The easy one

 Who'd have thought? Early on... Lyric was anything but easy. But today... she was just.. my steady eddy... And I'm grateful for that. And feel bad now for telling someone that she... was just a mediocre horse. She doesn't scream upper level. She doesn't scream broodmare potential. Her conformation leaves a lot to be desired. She's not a flashy mover. She's not a brave jumper. BUT.... but... she is kind... she tries... she's steady.... she's a good girl. And I love her. 

Today I met Laura to jump but unfortunately Smarty had a fat hock, so... she just watched me and then we went on a hack. Lyric felt a bit reluctant starting out. Not jumping... just... a bit stabby in the front end maybe. I told Laura she felt a little bit like a "lesson horse". Just... not real thrilled but doing her job. She watched her go and thought she looked a bit sore/weak in her stifles. So maybe that's what it is... I don't know. I was going to give her the month to get fitter and then reassess, and we're pretty much at the end of the month, so... I guess it's time to make a vet appointment. 

 

But she wasn't too bad so i decided to hop over some fences. They were all set pretty darn low anyways and after our last jump session with Julia... I really wanted to work on my position. In every photo from the last time, I'm ahead of her shoulder. So I asked Laura to help and we started with me trying to push my hips back so I would stay balanced vs having my crotch over the pommel.  I tried and it didn't go great so Laura suggested that maybe instead of doing that, I think of pushing my toes out in front of me, because pushing my hips back tended to collapse my shoulders. Okay... good thought! So I tried that... and it somehow just made me jump with my knee straight. Which... didn't really work for me. So we chatted more and she said that it's not so much that my hips aren't going back... because when I do push my hips back, I have to fold more, and that throws my shoulders down into a duck. So then she suggested that I think of keeping my shoulders back away from her neck. Ah!! Brilliant! Because that's probably where it's all stemming from...


 

So we popped over a bunch in a row so I could practive and... it felt a bit funny at first. I almost had to think of standing up over the jumps... but I do think it was working. And Lyric actually seemed to respond well to it! She started jumping more out of stride and even when she was chipping, she wasn't stopping and heaving herself over... it was still out of stride! And she took quite a few "flyers" too! So yay. I think if I can keep my shoulders back, she can stay more balanced. So... maybe?? 

Except... the videos look better but the still shots still don't have that "shape" that I want in my body. It's a bit better than the other day, but... why do I look so... I don't know... extra? tall? unfolded? I still look too far forward...  Ugh..

  

So then we went on a hack and after I dropped Laura and Smarty off, we headed back out for a tiny bit more hills. We ended up on the XC field so I trotted her down the baby bank and over the baby ditch and then she wanted to canter fast!! So we popped over a few small fences. But I did jump the lincoln log v pole thing. And she was brave and jumped them all. Good girl.

 

One fay I'll figure out to make my body cooperate.

 

 

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