Blasted body parts!

 Hee hee. No wonder my pony is fit! We did another hour long canter lesson. ;) But he did get the last two days off after the show. Hee hee. And quite frankly, he's been fit his whole life. 

Anyways... we decided to work on the haunches in at the canter again. And it's me. It's all me! My darn body doesn't cooperate like it's supposed to. Which, is good, in ways. It means that Dan is telling on me and doing exactly what my body is asking him to do. And in theory, that means when I correctly ask for a change, I should get it. But for now.. it's a struggle. ;) 

 

Anyways...we started on the left lead, which in theory, is the hard lead. I'd get a nice canter and as soon as I'd ask his haunches to come in, usually by my right leg, he'd break to the trot. So, we decided that it's because he was getting straight in the neck. When he gets straight in the neck, he braces, and when he braces, his back and hind end stop moving. So, we worked on getting more bend. He has to stay in the connection, which means I have to keep my elbows by my side. He has to stay connected to the outside/right rein and then I can use my inside rein for bend. Even if it means opening my inside rein to my knee. And I must keep my thumbs up. No turning them down and in. So, when I do this... I can actually get and keep the bend and if I just move my seat like I want a haunches in, he does it. So we got a few steps a few times and I thought I had the hang of it, so we wanted a breather and I asked to go the other way. Ugh.. the other way was worse! Ha ha!

Same thing though. He has to stay in my outside rein and my elbow has to stay at my side. He has to be round and bent. Almost too bent! Which is why, my brain keeps throwing the outside rein away... thinking he needs to be able to stretch his neck. NO DING DONG!!! The bend comes from the barrel, not the neck. And he's matured enough and ready to be able to bend within the rein limits I set. So hold the outside connection and then also ride outside leg to inside rein to keep him bent. And avoid getting him with my inside/right spur! When I do that, he (rightfully) gets mad and hoppy and then he braces and then he swaps in front and we lose all semblance of anything good. So we finally managed it a bit. We also talked about attempting to half pass as I was collapsing in my right shoulder and whole right side. I even dropped my stirrup on the right. I had to think of standing in my right stirrup to keep my leg long... and then, I realized that when I was asking him to halfpass.. I was blocking him with my right leg. So... he has to bend around my right seatbone... not my right leg. My outside rein has to stay connected and half halt him to keep him round. My inside leg must keep bend or he can't do anything, and then I had to ride with my right leg long, my upper thighs on, but nothing else. I had to keep my right leg off him so that he could go to the right. And for 2 or 3 glorious strides, it all came together! He looked like Valegro in the mirrors... reaching with a big shoulder lift, going sideways in the correct bend! It was awesome! And then my blasted right leg wanted to keep the energy so it snuck up and spurred him, which made him brace, and then it all stopped. Sigh. But we managed to get a few more steps a few times, so we quit. 

That's hard work for all of us! But I think I'm getting it. I was able to see in the mirror that I have to keep him in the bridle with the outside rein connection.. keep him bent with the inside rein connection, move him lateral with my outside leg and weight aids, as well as my inside seat bone, and allowing the lateral movement with my inside leg off. Oh, and keep my thumbs up, my shoulders even, and my spurs out of his sides. Phew!

But... progress was made. Baby steps, but... steps!

 

Oops, we did it again!

 Another first place!!! We finished on our dressage score of 25.3 and stayed in first! 

We left at 5:45 this morning to head to Aiken again. (It just works better for all of us. Dan is happier being out and not having to be in a stall.. it's cheaper... and at Beginner Novice, the times are late enough in the day that I have plenty of time to get there and walk my courses!). We made good time and got there with just enough time to unload, take a quick walk, and then pop him back in the trailer while I went to do the course walk with Jacel. It wasn't raining yet, but... the forecast was showing rain and storms literally all day. In fact, they were supposed to start at 4 am. It did sprinkle very briefly while I was feeding before we left, but then it stopped. We made our course walk and didn't get wet! The course looked good actually! There was a few slightly intimidating fences in the sense that one was a hammock and one was a giant table. BUT... I wasn't freaked out. I wasn't even super nervous. I thought "Those are big, but... look doable". In fact, the novice course actually looked fairly doable. Of course, it's a lot easier to say that when I'm not actually jumping it, but.. yay for that. So then I unloaded Dan again and he had a pee. Then he hung out eating his hay for a bit. The sky started looking a bit darker so I decided that I should probably walk XC again before it got to raining, so poor Dan had to go stand in the trailer again. He probably would have been fine, but... I didn't want him getting loose and running amuck while I was on the XC field. Plus, if it started raining he'd stay dry. So I headed out. I figured I'd walk stadium first. Of course by the time I made it to stadium it started raining. But not terribly. I watched a few rides and then they opened the course for walking. I said hi to Melissa and she asked what I was riding. I told her BN and then she said "let's HOPE you get to ride BN... the weather may not cooperate!". Ugh. Yep. The stadium course looked fun! It had some fun lines and some fun turns. So then I headed over and walked XC again in the rain. It looked even better the second time. Fun! 

