Such an Educational Day! For us both!

July 29, 2023

Lyric put on her big girl pants today and was super!!

We had a lesson with Jessica Bortner-Harris at Falconwood. And this time, Jess didn't have to come to us!! We loaded right up and hauled to Falconwood. And Lyric was so good. The fire truck was parked next to where we parked, so she got to see that. And we tacked up and she heard the guinnea's but couldn't see them and got a bit nervous. I got on and we went to explore. She was a little jumpy but we ran into Blue and Kelda, who were just finishing their ride. (Which meant that Jess was running late and we still had about 45 minutes!) But luckily Kelda said she and Blue would be happy to walk around with us and give Lyric moral support. Yay! We hacked around the farm and Lyric met the mini's, saw the goats, saw the guinneas, and even saw the (thankfully contained) peacock. She liked Blue. She was cute though because she would follow him, then stop... then walk off on her own, but kind of expecting him to follow. :) We also walked in the jump arena and walked over poles and a cross rail or two.

Then we headed towards the covered arena as it was almost our turn. We still had time so I ran back to the trailer to get a drink of water and noticed that Lyrics hind scoot boots had twisted a little, so I fixed them. But luckily they weren't rubbing her!! I had taped them up but I'm not sure that they rub her hinds anyways. So we headed back down and warmed up. I told Jess that I was so crooked but didn't even know where/how anymore.

She made things much better! She told me that my right hip was locking up and thus blocking Lyrics right hind. She also told me that my shoulders and upper body was stupid stiff and tight and I needed to move! I was just frozen. So we worked on getting my right hip moving and turning my sternum. And she had me put my weight into my knee rather than my toes, but not in a way that meant I was pinching with my knees. I think it was more of a way to get me to not stand on my toes and maybe sit around the horse with open hips? Anyways.. she had me sit on the franklin balls and told me that it would help me find my seat bones but also it meant that Lyric wouldn't feel my seat so I would have to rely on my weight and leg aids. We were walking for a minute and she had me roll my seat bones back and forth a bit. Then Lyric saw someone in the woods and got scooty and then it was starting to escalate so Jess took pity on me and let me get rid of the balls. She said that sometimes since they can't feel us up there, they feel abandoned. Anyways.. we carried on. We did some trotting and she had me swing my hips and turn my shoulders. And it helped. She also said that the reason Lyric was counter flexing and tipping was because I was sitting off the left and thus she was having to counterbalance me. Ohhhhhh.... oooooohhhhhh... Sure enough when I sat a bit more on the right knee and kept my left shoulder rolled back and my sternum up and my shoulders moving and not fixed and didn't collapse my right thorax, Lyric could track straighter with her hind end and she could let go in her neck base and poll. Ahhhhhh. Sweet!!!! So all that work I was doing the last few rides to try to fix her wasn't helping because *I* was the problem. Duh!

Anyways.. we also cantered and she was a good girl and when I could get my body cooperating and doing all the things, Lyric softened and got round and used her back. Yay! Neither of us could hold it for long. Or maybe I couldn't. ha ha.

But yep.. a very helpful ride!! Now to sign up for some virtual lessons so we don't fall apart again so quick.

We took a short walk to cool down and then I got off and was talking to Jenn. Her husband rolled up with the tractor on a flatbed and there were kids running around. And then her daughter was scraping rocks with a shovel and Lyric just... took it all in. She even snuggled up and said hi to Jenns' son. Awwww. And she let me put her in their cross ties to hose her off and then she loaded up nicely to go home.