Heck Yeah Miss Fancy Pants!!

 Well that was just a marvelous ride!!! We had a lesson with Kelly Eaton again today and whooo hooooo!!! I got there early enough to tack up and do a tiny bit of in hand work. We jogged in the little grassy area in front of the arenas and trotted up the hill halfway to stadium twice in an effort to avoid disturbing the lesson before us. Which, in retrospect, might have been more disturbing than just going in the arena. Ha ha. Whoops! Sorry!

 

Then I got on and headed over. And, we pretty much went right to work. Which... was nice. We didn't need a long warm up to stretch her out. She came ready to work! (Granted, she was a bit up because as I turned Dan out and went to grab her, I noticed the opossum was dead in the field and there were a bunch of vultures.. who I set off.. which then set the horses off, so she was a little amped... then add in the remarkably cool weather and fairly stiff wind....). Anyways, we did a little bit of the same thing with Dan. Can you move off my inside leg? Yes.. okay, you can. Nice. Now can you bend? Even more! So we played with getting a good solid bend. And it took some counter bending and some leg yielding on the rail to get her into the outside rein. And I had to be a bit firmer in my "handshake" with her. She likes a much heavier hand holding that Funny. And even Dan. And my reins needed to be shorter and my elbows need to stay at my side. I kind of have to be insistent because... otherwise, I'm too kind and giving and then Lyric falls onto her forehand, gets chompy and worried, and then starts to root and looks lame. But if I insist that she carries herself and we get some nice work.. then I can come to a walk IN CONNECTION and then give her a break and let her stretch her neck. I have to separate the reward from the work at this point in time. Because, if I try to reward her within the work... it all falls apart. If that makes sense, which it does in my brain. 

 

But, it's magic! Kelly told me to ride her like a PSG horse.. Put her together! Collect her.. make her use her hind end and lift. And... holy cow it works! Ha ha! I mean.. I'm sure she wasn't in a PSG frame.. probably only a training level frame, but... she was up in her front end, more sitting in her hind end, and her poll was the highest point. She wasn't even curled or behind the vertical.. she was forward and nose slight out, correctly lined up. And, her back was even lifting at times. She really felt kind of amazing! Like, maybe the best she's ever felt. She couldn't hold it long... and it took a LOT of finessing on my part. I had to make sure I was applying inside leg when the outside fore came forward and only then... I had to keep my elbows by my side... caress/squeeze my outside rein in half halts, half halt the inside rein at times, and almost even slightly half halt from my inside hand to my outside hip (not crossing over but almost) at times. And I had to sit up straight and not get sucked forward. And I had to lift my crotch to lift her back. And she would be lovely.. then get a little above the bit... then I could soften the tiniest bit and she would come back into the soft contact. But man.. those few seconds of lovely were LOVELY!!! Then we'd get a good downward, a good walk, and then let her stretch her neck on a loose rein. YAY!!! Tracking left is harder because she wants to tilt her head and fall in like a motorcycle. So this way I am especially allowed to almost cross my inside hand over to help tip her back up. Kelly said she basically throws her left front laterally, digs in, and pulls herself along on the forehand that way. So if I can close the inside/left front and bring it closer to her body, it'll be a "better bad" and easier to get her to sit and use herself from that point on vs where she wants to go now. 

 

So then we cantered. And at first.. it was like a drunk octopus, with legs a flailing! But it got so much better with doing the same things. I also had to half halt on the inside rein some because... she just isn't responsive enough to the outside rein. She's not really "in the oustide rein", so therefore... she can't really half halt off it. But I did have to hold it steady. And I could play with it here and there. It was kind of nice because some of the things Kelly was telling me today, I was already trying to do before she said them. Yay me. So.. the canters got so much better! And, the more bend I have, the better they get. So... I almost have to think of overbending her, because that really loosens up her barrel. 

 

So yeah.. we quit with that because she gave me a lovely canter, then a lovely downward with a lovely trot, and then a lovely walk. I just need to hold her more accountable. And then she'll get stronger. She did lose her hind end hard 5 times over the course of the lesson. Kelly said she agreed that it's stressful and scary but... if she's doing it more than 5 times a ride in 2 months... then address it. Otherwise, see if this work helps it get better. Which makes sense. She's so long and I've been letting her go around on her forehand, it only makes sense that she looses her hind end when it's trailing out behind her. So if I can get her more collected and stronger behind, it should help. (And gah.. now I'm having deja vu and thinking I should go reread my blogs for her and I bet you this is the same lesson I had years ago with her. Doh!... in my defense, she had some soundness issues too, so maybe it's not just me not knowing how to ride!). 

 

We took a nice long hack and did a little bit of hills to cool off. She was such a good girl! We saw the baby geese again too! Still 3 of them! I'm excited about seeing how she feels in 2 months from now. Hopefully we can keep lessoning and she'll keep getting stronger and better!