Danny is so good! We had a lesson with Kelly today at Silverthorn and he was great! He basically clocked around so that we could work on me and my position. :)
Kelly had us start with a little bit of lower fences and 3 stride in and out and then we quickly progressed to a course with some oxers and some verticals as well. Kelly saw that Dan was pretty game for the oxers but had a hard time reading the verticals. So I needed to ride a tighter bouncier canter to the verticals. She had me lift my hands. Yep.... Wait, what/!?! Haven't I been yelled at for that for eons!?! Did I finally get it right and overdo it???
Maybe.... maybe not. Kelly said that Danny likes to duck down and get his nose between his knees and roll along and it makes it tough for him to rock back and jump. So she wanted me to pick my hands up just a bit to help lift his head and shoulders. And also at the same time I was to be sitting and encouraging him to rock back and lift with my core. Then when my hands were higher up they were still in a straight line with the bit and his mouth. Hmmm.... Okay! Works for me.
So we tried it. And it helped. Danny was jumping good. She even put the fences up, and while we pulled a few rails, I think it was because it was hotter than hot and Danny was getting tired.
We worked on me and me getting the right canter. I needed the more uphill bouncy coffin canter for the verticals and then I could allow the more stretched out frame for the oxers. We also worked on my leg. I'm getting pretty good at take off and over the fence but I still keep pitching forward on landing. Argh!!! I did find that if I thought about rolling my pelvis a little... almost rocking it/swinging it cantering to the fence, and then thought about hovering just ever so slightly on landing, that it was easier to keep my feet in front of me. So... it's a work in progress as I didn't do it every time. Heck, I didn't even do it most of the time. Sigh. But... we finished with a vertical to an oxer and I worked on the right canter and keeping my landing gear down and ... they were BEAUTIFUL!! Danny took both fences on a beautiful step which made the distances beautiful and he jumped well. And I managed to make my body cooperate in all the places! Yay!!
Lots of fun. He's really getting to be quite the fun partner. :)
No photos... which was a shame because I think they were fairly decent sized fences for us. And I looked cute in my blue and white striped tank and my blue breeches. :) ;)
Bringing Up Baby!
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Lovely Ride with Friends
So glad to see Peri having FUN again!!
Lovely dressage ride in the jump arena
Then bareback trail ride and lake time. Of course no swimming since I was prepared... ;)
Lovely dressage ride in the jump arena
Then bareback trail ride and lake time. Of course no swimming since I was prepared... ;)
Friday, July 29, 2016
Fun Times and Stickability
Ride with Peri and Liz, Danny was on edge.... jumping in the arena, gallop then field and done
Video link
Video link
Friday, July 22, 2016
Monoflap Perfection!!
I really didn't want to spend money on another saddle, but Danny was outgrowing Fleck's dressage saddle. I had bought the jump one slightly wider because at the time I bought it, I knew I had Dan. So the jump saddle works for them both. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on how you look at it. ;) ), Danny was getting to be too wide for Fleck's medium narrow. I decided I had to do something so I debated for awhile on whether to try to find a used one.... I tried one on him that was the extra wide gullet and liked it. But it was black. And... I know he looks quite handsome in black, but now I'm really loving my brown tack. And he pulls off the brown quite nicely too. So then I sat in Cindy's perfection, which is the smaller seat size and straighter leg flap. It was tough to get my legs to behave. So then I sat in the Fusion, which really made me open my hip angle and all of a sudden I had a better seat. So then Cindy and I thought I kind of liked that one. So then I sat in hers again to get a better idea of seat size and really see if I liked the fusion. And suddenly, because the fusion opened up my hips, I could really sit in Cindy's and decided I loved it. And it fit Dan so beautifully and he was really lifting up his back and floating!
So then I had just about decided to order him one like Cindy's but couldn't quite decide if I wanted to spend the money or if I wanted to try to find used.... and Cindy Adcock told me they came out with a monoflap. I honestly didn't expect to like it that much because I wasn't as happy in the jump monoflap as I was in my Conquest non-monoflap. But I tried it on. Oh man!!!! It was DIVINE! It was ( super luckily and conveniently) the exact same sizing and details as Cindy's but the monoflap. It was magnificent. Dan went beautifully in it and I loved it for me. I still had the same more correct seat and leg position, but I felt much more connected to Dan. It felt like I was riding bareback but with a big soft comfy seat. My leg was a bit more locked in to the correct position (in a good way) and I could feel the subtle nuances better. It was awesome!!! So that sold me! I couldn't find a used monoflap so I had to get a new one. :) And then I could get brown. :) Heck, I could get brown with black trim, or brown with light brown trim. I agonized over that for awhile as Cindy's trimmed one was so pretty. But I decided that Dan had enough bling on his own and we would just stick to chocolate brown.
