So.. today was a fun day! Mike and I slept in... then I took a short nap since I had another brewing migraine and took a pill. Then Mike had to leave for Tennessee... (sadness). So I went to the chiropractor and he could tell my neck was super tight! So then I came home and finished painting the one side of the fence. In the sunshine!!!! I ran out of time to paint the fence on the other side of the barn. Well, I ran out of time and patience. Ha! But... still, making progress. Oh, but before I went to paint I pulled Dan's sheet off and while I was out in the front field, I rolled his barrel back out some. As soon as I had walked out.. he started rolling it and chasing it! He had it rolling fast!! And then it rolled right back into the prickers. Drats! So then I guess he got bored so he noticed I was painting and came up to investigate. We hung out for a minute and then I let him go graze the good grass by the trailer. I opened the gate and he went out and then within 30 seconds he was eating the chair that I hadn't put back in the trailer yet... then he was pulling on the halter I had hanging. DAN!!! So I chased him off.. and then Emma took note so she took off after him. So then they had an intense game of tag... with him running and bucking... at one point he even almsot ran into Fleck, who had come up by this point. Goobers. So finally I put the dogs away and Dan settled down and him and Fleck had fun grazing for awhile. But then I noticed Dan's nose! Oops! Guess Emma won that round!
So anyways... I ended up going to Ashland to meet Kelli. She wanted to bring both her horses and offered to let me ride Marvin. By the time she was able to go, it was already close to 3:30 pm, so I decided to leave Fleck at home. Which is sad, but I'm glad I did because I barely had time to ride Dan! We got to Ashland and spent a little bit of time looking at Dan and trying to decide if he was fat (slightly!! But yahoo) and if he was having any muscular development issues. (I feel like he's getting a little bit of the divot between his lumbars and sacrum and I panicked!). Then we got both of hers tacked up (and we were quick!) and went and did about 30 minutes of dressage. Marvin is fun! He's so different than Dan. But it was fun. Then we took a short hack.. just around the lake and back.
We got back and untacked him and then I got Dan tacked up. And it started to sprinkle. Ugh. But... I got on anyways and as I was walking up to the jump ring, I realized that it wasn't just rain.. it was sleet/hail! Tiny little hail balls, but.. hail! How odd?! But we just sucked it up. It wasn't that cold and it wasn't raining that hard, so... we kept on. And it quickly stopped. We warmed up fairly quickly and he was pretty good about being in front of my leg. I needed to remind him once or twice and that was it. Then I jumped a few fences to warm up. And... to be honest.. he was pretty stinkin' straight!! Like.. I didn't have to dab. He was just straight! So then Kelli set up the fences for me and we jumped a few as she was setting them up. That darn oxer still gets me. I don't know if it's the placement in the arena.. the fact that it's a square oxer... or what. But we got over it. Without any issues.. other than I just had to "eeeek!" a little over it. And probably a little "eeeek"ing to it. But we did it! So then we did a few more and he was so good! So then I did a course. Kelli and I talked and we decided that I should do the oxer from the brick vertical on the slight bendy line because that way.. I had less time to get strung out and flat to it. So we came up with a course and off we went. He was super!! I mean, there was a spot or two where we got a little deep because I rode a little too aggressively and we went past the distance a hair.. and one spot where we took a flyer but.... It was mostly good! And it wasn't unraveling! And he went. And we fixed it! We even got the two stride on the first attempt. And on the long side... I did NOT hold... or half halt.. and pushed.. and he moved up to it and it was great!! Kelli was super proud of us. :) I decided to be proud too. Then Kelli mentioned that if I wanted to "nitpick" about anything... that my hands got a little wide and my reins got a little long. So... we picked three more easy jumps (Because... my thought process is that... as long as I'm not pushed too much past my comfort, I can continue to keep the momentum going and keep pressing forward. If I get a little bit too much past my comfort, I'll resort to holding or riding backwards and we'll back track. And.. at this point... at my comfort level.. I am almost to the point of wanting to finesse things a little but I'm afraid to do too much at once. So.. the plan is to stick to my comfort zone and pick one thing to "finesse" and only do one or two fences at it... so that I can make sure I don't mess it up!). Anyways.. we picked three easy jumps and I shortened my reins. The first fence he got underneath it because he thought we were done and I didn't quite get him in front of my leg enough, but... then I corrected it and he was awesome over the last two! And Kelli is right. If I can keep my reins a bit shorter, then I can ride with my elbows and keep the connection. And then I can stay with him better and help him balance better. Because I can be quieter. :)
So yay!!! Fun night! I really really wanted to take him on a long hack too but it was getting dark and cold, so.. we headed home. Oh, and he was kind of snuggly today. :) Like... he even gave me kisses and snuggled with me a little bit. :) AWWWWW.... baby potatoe does love me!
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