I got back to the trailer and it was really starting to rain now. I was pretty wet so I changed into dry clothes and sat in the trailer for a bit listening to the rain on the roof. Dan was munching hay for a bit but then he got bored and annoyed. Sorry buddy! There's only so much I can do. It eventually was time to get ready for dressage. Still raining. Ugh. But, it was either ride in the rain, or don't ride. I was hoping the weather would stop for XC, but if I didn't ride dressage, it wouldn't matter if it stopped or not. So I tacked up in the rain.... and hopped on. Luckily they have that big covered arena to warm up in. Of course by the time we got to it we were already pretty wet. We went in and started to walk around. Except Dan decided he was in a mood and he started spinning and bolting and bucking. Goober! I was giggling. He wasn't really scared... just bored! We tried to do a few things but he wouldn't settle so I finally just had to excuse ourselves. We headed back out, which took a minute, and did some trotting around the parking lot. (sandy parking lot, not concrete/asphalt). In the pouring rain... DAN! But he settled so we headed back in to the covered and tried again. He was better, but there was still some antics. I was able to do some work but he was motoring! He kept breaking into the canter.... and then he'd settle into a lovely super soft but rocked back and powerful canter... then he'd squeak and bolt! ha ha. Only it was a canter, but it was basically a bolting canter. Goob! We did some medium trots. We did some half passing. We cantered a lot. We did transitions. He was on the muscle and motoring! And it was fine because that arena is huge but I was a little afraid we would motor right on out of the small dressage arena! Oh well. They called me and I reminded myself that I just needed a clean cross country run. :) So in we went. And of course, being Dan, he was super! He was a bit more expressive maybe and a teeny bit braced.. instead of hanging softly, but it was nice and he did all the things. Our halt was a bit better through the walk this time too! Although as soon as we halted he had to turn and look at the horses running XC! hee hee. That's okay buddy.. that's next! But thank you for getting through your whole test (mostly) before you got distracted!  Turns out, that was a really good test! We scored a 25.3, which put us in first place out of 15 in the open beginner novice division! GOOD BOY DAN! He got pretty much all 7, 7.5, and 9's until our halt.. which was a 6. ha ha! He even scored an 8 on his gaits!!! We stayed and watched the others tests too... Laura's, Jacel's and Jeans. Oh, and... when we went back into the covered to warm up after the first set of antics, the rain stopped. So we got to ride our test in the non rain!

Since the rain had stopped, Dan got to stay out of the trailer and much his hay. He was much happier and calmer now that he had been able to move his feet! We hung out a bit and finally it was time to tack up for jumping! EEEEKKKKS! But I was excited! We headed over and warmed up. The first one was good. The second jump I asked him to move up and he got a little deep. Jacel told me that since he was in front of my leg and going, there really wasn't a need to ask him to move up. Just stay quiet, soften my elbows and stay up in the chest/shoulders. So the next one was perfect and we went in with that. Our show jump round was pretty darn good! We got a teeny bit sticky to one or two, but not because he was behind my leg. One he jumped bold over that I wasn't expecting so I got a hair left behind. Two of them I should have asked him to move up to and didn't and he got the chip in. But because he was in front of my leg, it was okay. It's just that had I encouraged the teeniest bit, he would have moved up and jumped more out of stride. BUT, the rest of them were pretty much just that! Right out of stride! And he jumped clean! Even the in and out at the end. We sort of ate the first one and he jumped big and bold over the B and stayed clean! YAY!!!! 

We headed over to XC and still no rain!! And it was a great XC round! He started out and just clocked on through! He jumped the scary hammock without even peeping at it. We had one jump we sort of got sucked into and slid a hair so he kind of pooped over it. Of course it was the one Melissa was judging at but she cheered us on anyways! Whoo hooo! He was game and bold into the water and was super brave and jumped the big table out of stride! YAY!! The one that I think we had the refusal at (granted novice, but still, at our last event there). He finished in fine form just 2 seconds past speeding fault time and was ready for more. It took me 30 seconds to get him to stop trotting and walk. He was so proud! I was telling him how amazing he was but he was looking for his adoring fans. hee hee. "Mom, where are all my fans? Where are my bouquets of roses?". hee hee. Then he didn't want to go back to the trailer and we spent 10 minutes walking around, sniffing poo, looking at things... trying to get back to the XC field. :) Ahhhh... I'm so glad he's happy!

