Sally!!! So... another ride

So... Sally ended up needing to go to the mechanic again, so.. before I dropped her off, I ended up sneaking in another ride since the rain quit. :)

We did a quick hack then played with some dressage. Got an awesome SI and renvers... a fairly decent trot half pass from centerline back to the rail both ways. Did some good canter work. We did NOT try for counter canter today... just went for the walk to canter transitions. Did our walk to 10 meter canter circle down centerline again. Got 4 good ones. Then got a nice medium down centerline and a nice one across the diagonal too :)

And.. went for a quick snacky graze after.

Chatt Hunter Pace

Chaos!

Mules with covered wagon: attempted spin and bolt... almost ran me over but didn't!

XC schooling.... a bit slick but put good money in the bank. Very forward, which was tough as I almost was tempted to NOT close my leg. But I didn't! And I didn't jump ahead. Yay. But we didn't do much.. and it was mostly BN and some novice. I chickened out a little. But it wasn't exactly conducive atmosphere either. ;)

Then had a gallop.... raced two saddlebred things... won. ;)

Then did the hunter pace... got tangled in the vine....

Ended up doing 10 miles... still bouncy....

Jumping Lesson with Kelly

Good jump lesson..

No exfoliation Oxer... ha ha...

Thing 1: Is he in front of my leg
Thing 2: is he straight - no right drift.... do the Dub to prevent... may have to counterflex/counterbend, but make sure it's bringing his nose to the right, because bringing it to the left throws that right shoulder even more right
Thing 1.5 and 2.5: Hunker down in the saddle and stay back and behind the motion almost. Do NOT jump ahead...
Thing 3: Keep my hands low

He was good. We put money back in the bank and had some really good jumps
Oh... and...

Canter departs: KISS: As the inside shoulder comes forward, swing my outside leg back and lift my inside seat bone. Then once he is in the canter, add the inside leg to help lift and get swing! And he must go forward.. not just dribble in the transition.

There is a way to train the leg aid vs training him to "fear" me in front of the jump. So... say I'm coming around the short side of the arena, then 4 strides into the long side, I come off the rail towards the jump.... rather than wait til I'm a few strides out from the jump to use my stick..... as I come down the long side, close my leg and if no surge, Whack him with my stick. So therefore he's learning to respond to my leg... not just to jump the jump. It works because then when I close my leg 4 strides out... I get the lovely surge forward :)

Quick graze and then home

Christmas!

Christmas hack with Kelli... then a quick 10 minute dressage school. Still broken right lead counter canter but held it once. Then finished with a beautiful left lead from the walk, 10 meter circle, to walk, to right lead, 10 meter circle, to walk, to left lead, 10 meter circle to walk. :) We quit with that :)

Christmas Eve Ride

It has rained and rained and rained non-stop for like... 3 days. So... I got up early to go sneak in a ride before Christmas at Mom Searls. I almost didn't.... I was tired.... I woke up at 2:30 am with a migraine and took a pill, so I was still a bit foggy in the morning... But I'm so glad I did it! It was a sunny warm glorious day! I got hot in my long sleeve and fleece. Dan was a good boy too. We did a short hack before and after but because of time, we mostly did some dressage. I started in the jump arena because the footing was so sloppy and I didn't want to tear up the footing. We had a pretty good ride. We are still struggling with the right lead counter canter. So much that I gave up and did a little bit more work over the poles and then we went down to the dressage arena to try the right lead once more.

And... then I decided to try the one part of 3-1. The part where we do shoulder in and then 10 meter circle to centerline and then half pass to the rail. (in trot). And.. it wasn't too bad. :) So yay. Then we held the counter canter and so I called it a day. We finished with a quick hack after too.

Figuring Things Out

So nice to ride and figure things out on my own...

he is so sensitive... i need to stop over thinking... walk, walk, walk, canter..

Played with counter canter, canter half pass, canter leg yield, trot half pass, medium trots, 10 meter canter circles, canter pirouettes, turn on the haunches, Shoulder in and haunches in

Hacked