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 :)
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