So yep! We held onto first place! It was close too... not even 1 point difference between me and the second place girl. But we won! Yay!! So now, one clean XC run between us and AEC's! (Of course, we've been there before... , but that's not going to happen this year!). We even won a saddle pad and some banix! Yay for prizes!

I got him all cooled off (not that he was that sweaty as it wasn't hot and he's fit as a fiddle) and bemered him and poulticed him. By that point, pretty much everyone had left, so I took him with me to go get my ribbon. Of course he was dragging me around and being silly. He got lots of compliments all day too, including when we went to get our ribbon. And he got to be in the photo since he came up with me :) Smile! As we were heading back, he was dragging me around sniffing poop. At one point, he squealed and leapt straight up and spun around the line. He didn't try to get loose... he was just having fun. Some lady walking by was like "what was that about?".  Who knows lady.. who knows? Because... Dan. :) Hee hee. He did eventually load up and we headed home. He gets tomorrow and Monday off and then we lesson Tuesday with Rana. 

Ahhhhh.... good day! I'm so grateful to God for keeping the rain mostly at bay. But most importantly, I'm grateful to God for letting me have my event pony back. My D-rex/Danomite/Danimal is back!!!

Pretty Day

 This morning started early with Freddie. When I pulled Dan out, he had blood on his nose. Guess he wasn't quite quick enough with the dogs! He had two scrapes and a tiny puncture. Hee hee. He was good for Freddie and got his toes done. And we added stud holes in the back for Sat! Although honestly, the dry slick grass seems to be worse than wet grass, and.... the weather looks awful for Sat. 0% chance of rain Friday, and only like 3% Sunday, but...100% all day Saturday. With storms. Sigh. Oh well. Anyways.... after we did his feet we headed to Ashland to meet Kelli. Unfortunately Peri had to bail. 

We did some dressage first. And Dan felt WAY better than yesterday! Yay! Either it was the day after jumping, the deeper arena footing, he was feeling better after new shoes/my adjustment and acupuncture, or... whatever! I'm glad for whatever the reason. We did our usual warm up and played around a bit. Kelli pointed out that I was "wagging" his nose. Sigh. We got some decent lateral work and sort of got a few very subtle canter half passes. At least for a few steps. We didn't get any changes but managed some quick canter to walk to canters. We also worked on some more collected work. He was good! Then we went down and practiced the BN test. Holy moly.. that's just about harder than the 2nd level test! It's just.... too simple! We still struggle with the trot to halt through a walk. Doh! Oh well. 

Then we went on a nice long trail ride and found some hills to walk up. 

Riding at Home

 Rode at home in "new" arena.... Still some deep spots but not as bad. Decent ride but a little worrisome about the hind end. felt almost neuro today. did nice trot half pass and teensy tiny canter half pass even the hard way. 

Took funny for a neighborhood walk

Adjusted and acupunctured

Oh Glorious Day!

 We are getting a real, true SPRING!!!! It's mid April and it's not humid yet... it's glorious weather! The skies are brightest blue.. the grass and leaves are almost neon green! It's glorious! It was even a tad chilly this morning. Ahhhhhh.... Spring in Georgia is amazing. I really think this could be what Heaven is like. 

