shoulders freely and doesn't appear that the tree points are pinching. So we tried it. With the pretty harbor blue saddle pad, which she looked LOVELY in! 

 
She was a good girl and walked the whole way up to the arena without stopping or screaming. We did a tiny bit of pillar work and then I hopped on. We spent a good bit of time walking and working on getting even contact in the reins, but a soft contact and staying in pillar 1. Then we trotted and did the same. And then we played with leg yields again and getting her to get off her left shoulder. It wasn't easy but she was trying hard and we had a very successful ride. We maintained what I was going for way more than we didn't maintain it, so yahoo! We also cantered four times and she got her leads. Well, that's not true... I think one time she got it up front but missed it behind. Which may have been because I leg yielded her into it. But also because I think I goosed her. But her canter was nice! It was much more upright on square and nowhere near as tipped and motorcycling as it was at the cavaletti clinic. Good girl. Then we did more trotting and she wasn't all amped up. We even did one little "lengthen" on the diagonal. Which was really her going faster and then breaking into the canter, but hey.. she heard me and she gave an honest answer. We also got a really bouncy fluidy bouyant trot for a couple of steps! Like a fancy big girl trot!!! It's in there!!!!

 

So yeah... it was a good ride. We finished with a bit more fussiness and resistance to take the right rein. She wants to hang on the left rein no matter which direction we go. But I'm sure she was getting a little tired. We got a nice even contact at the walk for half a circle and called it quits. I opted to ride her home via Jean's driveway and she was super chill and relaxed. Of course she tried to turn to the trailer when we were at the driveway but I insisted we go to the lake. She was still pretty brave but got a little bit more upright and inverted. We also passed some yard guys who were weed eating and leaf blowing, so.. fair enough. We got basically to the lake and the giant pipe where the troll lives and she got super upset. She tried to spin but managed to keep her cool and I allowed her to turn and head home. She definitely knows which way is home but she didn't jig. After a few steps of going home she settled back into a nice pillar walk so that made me happy. 

Good girl! We're slowly and surely chipping away at things. She's becoming more educated to fine tuned aids. Leg means more than just go now. It means turn and now it also means step away from my leg and sometimes turn around my leg. And we're learning about contact and even contact. Smart girl!