And it finally came!! And it was just as divine as I remembered. :) Danny went so well in it and it was so much easier to feel what Cindy was seeing. Yay!!!
So we had a great lesson. My take away was that he was throwing me off his right side a bit. I could actually feel it too. So I had to focus a bit more on sitting on the right side. And he tolerated it well. Then I could really get a lovely canter and trot! Wheee!!! And then I had to remember to not throw myself into the cantle. Good thing my first ride in it was with Cindy. I need to break in it right. :) And my second ride in it will probably be with Cindy too, so even better! Sadly I have to go to Kansas, but at least then my second ride in it will be correctly positioned too.
He was so hot and sweaty and dirty, but... I think he looks quite nice in the brown. :)
Monoflap Perfection!!
I really didn't want to spend money on another saddle, but Danny was outgrowing Fleck's dressage saddle. I had bought the jump one slightly wider because at the time I bought it, I knew I had Dan. So the jump saddle works for them both. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on how you look at it. ;) ), Danny was getting to be too wide for Fleck's medium narrow. I decided I had to do something so I debated for awhile on whether to try to find a used one.... I tried one on him that was the extra wide gullet and liked it. But it was black. And... I know he looks quite handsome in black, but now I'm really loving my brown tack. And he pulls off the brown quite nicely too. So then I sat in Cindy's perfection, which is the smaller seat size and straighter leg flap. It was tough to get my legs to behave. So then I sat in the Fusion, which really made me open my hip angle and all of a sudden I had a better seat. So then Cindy and I thought I kind of liked that one. So then I sat in hers again to get a better idea of seat size and really see if I liked the fusion. And suddenly, because the fusion opened up my hips, I could really sit in Cindy's and decided I loved it. And it fit Dan so beautifully and he was really lifting up his back and floating!
So then I had just about decided to order him one like Cindy's but couldn't quite decide if I wanted to spend the money or if I wanted to try to find used.... and Cindy Adcock told me they came out with a monoflap. I honestly didn't expect to like it that much because I wasn't as happy in the jump monoflap as I was in my Conquest non-monoflap. But I tried it on. Oh man!!!! It was DIVINE! It was ( super luckily and conveniently) the exact same sizing and details as Cindy's but the monoflap. It was magnificent. Dan went beautifully in it and I loved it for me. I still had the same more correct seat and leg position, but I felt much more connected to Dan. It felt like I was riding bareback but with a big soft comfy seat. My leg was a bit more locked in to the correct position (in a good way) and I could feel the subtle nuances better. It was awesome!!! So that sold me! I couldn't find a used monoflap so I had to get a new one. :) And then I could get brown. :) Heck, I could get brown with black trim, or brown with light brown trim. I agonized over that for awhile as Cindy's trimmed one was so pretty. But I decided that Dan had enough bling on his own and we would just stick to chocolate brown.
And it finally came!! And it was just as divine as I remembered. :) Danny went so well in it and it was so much easier to feel what Cindy was seeing. Yay!!!
So we had a great lesson. My take away was that he was throwing me off his right side a bit. I could actually feel it too. So I had to focus a bit more on sitting on the right side. And he tolerated it well. Then I could really get a lovely canter and trot! Wheee!!! And then I had to remember to not throw myself into the cantle. Good thing my first ride in it was with Cindy. I need to break in it right. :) And my second ride in it will probably be with Cindy too, so even better! Sadly I have to go to Kansas, but at least then my second ride in it will be correctly positioned too.