I spent the morning catching up on paperwork and records. And then Dan and I headed to Ashland. We met up with Kelli for a quick hack as my warm up for my lesson with Jacel. Dan was so excited to see Marvin and went up to him at the trailer. He was all friendly but then he squealed and got all sassy and kicked out. And then tried to spin so I had to spank him. Poor Marvin! So then we set off and Dan was vibrating!! He wasn't vibrating enough that I didn't feel like I couldn't have him on the buckle, but he was vibrating and had I asked, he'd have been off! He kept turning around to try to say hi to Marvin again. Kelli said he had flames shooting out of his eyeballs! Oh Dan! We walked to lake and let him splash for a bit and then we basically headed back up to the XC field for my lesson. I did two trots up the hill and then a little canter and then Jacel arrived. I know... we had just jumped Sunday... and we're showing this weekend, but... I wanted a quick short XC school because ... you know... I started to get a little freaked out about the weekend. We warmed up over a teeny log and then she had me go over a line of two. She asked if I was okay with going over the coop with the log on top, which was probably novice. And then told me to pick either of the two roll tops... the BN one or the novice one. I was like "That's novice?! It looks huge!". She may have rolled her eyes at me. Ha! Not really, she's too nice. So we did it. I even went to the big one! We jumped the coop fine and as we got to the roll top, he swapped behind and started to drift hard right. He could have run out. Easily. I could have let him. BUT.... go us! I said... no, we're doing this, and closed my right leg and he said Okay and went! And he went out of stride too! He didn't hesitate but he questioned. But when I said yes, he said yes ma'am! Yay! So then we did the bank. And by golly if it wasn't just about perfect! The only thing was that instead of moving my hands left, I dropped my left hand and sort of shut him down onto his shoulder. However, since our canter was great and it was smallish, he was able to rock back and do it anyways. :) We then did the hogsback and down the bank and over the log and he was super! Then we went and did the water. We jumped the white and stone wall thing after the water and he backed way off of it. I didn't ride it very well and again, instead of moving my hands left... I held. But he still did it. So we circled and did it again and when I rode with my shoulders more up and moved my hands to the left together, he was able to jump it much nicer. Then we did the small drop into the water (well, novice) and then a small roll top into the water. Then we went to the ditch and he jumped the coffin great! It does have a false ground line and sucks them in. And he slid! Twice... His back shoes with the pads made him slide, but he was balanced enough and brave and went easily. And we didn't fall into the ditch this time. :) So yay! What a super good boy. Oh, and the best part! Before we did the water, Jacel asked how I felt about the chevron. You know, the one I came off on at the last XC school there. I told her I wanted to do it and I especially wanted to do it with her there. So we did! Good thing as there will very likely be one at Stableview. And we did! He never thought about stopping, but he did question it. But again, because I had him in front of my leg and was sitting up and keeping my shoulders up, slightly pushed my arms forward and kept my leg on. (And I may have added a small crop pop, but more for me).. he went! And boy did he jump it! He got deep to the base and rocked back and jumped up and over... knees to his eyeballs!! It was awesome!

So yay! This was a MUCH improved ride over the last schooling at Ashland. He's much braver, I'm much braver... and we have confidence in each other again. Whoo hooo!!! I'm feeling much better about Stableview now! Especially since they posted that the XC course was set with the fact that we are mid-season in mind... ie... tougher! 

Then we went to the lake and splashed a bit and then headed home. What a good boy!! And what a great day!

Grid Day with Auntie Beth

 Today was grid day with Beth! It was so nice to get back to Morning Run. We got to jump with Jamie and Atlas and Jill and Brady. It was fun to hang out with them again and Beth! And a good day for us all.

We started out with poles and one vertical and progressed to four fences with super tall crossrail oxers! And everyone was super!

Dan was great and although we started out drifting a little right, it quickly fixed itself with the jumps being crossrails. And, Beth made a comment that helped me figure out exactly why we can't jump from a trot! We're trotting too big into the grids. He doesn't feel super fast, but... his rhythm is too fast. And that means that when I close my leg at the base, he has to canter. It also means that he's a bit on the forehand so he isn't as balanced so it's easier to canter. BUT.... if I slow him down a bit... slow the tempo but keep the engine... I can close my leg and he can sit and push. And it works! But it's a fine line of keeping him slowed enough but still forward enough and it's a fine line of when to close my leg and how much. But we managed to get it a few times. And it's nice because I think this is what she was telling us before, but he hurt, so he couldn't sit and therefore he shut down. Now, he can sit and push, so he does. :) And as long as I stayed mostly upright and kept my leg on, he went! In fact, he even went when I was flailing about with no hands on the reins. Ha ha. He came in one time a little underpowered and cantered the last step. But then he heaved over it and then tripped or something or popped.. I don't even know what happened, but he basically popped my straight up and back in the air, both my hands went flying up in the air, my whip went flying, I lost the reins, and I thought... "oh, this is gonna hurt" as I thought I was going over his back end. I somehow managed to hunker down and grab my rein and then my neck strap and Dan kept jumping the grid. He popped me out of the tack a second time but I still had a hold of the neck strap and managed to stay in the tack, despite now only having one hand on the reins and one foot in my stirrup. Ha ha. Good save buddy, good save. Beth was laughing so hard it took her a minute to recover. hee hee. We came through again and managed to do it properly. 

So yep! It was great fun and helpful and I'm sooooo glad that Dan is feeling good and able to sit and push. Fingers crossed he still feels good tomorrow!

Yes, Daniel, you were the bestest boy! Have another carrot :)