Smartass

 Today was a Beth lesson day. :) I went to the chiropractor and then the bank. Then I came home and did reports during the hottest part of the day. Then I headed to Morning Run to adjust Butters before my lesson on Dan. Dan seemed so excited to be back at Camp. Traitor!! You don't get to stay! 

 We tacked up and headed to the arena. Cindy was super and let me borrow the monoflap again. I started my warm up and as we hit the far end of the arena Danny went from 17 hands to 18 hands!! DONKEY!!! Um.... I'm pretty sure that the donkey has been there EVERY time we're here AND the entire time you were at Camp with Beth here. He was on full alert though. He was stock still and staring! Then he'd turn and stare at the mule and the ponies, then back to Donkey.. then back to mule and ponies.. then back to Donkey. I finally got him to go back to work. Goober. 

We started warming up and I told Beth that he was behind my leg again and it was so frustrating. And he didn't feel quite as lovely. She said she could tell... he was already lacking "structure". Sigh... Oops. Back to putting him in his box and insisting he stay there. And sure enough.... I ended up getting some LOVELY work out of him. I still have to push him into that right outside rein and ask for more flexion to the right. We did a few transitions and Beth reminded me to keep him connected and not throw him away during the transitions. And.. when I asked for the canter, I got the right lead every time. :) Yahoo!

So then Beth said she wanted to work on some changes. She said that it would help me get that canter and maintain that canter. And that until we were able to keep the lovely canter and get it consistently... our jumping wasn't going to improve. And that once we did get that canter.. the jumping would automatically improve. And it's not like Dan doesn't get the idea of a course, so... works for me. She set two cavaletti's 3 strides apart and had me get a nice collected canter and then canter the poles. We went in a circle on the left lead and she said that once we got into the poles on a nice stride (don't aim for a change if he didn't come into it nicely) we could turn right after the second pole. And as he lifted off to go over the second pole, I was to swing my "Hooker hips"to the left and shift my body aids from left lead canter to the right lead canter. Beth said to exaggerate it at first so that he understood what we were asking. She said that if we didn't get the full change to just come back down to the trot and go back to the left lead and try again. So we started and the first two times we pooped over the first pole. Beth said that this was pretty much what happened with jumps too. He is good around the turn but then gets behind my leg and I don't do anything about it. Sigh... Yep. But I swear I was trying. I almost fell off I was trying so hard! Seriously... pony club kicking is hard when it's 90 degrees and feels like 100. So.. then Beth told me to dig my spur into him. And that makes sense... he's still responding to my leg.. and I won't fall off. ;) Hopefully. So anyways... we got that accomplished and went back to the changes. So... the next time we went through, Dan swapped on his own after the first one. We laughed and praised him. He's like "Sucka's... I've got this!". Only it was because he was falling in on that shoulder so it was easier to swap. So we tried again with him straight and not falling or leaning and he swapped partially but the next attempt he swapped on his own again. So then Beth said that we would just do it over the first pole and skip the second pole. And we got it twice. So then we went to the other lead and it was tougher. Which we knew it would be. But not that tough. :) Yay! We got it a few times and then went back the other way and got it again and then quit with that. :) I joked that Beth was going to be in trouble when I got multiple changes during my counter canter work in my dressage tests this weekend. She said "Nope.. because your body needs to stay on the correct lead" which means he shouldn't swap. Sigh. Yep. :) 

 So then we went for a little cool down hack. We braved the donkey, although he didn't really see him well because the mule and other horses were in front of the donkey. The cows were fun though. :)