He was so hot and sweaty and dirty, but... I think he looks quite nice in the brown. :)
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Gibbes Clinic
So much fun!!! I love Gibbes XC weekends :)
I was a little bit sad to be going without Fleck, but honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Danny and I had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves. He's FUN! And the prelim group has outgrown us. There was no way that Fleck and I would have been comfortable doing what they did. And it wouldn't have been fair to him. I mean, maybe if he was feeling awesome and going well, but... I think I would have been feeling frustrated that we couldn't keep up with the others. So... God's so wise. He knows exactly what we need when we need it. And really, it wasn't a big deal. I missed Fleck and I missed having him around, but Danny and I had a blast. :)
We got there Friday with enough time to let him settle and relax in the paddock while I watched a group or two go. Friday was grid day as prep. I wasn't sure how Dan would be so I got on a bit early to give him time to do his baby thing if needed. He was actually pretty darn good. He's such a cocky little guy sometimes though. He cracks me up. We were fine warming up by ourselves and fine with one or two others. Then once there was a crowd, the shenanigans appeared. ;) They weren't bad though. We went through the poles a few times. Beth had them placed in a zig zag and we were working on straightness. Apparently we drift right, although I sometimes wonder if it's just that my perception of center is that bad. So we just aimed to the left of what I thought was center and then we were straight. :) After a few rounds through it was raised to a cross rail and that was boring. So as we were headed around a shoulder and foreleg suddenly came flying up. :) hee hee. Okay, not too shabby. He settled back in and went through again. As we looped around for the next pass, Morgan started the generator. It wasn't that loud or that sudden. But it was a great excuse! Dan leapt into the air and did some sort of acrobatics that got me unseated and out of balance for a split second but only a split second. Then I was able to get my balance back and ride out the other 10 seconds of antics. We landed and carried on and trotted straight through that grid. :) Beth laughed at me and said she had no idea how I stayed on sometimes. I really do think the County Conquest tractor beams me back in sometimes. :)
We continued on without any further antics and the grid progressed. Eventually we had the zig zag poles to 3 small verticals as bounces. The trick was to keep Dan straight, animated enough going in that he wasn't having to reach, but not too animated. We also worked on me and keeping my elbows in and my hands a bit wider. It was actually pretty helpful but it took me til the final two passes to actually get it like Beth wanted.
Dan ended up getting turned out with Tess that night and she was in heat. It was a bit of a flirting/squealing/love fest at first but they settled. And then it started pouring and there was a massive lightning storm! It was actually a LOT scary as there was a ton of lightning. Most of it seemed to be heat lightning up in the sky but there was a few bolts. There wasn't much I could do as there wasn't any open stalls left and unless I wanted to cross tie him all night or hold him all night.... I just prayed and prayed. And he did fine. But man... scary! Beautiful, but scary.
We rode at 5 Saturday so he spent the day in the pasture with Tess, alone, and then with Rico and Rico and Mighty. They all actually got along pretty well. So yay, now I know! Danny mostly just politely followed them around but wasn't too much of a pest. It was hot but luckily there was a bit of a breeze and clouds so he wasn't too sweaty before we started.
We started in the middle field by the ditches and Danny actually warmed up quite lazy. I even put on spurs and I had accidentally grabbed the big spurs! But he was great and after a few minutes of reminding him about being in front of my leg, we were golden. He really didn't put a foot wrong. I was quite proud of him! He seemed to be learning and getting his job. We jumped the ditch and the coffin. Then we did some of the hanging logs and even some fairly larger logs. :) Fun! Then we moved to the banks area. He was the first one up the bank and he stopped and balked a bit. I think it was more over stimulation than the actual bank itself. It had two big white barrels standing on each end and there was all the other fun stuff to look at. He didn't need a lead, just a minute or two to look, and then up he went. And after that there was no issues. He went up and down and up and down and then at the trot and even the canter. We did a little mini course up in the bank area and jumped over some fences and went up and down the bank again. Then we headed to the little water and again, Dan didn't really want to be the first one in but he required even less encouragement to go in this time. And again, once in, he was happy to then play and go in from that point on. We jumped a few more fences and went in and out of the water. So much fun!!! After that we called it a day. They had done quite a bit and we still had tomorrow to play.
Oh, we also did the canter bounces. Hee hee. I trotted Dan towards them and about 1 stride out he went "Wait... what/!?!?!" hee hee. He slowed to the walk and we fumbled through them. But on the second attempt he figured them out. Hee hee.
Sunday was as hot and as much fun. Maybe more fun! We started in field by the water. Beth had us jump over a few coops and cabins to warm up and Danny was having fun. I didn't have to wake him up but he also wasn't stupid or overly rowdy. :) He was so well behaved and still fun!After the warm up around the water we headed to the ditch. It was a very shallow ditch, but on the edge of the woods and fairly wide. Beth was going to have us skip it but I told her we had done most of the ditches at Ashland, so we went for it. She had us trot it first and I decided to trot him up and see what he did rather than let him look first. He trotted up and stopped and stared. It took a minute to get him to chill and then go over it but that's all it took. Then we came back around and he stopped short but leapt, so technically not a full stop. Then after that he was fine. We came the other direction and he didn't stop but really drifted right and almost out of it's path. But once I closed my leg and opened my left rein, he stayed straight. So yay! Then we did the whole coffin.
