I met Peri and Kelli and we headed up to the ring to play for a bit. Danny felt awesome and we warmed up well. It's so nice that he's in front of my leg mostly now. :) We worked on the trot, some medium trots, the canter, the counter canter, and some transitions. Then we jumped some. They were set at maybe novice height, but I was kind of lazy, so... we jumped them. We came to an oxer as our 4th fence and it was a bit wider than I had thought. I was a bad bad mommy and came up to it and just chickened out. I took my leg off and basically abandoned Dan. He was going lovely too. And then when I backed off, so did he. He basically petered out to it but he's a good boy so he jumped it, from a very wimpy puny canter, and we pretty much landed on the back rail with his hind feet. Of course he broke the pole and landed in a heap. I landed on his neck but my County Conquest tractor beamed me back in place. :) He got lots of praise and thanks. Sigh.. Bad mommy!! So.. we came back around and he just loped over it the second time like he didn't just have the issue. I was better and closed my leg this time so that helped. ;) But he was so non-plussed about it. It was awesome. So we jumped a few more things and then went to the grid. It was alternating ground poles and low vertical bounces/half stride things... but the last vertical had the mounting block underneath it. Dan didn't care.. He just loped on through. Soooo smart!! So we jumped a few other things. We had our issues. Mostly mine. I can't quite figure him out yet. I guess because he's so much more balanced and uphill naturally than Fleck... his canter feels awesome but it's just so big so we get to funky spots. But if I try to collect it, I feel like he's got nothing (which isn't the case) and then I chase him. Sigh. But we managed a few decent jumps. We even finished with the line with the oxer and I kept him straight and we managed a decent distance. And the good thing is that when I ask him to wait, he waits, and when I ask him to move up, he moves up. I just have to get better about feeling it sooner.
It was a lot of fun though. And then Peri let me hop on Ticket again. He's much more forward than the last time I rode him. Fun times. We just jumped a small vertical and then the grid without the last fence. He was good.
The next step was to go untack and head bareback to the lake!! Fun times. We got there when Elizabeth and Missy were there so we joined in the party. Oh, and then Judy joined us with Cash too. Danny was having fun. We even got to go for a few short swims!! This time without soaking my saddle and without the completely underwaterness. It was super fun.
Danny swims!
After that we headed for a trail ride. Danny was a bit of a punk as he wasn't in the lead. He had a few little antics of bouncing which was fine. Except the one time... He had his antics ON the bridge! Which was scary because I was afraid he would slip. But he didn't and he settled down quickly. Dingbat!
And then.... after we got back, Kelli took a quick minute in the arena so I decided I couldn't resist and did too. We had a very lovely trot, which I had to sit as I was bareback. But he was lovely! And then we cantered both directions. Holy amazing!!! His canter is just to die for! That may have been the first time I cantered him bareback. oooooohhhhh.... so darn lovely!
So yep... Wonderful day :) After dinner I adjusted him as he was needing it. He was good. I finally got some good licks and chews and yawns out of him. Yay! Hopefully he can feel even more amazing now :)
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