Fun lesson

Lyric was a good girl and let me catch her for our lesson today! Yay! We had a lesson with Jacel at the house as I still don't have a truck. (but tomorrow hopefully!). I rode Funny first and it was Lyrics turn at 9 am. It was soooo freakin' humid though. She was sweating under her mane just standing there waiting her turn. We were both dripping from every pore by the time we were done. And it was *only* 87 degrees. Sigh... But it was a good lesson.

 

She was kind of lazy at the walk but perked up at the trot. Jacel had us trot through the 10 trot poles and she was good. We did lengthen them out for her though, as she's a long girl. (Her preference is 4' between each while Funny prefers 3.5'). We did that a few times and then we added in some canter. Jacel said that she had a plan while riding Monty for Jean about how to help me with Funny's canter. And it made so much sense. And quite frankly... all of my horses struggle with the left lead canter and I know it's me. So even though Lyric and Dan have mostly figured out how to counteract me and get the left lead, it's probably better if I fix myself too. 

 

So she had us trot through the poles again and as we were coming over the last pole, ask for canter. Stay straight through the poles, but because I knew I was turning I was already positioning my body a hair for the bend. And because the ponies were lifting their front end over the poles, they were ready to canter. And it worked! When I didn't get too ahead of myself. It just helped me put my timing together and keep my seat where it needed to be. It was super! (We'll see if it works on Funny too). I had to remember not to pull down and back with my inside rein and block her. I had to remember to sit up and back and to the outside a hair with my seat but lift my inside seat bone and shoulder blade. And close my outside leg slightly back and slightly close my inside leg. Yay!

 

So then we added some stuff to help me and Lyric. Jacel said this exercise would help me regain control and balance and get a better half halt vs just careening around the jump arena. Ha ha! Noted. :) So we trotted through the poles, then picked up the canter on the last pole and cantered around back to the poles, but trotted again before we went through the poles and then cantered over the last pole the other direction and repeated. And in the beginning it was hard! Lyric was running and blowing through my aids and we were kind of water skiing and I had to pretty much slam on the brakes to make it through the trot poles. BUT... after a few tries, she started to listen and I could apply much lighter aids and then even lighter aids and she started to wait for me. NICE!!!! And the trot and canter got nicer too because we were more balanced. Ahhhhh....

 

So then we added a cross rail to each end and did the same pattern. It was the same effect. She had to listen to me and balance. And she did! She even put in an ad a few times and waited, which is awesome. We then made them small verticals and repeated and then finished with a few circles with just the jumps and no trot poles and she was lovely! 

 

Awesome!! So yep. Lots of fun today and a great new exercise to set up and use. I really need to get better about setting up poles and grids and incorporating it into my rides. But also keep the arena drug! Jacel did mention that grids and poles were great for Lyric to help strengthen her stifles. And that the poles were also great for Funny. And honestly, Lyric too for the same reason. They helped them balance and self carry without having to rely on my hands/rein aids. And to be fair... they don't necessarily know how to balance themselves so me trying to teach them with my body aids is asking a lot. But by combining my body aids with the poles which naturally encourages them to do it themselves, it helps them put the pieces together much quicker and more effectively. So yay!

 

We hacked back but it was so dang hot we just walked to the trailer instead of hacking the neighborhood. Plus she was good and I wanted to reward her. She got a nice long rinse to cool her off and then she got to go enjoy her day!