The next stop was the cloverleaf. It was the black pipes hanging over the ground, over a fake ditch, and then one with a groundline. They were little but looky. I decided to be nice and let him have a look even though he didn't spook at the one in the other field. These were a bit lookier though. He walked up and sort of worried a tiny bit but sniffed all three quickly. Then we headed through and he jumped all three of them great! I was so proud. :) I thought for sure he'd spook at them. We also went up the bank and down the bank next to the ditch and walls.
Then we headed to the water. We did the log in and the log out, which I thought was pretty good for baby horse! Then we did the bank up and the bank down. We stuttered a tiny bit on the bank down but not too bad. So then Beth got that look in her eye and asked if I wanted to do the roll top in the water. Um... Yes please!!!! Although I wasn't entirely sure that it was a fair thing to ask of the baby horse, but.... he seemed game so far and it wasn't bit. We came at it from the side closest to the water so he didn't have to lose so much energy in the water first. The first time through we came at it and sailed over! I was so excited and so proud. Turns out, we had to do it again. And again. And again. ;) Beth said that I came in too long and flat and he didn't have the choice of refusing because gravity carried him over. Well.... fine.... I'm sure she was right, but it felt good. :) So we fixed it. And we had fun doing it. :) Sooooo excited about how game he was and how rideable he was. :)
So we quit with that. :)
It was a great weekend because for the first time it felt like baby horse went from just cocky and then scaring himself to realizing his job and being confident instead of cocky. SO MUCH FUN!!!! He grew up an awful lot this weekend too. It was his first time being away from home overnight without Fleck (I think!) and his first time staying in a pasture with other friends. His first time doing a lot of XC questions. :) What a rockstar!!!
The "Big" fence :) He just loped right over it. And yes... I realize my elbows are still out despite Beth's attempts to get me to open my hands and keep my elbows in. I fixed it. I think. :)
Danny over the "bigger" stuff!
More fun
Cantering through the water and up and out
Jumping the Jumps
More fun
I was a little bit sad to be going without Fleck, but honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Danny and I had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves. He's FUN! And the prelim group has outgrown us. There was no way that Fleck and I would have been comfortable doing what they did. And it wouldn't have been fair to him. I mean, maybe if he was feeling awesome and going well, but... I think I would have been feeling frustrated that we couldn't keep up with the others. So... God's so wise. He knows exactly what we need when we need it. And really, it wasn't a big deal. I missed Fleck and I missed having him around, but Danny and I had a blast. :)
We got there Friday with enough time to let him settle and relax in the paddock while I watched a group or two go. Friday was grid day as prep. I wasn't sure how Dan would be so I got on a bit early to give him time to do his baby thing if needed. He was actually pretty darn good. He's such a cocky little guy sometimes though. He cracks me up. We were fine warming up by ourselves and fine with one or two others. Then once there was a crowd, the shenanigans appeared. ;) They weren't bad though. We went through the poles a few times. Beth had them placed in a zig zag and we were working on straightness. Apparently we drift right, although I sometimes wonder if it's just that my perception of center is that bad. So we just aimed to the left of what I thought was center and then we were straight. :) After a few rounds through it was raised to a cross rail and that was boring. So as we were headed around a shoulder and foreleg suddenly came flying up. :) hee hee. Okay, not too shabby. He settled back in and went through again. As we looped around for the next pass, Morgan started the generator. It wasn't that loud or that sudden. But it was a great excuse! Dan leapt into the air and did some sort of acrobatics that got me unseated and out of balance for a split second but only a split second. Then I was able to get my balance back and ride out the other 10 seconds of antics. We landed and carried on and trotted straight through that grid. :) Beth laughed at me and said she had no idea how I stayed on sometimes. I really do think the County Conquest tractor beams me back in sometimes. :)
We continued on without any further antics and the grid progressed. Eventually we had the zig zag poles to 3 small verticals as bounces. The trick was to keep Dan straight, animated enough going in that he wasn't having to reach, but not too animated. We also worked on me and keeping my elbows in and my hands a bit wider. It was actually pretty helpful but it took me til the final two passes to actually get it like Beth wanted.
Dan ended up getting turned out with Tess that night and she was in heat. It was a bit of a flirting/squealing/love fest at first but they settled. And then it started pouring and there was a massive lightning storm! It was actually a LOT scary as there was a ton of lightning. Most of it seemed to be heat lightning up in the sky but there was a few bolts. There wasn't much I could do as there wasn't any open stalls left and unless I wanted to cross tie him all night or hold him all night.... I just prayed and prayed. And he did fine. But man... scary! Beautiful, but scary.
