Back to normal and awesome

Poor Lyric. She had another early morning ride and lesson. But I think she had fun!

We did a XC lesson this morning with Jacel. We rode with Annabelle and Yeti and Lyric must not be in raging heat anymore because she was back to her normal self. She did say hi to Yeti and then later Bug (Courtneys other horse). She even nibbled Bug's nose. Hee hee. 

We walked around the cross country field and did some hills to warm up. Then we went right to work because Jacel thought we had warmed up already, but I guess technically we were. We started off with trotting some fences and then moved on up from there. We had so much fun today! Lyric was MUCH more rideable and not silly. And she's getting so brave. We had two stops but they were totally me riding backwards. When I stayed in a heavy 3 point and kept my shoulders up, she went. Even when I didn't send her... she went. She sometimes took an extra second to process and added but she never stopped or even hesitated. She just... sometimes didn't go for it. And then sometimes she did! There were times today where she got super brave and her stride opened up and she was like "yeah, let me at it!"! But I chickened out a little bit and asked her to collect her stride just a hair because I didn't want her to get in over her head and then panic. And I think it's just a learning curve. I have to start to trust her more and she has to trust me but also herself. So we'll get there. We had a few good out of stride jumps today and we even jumped some "scary" BN jumps without her hesitating!

And she did the banks and the water and the ditches too! And some combos! 

 

For me, I needed to stay in the backseat and separate my shoulders from my hands. I AM pulling back a hair and interfering with her shape over the fences so Jacel had me reach forward. Except then I was throwing my shoulders at her, so she told me to open and lock my elbows. Only don't really lock them, but... open them til my arms are straight. And... while that's not what she wants, she knows that because I am who I am... I will have to overcompensate for a bit to break this bad habit. So, it worked! And I didn't quite get my arms straight but it did help me separate my hands from my body. Yay, no more T-rex arms! And Lyric was happier. And I still kept the connection and helped her feel secure because of my seat. 

It was a great lesson and I'm really getting excited about Lyric. I'm starting to trust the fact that perhaps we can canter a whole XC course and I won't get launched or thrown off and she'll jump and not be silly. And ooooh, when I can get to where I really trust her and she gets confident enough that I can send her... it's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!!!

 

After our lesson we hacked to the lake and she had a nice splash. And like I said, even nibbled a new horse's face! hee hee. Then she wanted to go back via the woods, so she marched herself down the wooded trail while everyone went in the pasture and she just marched along, watching them. I did let her join them back up in the field when we hit the option to, but she was so good about it. 

 

Then tonight she wanted to snuggle while I fed the dogs. Or maybe she wanted the dog food. Gross! Ha! But she ate two kibble the night before. Gross girl!

 

 

Oh and then... thank you GOD for protecting us! On our way to our lesson this morning we were coming down 142 and there was a few people in the left turn lane turning left to a side road. We were coming straight and in our lane and going the speed limit and doing what we were supposed to do. And some minivan thing just came from the side street and cut in front of those people turning left and tried to merge into me. HOLY COW!!! I had to jerk the whole rig off the road to the right and then was afraid it was going to flip... luckily that person swerved back into oncoming traffic because I was laying on the horn.. then tried to merge back into me again, so I had to swerve off the road again. I cannot believe we didn't crash at all. God was definitely working His magic because we should have been toast. Then they pulled in front of me and carried on like nothing happened. I pulled over at the next gas station and checked Lyric. She was a little alarmed looking but fine. Thank you God!!