Fun!

Fun lesson tonight! Although it was sad to not be jumping with Julia and Laura. But it was nice... I got therapy too :) Ha ha... We joked about how Jacel was calling me out on things today but she does it out of love. She also said that she wouldn't have done it had I been in a group lesson. And honestly... I love it! She's like Liz... blessed with the ability to discipline or bring things to light without being judgy/condescending/mean... and without making you feel bad. If anything, she somehow manages to make you feel better about yourself and then want to try to heal more. I love her. And I'll say it again.. I'm so glad that God put her into my life. 

Anyways... the main point was that today was fun... I mentioned that Lyric seemed to be having fun and she said it was fun because I was allowing it to be fun. I was not feeling quite as guitly about not having fun on Dan. And that Lyric was a generous horse, not unlike Fleck, and she was happy doing whatever as long as it was making me happy. (We had a laugh about how Funny is a bit more selfish and not a people pleaser). And Lyric is very emotionally in tune with me and feeds off me, so it makes sense that she was having fun too.

 

Backing up... I got on slightly early and hacked Lyric out to the cross country field and then we hacked up the hill to the jump arena as our warm up. Jacel wasn't quite done with her other lesson yet so I was able to trot and canter in the jump ring. And Lyric felt good! She was softer in her body and not bracing as much. Which is interesting because I almost feel like that jump saddle sits on her trapezius... and noticed a little bit of atrophy there today. (Which is maybe from the dressage saddle because that's what I've been riding in more... but good golly... I don't need to go down this rabbit hole again!). But she felt good! Like... loose and lifting in her back instead of bracing. I told Jacel that she's such a different ride from Funny. She's easy! But also a bit more cumbersome feeling. So... we started off with a placing pole but instead of a pole it was the flower boxes. Jacel said that the boxes would help her lift and not be so on the forehand vs a pole. So we trotted in a few times and it wasn't bad, but it definitely needed work. I needed to be a bit more supportive and send her without chasing her. It got better so then we cantered. And... same thing. It wasn't bad, but it needed work. I mentioned that I needed to trust my eye more... feel more confident sending her... and not feel like she was running away with me. Because i know she's not, but she feels like it. So then we decided that if I sat up more... and stayed in her center of balance, which for her, feels a bit like the back seat, she was much more balanced and didn't feel so scrambly. And then, if I thought about "riding her hocks" and lifting her belly into that pirouettey canter, she was much more nimble and bouncy and it got so much better! Jacel said that it did change her posture ever so slightly and made her a bit more upright in her neck and lift her withers, which made her more uphill. And it was sutble, but... by golly it made a big difference in what I was feeling! So yay! 

  

So then we added three more jumps, with some turns. And one really sharp roll back. The first time through I ended up missing the roll back and turned the wrong way and the whole thing fell apart after the first fence. Things came up too quick and I panicked and reverted. Jacel reminded me to stay in her sweet spot (behind the motion almost). Aha... because I mentioned that it felt like things got quick and I resorted to jumping up her neck or not waiting because I didn't think there was room for the add, and I know she likes to add, and she didn't feel like she was going to take off. So.. by sitting up and staying in the sweet spot... that allowed Lyric to be more balanced and then she could easily adjust her stride and the add wasn't so bad. And 90% of the time... she didn't need to do the add. Aha!!! It got so much better! And we even got the hard roll back turn. And one of the times through she even did a flying change! It was so cute... she had to think really hard through it... almost like "okay..which foot goes where again?". But she did it!! And she was jumping so nice and round. We did that a few times (maybe 3 or 4) and the last one was so good and she jumped so bravely and even took a slightly long one because I asked!! So we opted to quit with that! Good girl! We both had fun!

 

After Jacel and I chatted a bit more, she had to leave and I took Lyric on a little hack. We headed to cross country and then went through raccoon loop up to the lake. She was about to walk into the lake when a big fish splashed and she jumped and looked at it like "what was that"!? She's so cute. But then she splashed a bit and then we hit the trail to head home. So we got in some more hills. 

 

Then she got to snack a good bit while I talked with Judy! That was a nice ending for both of us. 

Oh Lyric, you ARE a unicorn!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Well damn... just damn....

Image
  Sigh... I want to cry. I did cry. Sigh... my poor beautiful girl.  We had the saddle fitter come today to assess the disaster dressage saddle. It's not the original fitter but someone she recommended who was traveling past us to go to her other clients. So yay! Maybe I can finally decide one way or another with this saddle. But nope...  Since she was coming I had her check the other saddles and horses too. And Kelli came and brought Marvin. She looked at Lyric and thought that the dressage saddle fit her pretty decently, it just needed flocking because the wool was completely squashed and not much in there. She was going to flock it and have me ride in it but then I mentioned that I was also using it on Funny and wanted her to check it on her first. She did mention she wanted me to try riding her in it to see it. I told her about the rehab stuff and lameness but then honestly, I sort of thought it might be worth seeing how she felt, especially given the vet visit tomorr...
Read more

Tomorrow is another day

Image
  And today was a better day. I still was sad and even cried this morning, mostly because of hormones. But... Dr. DeClue called me as I was pulling into Barrows for my vet appt. She told me not to worry about working up the lameness, but to hold steady. She said that the shockwave changes how things feel and that's probably why she looked worse yesterday. And she said that she needed her neck facets done. And then I was like "Can I bring her to you again?" and she said yes. Phew. So, she'll send me dates soon. So that helped. Just... stay the course Holly. And then I adore Dr. Barrow too. I basically told her the whole story and she listened and didn't blow me off. She didn't dismiss anything and she was smart and had good ideas! We checked her front feet with hoof testers and she was negative so she didn't think it was her feet. She said she agreed that it wouldn't be wrong to do her hocks and stifles because sometimes veterinary medicine is "a d...
Read more

Racehorse

Image
Another lunge... filthy girl. Still ouchy and fussy and not wanting to go.  NExt day: So... originally was going to walk the pasture with Lyric, but then got curious/lazy/who knows and went into arena to see. did pillar and sling work... getting good and stepping sideways and turn on haunches and forehands. even did a little bit of shoulder in tracking left. then lunged to see. Still short and mincy... so then started running with her and she perked up and got bigger strided. Okay... if it works, it works. So I ran with her. Apparently I'm way more out of shape so I only did 6 minutes of trotting of the 20, so... she definitely worked harder than me. But this is good for me too. And more straight lines vs circles. So ...we'll do this. And she definitely looked sounder. But also day 3 or 4 on previcox and 8 days into ulcer meds and decoquinate/levamisole.  Also coughing and a deep throaty cough. Like dan's a little bit. allergies? neuromuscular? maybe that's the respirat...
Read more