We rode at 5 Saturday so he spent the day in the pasture with Tess, alone, and then with Rico and Rico and Mighty. They all actually got along pretty well. So yay, now I know! Danny mostly just politely followed them around but wasn't too much of a pest. It was hot but luckily there was a bit of a breeze and clouds so he wasn't too sweaty before we started.
We started in the middle field by the ditches and Danny actually warmed up quite lazy. I even put on spurs and I had accidentally grabbed the big spurs! But he was great and after a few minutes of reminding him about being in front of my leg, we were golden. He really didn't put a foot wrong. I was quite proud of him! He seemed to be learning and getting his job. We jumped the ditch and the coffin. Then we did some of the hanging logs and even some fairly larger logs. :) Fun! Then we moved to the banks area. He was the first one up the bank and he stopped and balked a bit. I think it was more over stimulation than the actual bank itself. It had two big white barrels standing on each end and there was all the other fun stuff to look at. He didn't need a lead, just a minute or two to look, and then up he went. And after that there was no issues. He went up and down and up and down and then at the trot and even the canter. We did a little mini course up in the bank area and jumped over some fences and went up and down the bank again. Then we headed to the little water and again, Dan didn't really want to be the first one in but he required even less encouragement to go in this time. And again, once in, he was happy to then play and go in from that point on. We jumped a few more fences and went in and out of the water. So much fun!!! After that we called it a day. They had done quite a bit and we still had tomorrow to play.
Oh, we also did the canter bounces. Hee hee. I trotted Dan towards them and about 1 stride out he went "Wait... what/!?!?!" hee hee. He slowed to the walk and we fumbled through them. But on the second attempt he figured them out. Hee hee.
Sunday was as hot and as much fun. Maybe more fun! We started in field by the water. Beth had us jump over a few coops and cabins to warm up and Danny was having fun. I didn't have to wake him up but he also wasn't stupid or overly rowdy. :) He was so well behaved and still fun!After the warm up around the water we headed to the ditch. It was a very shallow ditch, but on the edge of the woods and fairly wide. Beth was going to have us skip it but I told her we had done most of the ditches at Ashland, so we went for it. She had us trot it first and I decided to trot him up and see what he did rather than let him look first. He trotted up and stopped and stared. It took a minute to get him to chill and then go over it but that's all it took. Then we came back around and he stopped short but leapt, so technically not a full stop. Then after that he was fine. We came the other direction and he didn't stop but really drifted right and almost out of it's path. But once I closed my leg and opened my left rein, he stayed straight. So yay! Then we did the whole coffin.
The next stop was the cloverleaf. It was the black pipes hanging over the ground, over a fake ditch, and then one with a groundline. They were little but looky. I decided to be nice and let him have a look even though he didn't spook at the one in the other field. These were a bit lookier though. He walked up and sort of worried a tiny bit but sniffed all three quickly. Then we headed through and he jumped all three of them great! I was so proud. :) I thought for sure he'd spook at them. We also went up the bank and down the bank next to the ditch and walls.
Then we headed to the water. We did the log in and the log out, which I thought was pretty good for baby horse! Then we did the bank up and the bank down. We stuttered a tiny bit on the bank down but not too bad. So then Beth got that look in her eye and asked if I wanted to do the roll top in the water. Um... Yes please!!!! Although I wasn't entirely sure that it was a fair thing to ask of the baby horse, but.... he seemed game so far and it wasn't bit. We came at it from the side closest to the water so he didn't have to lose so much energy in the water first. The first time through we came at it and sailed over! I was so excited and so proud. Turns out, we had to do it again. And again. And again. ;) Beth said that I came in too long and flat and he didn't have the choice of refusing because gravity carried him over. Well.... fine.... I'm sure she was right, but it felt good. :) So we fixed it. And we had fun doing it. :) Sooooo excited about how game he was and how rideable he was. :)
So we quit with that. :)
It was a great weekend because for the first time it felt like baby horse went from just cocky and then scaring himself to realizing his job and being confident instead of cocky. SO MUCH FUN!!!! He grew up an awful lot this weekend too. It was his first time being away from home overnight without Fleck (I think!) and his first time staying in a pasture with other friends. His first time doing a lot of XC questions. :) What a rockstar!!!
Danny over the "bigger" stuff!
More fun
Cantering through the water and up and out
Jumping the Jumps
More fun
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