Today was a good day, despite it not being the day I had originally planned. ;) I was supposed to have a dressage lesson and then go see two patients in the afternoon. Which meant, I got to sleep in a teeny bit. Yay! NOPE! ha ha... Yesterday afternoon the pasture people called and said they could come lime my place in the morning. Oooohhhh yes! Because with the sun and the heavy winds I'm pretty sure my place had finally dried up enough and it's supposed to rain again tonight, so.. yes please! I wasn't sure how long it would take them, so I moved my dressage lesson to Saturday. The lime guy said he would call in the am when he was loading up around 7:30/8 am, so I had to get up early. (Well, not early, but not sleeping in). I got the ponies fed and locked them in their paddocks and went and opened all the gates and the guy came and limed it. His truck is so big with such a big spread that it took him no time at all! And I remembered that Jacel had said she could teach Jean today since she couldn't teach on Tuesday, so I messaged her and she said she could add me in. Yay! So I put some jumps back in the arena and then I met Jacel for a lesson. It was so good!
We warmed up and then she had us trot a cross rail then leg yield to a pole on the ground that was set off ot the side. This exercise got him to lift and use his ribcage, which allowed his inside hind leg to come up and under and push, which also allowed his shoulders to lift up and be light. So we did that both ways. Then she changed it to two fences and had us canter them, with the leg yields. It's awesome. Dan got soft in his back and then that got him in front of my leg! So instead of pushing, I had my pocket rocket back! Almost too much!! But it's such a nice feeling to have him being that much of an eager beaver! And... despite being an eager beaver and getting a tight distance, he was up in the front end so he could lift his shoulders!! It was awesome! At one point, we didn't leg yield to the right enough, but... because I didn't use my hands, and only used my leg, we got to the cross rail at a slight diagonal approach and awfully close to the standard, but.... he was able to just pop over it easily because he was light on the forehand and had options. So yay me for not panicking and grabbing his face, thus inverting him. So then she had us do both sides in a row, all at the canter. And it was working! He was jumping through and round and lifting his front end even though the fences were tiny. Now, he was getting a little quick at the base of the fence. But not too terrible. And it makes me happy because that means, in my mind, that he's having fun again and wants it! So then she had us do the two outside lines... just straight lines... She wanted me to leg yield a little right and a little left in the middle of the lines. Yep!! It helped a lot but somebody got SUPER quick. So then she had us do the same thing, but circle before the first jump, circle between the line, and then circle after the fence. BUT.... I was supposed to circle without using my hands (within reason) and get him to circle by just asking for a leg yield and using my leg and seat aids. Hard... especially at first, but... oh... OHHHHHH.... By asking him to leg yield, I got a soft rib cage, which led to a soft back and neck, which led to a soft canter, which led to a very soft downward. OHHHH!!! :) And yes... it's basically what I'm doing in my dressage lessons, with the turn on the forehand using the outside rein and inside leg, but... at speed. And my brain felt like I could accomplish a leg yield better than a turn on the forehand from the canter, but quite frankly, it's the exact same thing as Rana was trying to get me to do that I just didn't comprehend. But... it works!!! And Dan suddenly went "wait, what?!?" and then "oh... I soften!". And he would soften and slow his pace/tempo, but not the impulsion and we got a lovely canter and then we jumped. It was super cool. :) We did it both directions with all 4 fences but the right trip was tougher for him. He broke to the trot a few times and even trotted a fence. But see what I just said.. he TROTTED a fence!! Without breaking to the canter. Jacel said it was because he was actually light in the front end and felt like he could do it. Whereas before, he was stuck in the withers/ribcage and didn't feel like he could lift. Makes sense. So we quit with that. We don't want him to get fatigued and hurt himself and he did so well!
Super exciting!!! So now I can use the leg yield to soften him and slow the run, without fighting and creating tension. I can use the leg yield to get his rib cage moving and soften his back. And Jacel also mentioned that his tail was up and not clamped down, which meant he was using his back. Sounds familiar! It's so nice that my lessons are tying in together so nicely! Yay!!!
Oh, and I pivo'ed my ride, but... in my haste I set the camera up facing the outside of the arena... and then because it was on the rail, I never passed through the range of view, so... it didn't get most of my ride. Towards the end I passed close enough that it snagged me and then did a great job of following me.. but I only got the last two rounds on camera. ha ha. Oh well. At least I got something!
Ps. Pretty cool I got a lesson in my OWN arena at my OWN farm! :) :)
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