Fight Club

Good Gravy Child!!!

This morning I woke up early to get ready for our 8 am lesson with Kelly Eaton at Ashland. We had scheduled for a stadium lesson as some of our final prep. I went out to the barn to give her her ulcergard while I got feed ready and.... WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO?! Her beautiful face was a giant bloody lump! Good gravy! Closer inspection revealed it to be fairly superficial. I couldn't tell if she got kicked... or was rubbing and snagged it on something and pulled back... or what. But there was a giant goose egg and a big scratch/cut. I sent a photo to Kelly and Caroline and told them I wasn't sure if I should/could put a bridle on. Kelly replied with "Let's give it a go", so... guess we're going. She ate just fine though and didn't seem to concerned. There was no blood in her nose or mouth. So, again, superficial I guess. 

We got to Ashland and I just took her noseband off and she seemed perfectly fine. We walked up to the stadium arena and started warming up. And she felt good. She wasn't fussy or acting like her nose hurt or struggling to breathe, so.. we carried on. And we had a good lesson!

We worked on quite a few things with me and some with her. For me... I have to really sink into my ankles and use them as hinges. I tend to stand on my toes and put my weight on them, rather than sinking into my ankles. Just because I have bendy ankles, doesn't mean that I'm using them for shocks. So... use them! And it was neat because when I did flex and sink into them, my leg got much more secure. Kelly told me it would stop my leg from swinging and I really think it did. But it did feel like my leg was going up and down a little, but hey... better than front to back. It was hard though. And we didn't talk about that until the very end so it was hard to practice it while also remembering all the other things to do. But it did help. So... I must focus on that!

We also talked about Kelly wanted me to keep her at a controlled pace. (Which, I had to laugh because I believe the last lesson I had with Kelly she was telling me to send her more forward.. more forward!). She had me ride at a BN pace... vs a Nov pace... and then when I got  in line with the fence, slowly think of sending her just a hair more forward to the fence. Because, me being me, when she told me to settle her... I did, but then when she contemplated the fence, I didn't immediately send her on and that got me into trouble. It's not so much that I need to send her no matter what, but... I need to encourage her when she starts to think about it. Kelly said it was obvious when Lyric started to question because her "elevator dropped". She said that she would literally sink towards the ground. Hee hee... So when I felt that, I needed to close my leg and encourage. BUT.. not by throwing my shoulders at it, or by softening too much with my hands. So... keep her controlled so she's not scrambly and losing her balance and sitting back on her hocks and pushing over the jump vs just flinging over it. But keep the momentum and if she starts to question, send her by staying upright but closing my leg and encouraging. And then... on top of all that... I also need to let go over the fence on the backside. I am good about releasing and haven't yet caught her in the mouth, but I tend to pull back to quick on the backside of the fence. Oi! That's a lot to think about. 

But Kelly told me to embrace it. Because yes.. it wasn't a pretty ride or round and most of the jumps were awkward and felt icky. BUT.... that is because we are progressing and learning and it's hard. We went from somewhat smoothly flailing through the course to now expecting a bit more correct work and a better jump. Which is hard and not going to be pretty or consistent at first. And that's okay. 

So yay! It was a good ride, even if it was awkward. Hee hee. Afterwards I took her on a short quick hack. She was a good girl.