Unfrazzling

 Today was a good day! (And then the devil tried to ruin it and get in my head... grrrr). 

We had signed up for a XC lesson with Waylon. I was originally planning to bring Dan because it seems like everytime Jacel rides with him she's jumping 4.5 feet! But since Dan is still lame... I asked to switch to the beginner novice group. And then it was supposed to be raining all day. Yuck. But luckily.. it changed to raining all night long but stopping at 9 am and they were actually right. And they changed the scheduled to start at 10 so we were able to get tacked up and ride without getting rained on. Yay! And the footing on XC wasn't too bad at all. Especially at the level we were doing. But because of the weather, a few people canceled so it ended up just being me and Kelda in our lesson. Which is fantastic because Lyric LOVES Blue. Well, everyone loves Blue but Lyric met him at the Jessica Borther Harris clinic at Falconwood and he walked with us and helped her calm down, so it was a great match. 

We walked down to XC and introduced ourselves and then we started to warm up. Lyric was a fire breathing dragon! She was spicy and quick! Waylon immediately helped us. He had me put her on a smaller circle around him and slow her down. Slow my seat...and slow her down. He said to keep it simple. Two reins means slow down or stop. One rein means turn. Two legs mean go. One leg means yield. So, ask her to slow down by half halting (ie holding both reins) until she slows.. then give the reins. He said we should stay in neutral as much as possible rather than always holding. If she gets fast, then I half halt. If she gets slow, I add leg. But if she's steady... I just keep a very soft feel and a soft leg on her sides. And it worked! It took a bit but she relaxed and settled and slowed down and started breathing. It was great! And I was able to soften my hand and not hold her. And then he kept telling me to give her a longer rein... to let her stretch her neck out. AHHHHH... Music to my ears! And because of what we had been doing... when I did that, even if she got quick, I could tighten my core and half halt and she would slow down and breathe again. And then I could lengthen my reins some more. Yay! 

So then he worked with Kelda and Blue and we just walked around but then she got all worked up again and he told me to go back to the same thing. Don't even let her walk fast and frazzled... slow her down. And it worked! I did it the whole lesson. Every time she started to amp up, I just... slowed her walk and that slowed her brain. She's the opposite of Dan... sometimes he needs to move his feet to get oxygen to his brain... well, she needs to slow her feet to get oxygen to her brain. But she's still in front of my leg and forward. Again, it's the whole... me trying to find the line between speed and forward and in front of my leg. But it was a nice feeling today. 

So she was still a little frazzly so he said "Come with me.. I'm going to help you settle her down... take her into the water complex and trot and canter around there". Umm.... how exactly is trotting and cantering through really cold water on a really cold day going to relax my thin-skinned chestnut thoroughbred mare please?!? Ha ha.. But it did help. The water worked to my advantage to slow her down without me having to get in her face as much and it also helped her use her body a little better. So yay! I'll definitely add this to my toolbox!

So then we started off and did some jumping. We kept it very low key. We walked a bunch of small logs. Just walk. Nothing dramatic. She did scramble over some of them and he pointed out that it's HER job to learn where to put her feet. And then he commented about how racehorses tend to live in stalls.. get walked on nice manicured footing to the track.. run on nice manicured tracks... then back to their stall. So they don't necessarily learn how to be aware of their feet. AHHHHHH... duh! I mean, she got turned out some but still. So that's helpful to remember. And she did have to figure out her feet a lot. She's kind of still all of the place. It doesn't help that she's still growing too. 

So then we walked towards the fences.. got her on "the line" and then a few strides out, asked for the trot. Keeping it slow and simple and letting her process and think and learn rather than just rush and panic. It really seemed to help her although sometimes I needed to be a bit more encouraging with my leg to help send her and give her confidence. He also wanted me to keep a soft contact with her mouth. Mostly to help me stay with her rather than create a whiplash effect on her mouth if she decided to launch last minute. And he wanted me to hunker down in the tack because she was so wiggly... she would wiggle me one way and go the other. When I hunkered down I was able to stay with her more and be more balanced and centered. Most of the time. Ha! Sometimes it was a hot mess. 

So then we noticed that she was landing in a nice soft canter, landing in a straight line, and coming back to a nice soft trot or walk. yay! No frazzled and fried brains! We took the same techiniques to the banks, ditches and water. And she had some stops at the ditches and going down the bank into the water. But we just kept it quiet and calm. He was saying that it's so good to let them figure it out. And yes... the spotties got to learn it on their own on the long line or being ponied. Poor Lyric didn't get ponied but that one time so she didn't get the same education that the others did and it was showing. So, new plan... everytime I take her to Ashland... walk the ditches, walk the banks, walk the water. But she was a good girl. She put her foot in the ditch and scrambled a few times so Waylon told me to add more leg to encourage her to jump it. And that helped. And she figured it out and got smarter about it. 

So then we finished with a small course. I trotted to most of the fences but let her canter in between. And we walked the down bank into the water. And I was bad and jumped the bigger coop as the first fence instead of the smaller one and she sort of hesitated and jumped it awkward. He pointed out that we jumped the wrong one and it wasn't as confidence building for her. Whoops. Good point. But she did all the things and she seemed happy and calm. So I think it was very beneficial. He said I did a good job with her, which was nice to hear too.

We headed back and hung out with Blue for a bit. She really does like him! And then she didn't want to leave because she wanted to keep hanging with Blue. And he didn't want to leave either. Ha ha. I finally got her loaded and we left and then Kelda got Blue loaded. 

But yep... very proud of her. She was a very good girl and used her noggin today. :) 

But then... the darn devil started to come at me. Sigh... Clearly this is what she needs. And yet I'm about to take her to Full gallop next weekend and jump her BN. And yes, I could trot all the fences, but... I could also just wait til she's more prepared. But I feel like I'll let Laura down if I don't go as she's already entered. And then I started to feel like... we barely trotted the starter fences and maybe one or two BN fences... he must think I'm a terrible rider... because everyone else is jumping huge stuff in their lessons with him. And then I felt like I'm pushing Lyric too fast... again.. Sigh. And I know that's not true... it's where Lyric was today and what she needed. It's not about me. It's about her. And I respect that. And that doesn't mean that next weekend she won't be happy as a clam to clock around Full Gallops BN course... and if she isn't... that doesn't mean I suck or that I screwed her up. But it's hard.. it's hard to not get in my head and feel like I'm rushing her... but also simultaneously feel so far behind and like I suck. Sigh...