Did I mention I got to ride?

So... today was my half day off. I typically take Tuesday mornings off but today I saw Jackpot in the morning and then went to do Anna's two horses. So I decided to block the rest of the day off so I could ride. Kelly mentioned that she could probably teach but wanted to play it by ear since the weather has been so screwy. So I woke up and checked the weather channel and of course... it's supposed to be dry all morning and then rain all afternoon. Ugh. BUT....I refrained from complaining..out loud at least. I worked on all the critters and it was overcast and even sprinkled a little bit. On my way home from Anna's it was still dry, but overcast. So... hmmm... maybe I'll get lucky! I messaged Kelly and she said it wasn't raining there and to come on. :) YAY! We went to Shakerag and had a dressage lesson. Her arena footing was super! And it stayed dry the whole time and the sun even came out!! And Dan met Kelly's goat... and LOVED him. He was obsessed and wanted to keep talking to him. Hee hee. Anyways... it was a great lesson, despite the fact that I'm sooooo ....confused... at times. So then we stopped and got hay on the way home... and I get back and pull in and... get the truck stuck. Ugh. I stopped and unloaded Dan and he went running off into the field. But this time I really got it stuck. Like... there's no budging it in this mud. And I can't back up anymore because now I've got it backed up as far as it can go. Dangit!!! And then it started raining... hard. UGHHHHHH.... So... I went to make the horses dinner... called and called them... and they won't come in. And Dan is naked... and now soaking wet. But luckily it's weird warm weather and is currently in the 60's and humid and hopefully he won't get cold later! I unloaded the hay in the rain.... Still they wouldn't come up, so.. fine! I"m starving and annoyed so I left them out... naked... and hungry. I did put hay in their stalls. So I'm cooking dinner and have two pans on the stove top now... one that I pulled from the oven. And then I proceeded to pick it up WITHOUT an oven mitt!! UGHHH... That hurt like a mother! Sigh.... stupid day.. stupid mud... 

But did I mention I got to ride?!?! So there's that. :) And hopefully I'll get my truck out before Friday so I can ride Friday. 

So.. in my ride...

We started at the walk... and got forward. He needs to be rolling... that nice forward rolling walk.. with his back lifted. And to get that... I have to get him in front of my leg. I can use my inside leg for bend, and ideally, I do that with a squeeze as the outside foreleg is coming forward. Otherwise, it's just busyness. So once I had forward.. then we went to the trot. And same thing. We played a little bit with half pass.. Again, start down the diagonal, then bring the haunches in. We got a few good steps, but have to remember to keep the engagement. :) 

So then we went to the canter. Oh, but we talked about what the new goal is. We're going to focus on submission... He need to be soft and supple and let me move his shoulders around so that we can then progress to the changes. So we started with a nice canter... uphill and pushing. I have to remember to sit upright too. Then we touched on the counter canter shallow serpentine and it wasn't bad. We held it. It was shallow, but.. we held it. And we were able to move his shoulders and bend without him falling out of it. But it was subtle movements. So then we went to the simple change. Kelly wanted me to do it at the walk first, then the trot, and then the canter. We started in the corner with a nice bend.. then went across the short diagonal. And when I started across the diagonal we made him straight... with his nose between his chest. Then as we got close to the rail, she wanted me to switch the bend and get him in the new outside rein. Although.. in the beginning... maybe I didn't hear.... or maybe she worded it differently, but... I misheard and rode it... as the true bend... then straight... then I was riding his shoulders to the true outside and then turning him. And I kept basically running him into the fence. Poor guy. He was trying. Really hard. So we did it multiple times and it wasn't great. We never really got a simple change because he kept falling out of the canter before i could ask, and/or I couldn't ask because I was focusing so hard on doing all of the things. So then.. Effing Goat came to the rescue!! He came over and started talking and that blew Dan's mind. He was soooo intrigued. He found him fascinating. So we said hi a few times. And Kelly and I talked more about the things I was trying to do. As we talked, I had an epiphany! "Oh, you basically want me to just change the bend?".... Well yeah... she explained that she wanted me to be able to change the bend and change his shoulders without seat aids, so that when I changed my seat aids... that was the cue for the change. Not moving his nose or throwing him off balance. So.. then I tried it again and it was much smoother. :) Because duh!! I was finally doing it right....  On the right lead, right bend.... in the left rein.... then cross the diagonal and get him straight... then bend him left (ie.. counter bend) and move his shoulders to the left (this was the part that was screwing me up... I was trying to move his shoulders to the right... not the left)... and then do the downward and then the upward again. Unfortunately he was a little (or a lot) distracted by the goat and it was not supple or pretty, but .... we got the job done. He was actually pretty good about going back to work despite the goat distractions, so.. we quit with that. Now I just need to practice that. And practice bend and counter bend in all the gaits without him getting thrown off balance. :) 

So yep... I got to ride. :) And hopefully Dan won't freeze or starve.. and my truck and trailer can get out before Friday... or on Friday.. so we can practice it again :)