Winter Music

Today we had a XC lesson with Jacel. And it wasn't great. I got in my head and was riding backwards and then jumping up her neck. I fell off over the tiny little roll top.. like the first jump I jumped. Doh! She added and I didn't and went up her neck. She slammed on the breaks and went sideways and spun me and then I swear I felt like I helicoptered two full circles around her head before I got slung off. I landed on my butt/feet/back so no big deal. Other than jamming my thumb on the way down. She stuck around, horrified! We got back on and came again and I waited and didn't creep up her neck and she jumped it fine.    We jumped a few more and I got a little better about waiting but she was doing that "process" hesitation again, which.. bothers me. It doesn't feel smooth and it doesn't feel confident. I couldn't get out of my head and kept riding backwards. We moved over to the ditches and Jacel had me jump the lincoln log stack down hill and as soon...

  I debated going back to Ashland today because it was so hot! And the woods sounded inviting, but... I was tired and just didn't want to haul yet again. Plus I wanted time to ride both girls, so... I drug the arena and moved some obstacles around and then chilled out in the air conditioned house for a little bit. Finally at 5ish I decided I needed to just get on and get over it. It was either that or run out of time. It was supposed to storm and cool things off, but I figured the storm was going to blow around us. And it did. BUT... we did get a little nice breeze and some cloud cover for a little bit. Yay.    Lyric was a good girl. We had a really good ride. I let her investigate the barrel with my "garrocha pole" and she was spooked at first! She did go up and investigate it but was jumpy and when I made it moved, she almost spun out from under me. She stayed calm enough to invesigate it and smell it and eventually I was able to jiggle it a tiny bit. But only a tiny bi...

  Today was a fun day! I got up early for Patrick. He got everyone done and when we went to do Lyric I mentioned that she seems to be sliding forward off her shoes. And he noticed that she is pressing hard laterally, so much that her lateral side clips are almost "burned" into her hoof wall compared to the medial side clips. And I was telling him about how she still buckled her hind end once or twice but it was soooo much better. So he thought long and hard and then he added some trailers to her hind shoes. Which worries me a tad because she interferes, but... I figured we'd see. Maybe it'll give her enough support that she will track more straight.  After he left, I turned them out to get some water and grass and made myself some toast and then went back and got Lyric and we headed to Ashland to meet Jessica for our knowledge swap. Flatted. lyric was amazing!!!! So soft and willing and had energy on her own. SOft and floaty and even in the connection.  tracking Left,...

  After I rode Dan this morning... I stalled. I was hot and sweaty. It's hot and humid out. And ugh... But finally I decided I should just go get Lyric and "get it over with".  ha ha. It was actually good timing though. It's still hot, but there was a tiny bit of cloud cover and a bit of a breeze, so it was almost nicer than when I had ridden Dan. Maybe.  ha ha. I guess I'm just finally getting used to this stupid ridiculous weather. But poor Lyric was sweaty before I even got on. Granted that may have been because her and Funny were running like fools earlier this morning because Dan got loose from me and took off. I picked her feet out, used a soft brush to make sure there wasn't any "chunks" on her and tacked up. Sorry girl, but it's only gonna get sweatier and you'll get a good rinse when we're done.    We tacked up and headed to the arena via the field. She was good and we warmed up. She was a bit sluggish at the walk and our stretch...

Lyric and I went to the cavaletti clinic this morning. Poor girl.. I think she feels like I'm picking on her because she's been ridden a lot lately, and taken a lot of places. But.. it's just how the cookie crumbles darlin'. :)    We loaded up and headed to High Point for our lesson with Veronica and Kristin. Kristin was on Hottie... Hot Potato! One of my cute little pony patients. We had fun.  We worked on shortening her stride and encouraging lift and push instead of just running. Beth reminded me that it's going to feel very sluggish and underpowered to me, but it's not. Well, it may be underpowered but that's because I can't expect her to sit and push and be strong yet. It's a step. But it has to start with the slower more controlled, shorter step. And sure enough, as we kept going, she started to feel more powerful. Yay! I had to balance keeping her short and not getting in her face. But it went back to my ride with Jessica yesterday too. More l...

  Today was the day that Jessica and I got together to help each other out. She's a lovely hunter rider who has a lot of OTTB's and they all look lovely and have that nice forward swinging stride with a nice neck arch. And she's hilarious. And... she wants to event! So... we decided to do a knowledge swap day. We met up at Ashland. I brought Lyric and she brought Poppy, her cute bay pocket rocket type TB mare.  We started in the arena and she gave me some pointers. She uses a lot of ... illiterations??... Anyways, it was helpful! It was a whole lot of info and I probably can't remember it all. But here goes... Reward the try! Even the tiniest little bit of try... release and reward. And if they give you the wrong answer, don't stop or "reward" that because then you're confusing them and teaching them the wrong answer. Give them lots of breaks so that they don't begrudge working. Keep elastic elbows. You can use your hands to tighten/hold/soften but...

 Liz lesson this am, since Dan lost a shoe: For her warm up stretch trot, don't rush it. Don't chase her. Stay "behind" the motion and let it happen. When she rocks on her hind end, then she can get more reach and swing in the front end. Ride her a lot like Funny... sit down on the back hind limb... to help elevate the front end. IT's cool, because she CAN GO UPHILL!! She likes much more contact so have the contact. Help carry her but with soft elastic elbows. Keep my inside hand higher than my outside hand. Ride her tracking left with my inside hand back to my hip to keep a straight line to the bit but to help encourage her AO axis to be correct.. don't just hang and hold though. Do the fun rock back before upward transitions. Post diagonally from the inside to the outside to help balance her and step into outside stirrup to help balance her. Ride her straight out of her shoulders to keep all four limbs underneath her. Super good girl. Felt quite strong and g...