What a great day!! I volunteered at Pine Top and they give you a free schooling. YAY! They only have the course open for so long and I couldn't coordinate anyone to come with me. Turns out, that's awesome because it ended up that they left it open a few extra days for us and I was able to get Laura and Jacel to come with me! It was the perfect combination of people for fun and education. Jacel had to go early because of work and kids so we met at Pine Top at 9:30 am. I picked Laura and Llama up so that we could carpool. Dan decided he had the hots for Llama after the trailer ride over there and was making stink faces at Colby. And I'll also mention that the temps dropped overnight and it was a chilly 45 degrees. And not only that, but the winds were gusting at about 19 mph! It wasn't frigid because the sun was out, but it was crisp. We started out and the ponies were all up! Dan was dancing and jigging and threatening Colby. Colby was wanting to gallop and Llama was actually pretty decent once Laura got on but she was amped up at the trailer. We somehow managed to get them warmed up with no mishaps. :)
We started off and Dan and I were a bit wimpy. Despite the weather, we were both not feeling very confident. We did fine, but the bigger fences looked huge and even cantering over the small baby stuff, we still weren't going to them like we should have. After a few fences, Laura ended up going first and did two or three in a row up the hill. That actually worked to my advantage and Dan shot off after Llama so he got in front of my leg and we started jumping out of stride! So that really helped. Then we went to the first field and did some more. And while we did okay over a few, we were still a little sticky to the rolled table. But, he did what I asked and I managed to stay back and not jump up his neck, so we were making some progress. Then Jacel and Laura jumped a bigger jump and while I really wanted to do it, I was also terrified. Jacel had me jump something else and was super sweet about how it was just to keep things positive and keep us improving and not getting over faced. She mentioned that we were working through some trauma and baggage and that it's hard and takes time. Which was kind and I needed to hear it, even if she was internally thinking "oh good grief, it's not that big!". But still, I was feeling a little wimpy and sorry for myself. But I tried to not go there and focused instead on how we were making progress. We then jumped a roll top and out of that pasture over the fence in the fenceline. It's not a big fence, but it's a little intimidating. As we came up to it, Jacel was yelling at me to sit up and keep my shoulders back and open my knee. And... it's funny because, while she's the sweetest person and not scary or mean, when she yells so that she can be heard, there's a teeny bit of shrill fierceness to it. It's perfect because it's a tiny bit scary and makes you sit up and say "Yes ma'am! I will keep my shoulders up and my knees open"! And it was great because we jumped the scary jump right out of stride. We giggled about her "Intense encouragement" and I was feeling a little better. So then we jumped another log and they jumped a teeny fake hanging log/corner thing. I actually thought it looked fun and said something, so we tried it. And he did it!! Yes, we might have drifted far right but we did it! And then we did some more stuff. And then we got braver and braver and came to a roll top with a brush. They jumped the novice one and I did the beginner novice one. But then Jacel asked if I wanted to do the novice one and I kind of did. So I jumped the BN one and then came around and jumped the novice. Whoo hoo!!! And we were getting it! We started jumping out of stride again and we both stopped second guessing each other. Yay yay yay! So then we moved onto the mound/pimple jump thing. Which I believe is a training question, but not training height. Dan just jumped them all! Yay!
Then we went on and Jacel had me jump the big green ramp. It's not a huge fence but it's intimidating and sure enough we didn't quite jump it out of stride, but you know what we did do? We came up to it and I didn't throw my shoulders at him and while Dan asked, when I answered with closed legs and soft hands and kept my shoulders back, he said okay and went! :) So yay! At about this point, I realized that if I slightly slide my elbows forward to him at the last stride while making darn sure that my shoulders stay up, he seems to move up to the fence. We giggled at me having T-rex arms and having to learn how to push my hands and elbows forward while keeping my shoulders back. But thinking about moving my elbows vs my hands makes a big difference. So then we did another table. And.. here's the thing... it's the big tables that are still making me squirm. Which I guess is okay, because it's the stuff that was big and wide that created the issues with Dan and I. It wasn't technical stuff... just big wide fences. But that's okay. We're getting over that and trusting each other again.
Then we went to the ditches. Dan started to show off then. He knows how to do ditches thanks to Beth! he didn't blink and went over the novice line like a pro. Then Jacel was eyeing the training line, which I was too. It's a fun looking line and the fences were small because it was technical and included some terrain. So Jacel had a go and started with just the ditch to the out. But Colby said no and so then she had to work on that a bit. Then he said no about the novice ditch, and then Llama said no.... So Dan had to show them that there weren't monsters in there. And then after they settled, we went and did the training line! We did the second half of the coffin first and then came around and did the whole coffin! And he put in 3 and 3 instead of 2 and 2, but it was mostly because we couldn't really get a good approach to it. But it sort of made me proud and feel better about being a wimp in the beginning because now he was doing the coffin. :)
We finished up at the water and of course Dan had no issues there. We even cantered the training log into the water! We didn't do the skinny chevron out because.... scary! But we did the log in!! :) And we cantered the novice line out of the water with the jump out! So yay!!!! I'm so grateful that this XC schooling at Pine Top was sooooooo much more positive than our last visit there. I felt like we put a ton of money in the bank and that we ended up wanting more but feeling super accomplished! We're definitely getting our groove back!
But yep... a great day for all. Everyone was successful and had a good run and it was just so good for my soul! And I think Dan had a blast too. He wasn't tentative once we got rolling. There was no hesitation even after we stopped and let the others go. He was just happy and seemed to enjoy it too! Oh, I'm so grateful to God for giving me this back. I've missed it. And while I have fun with Dan no matter what we do.... even if it was only trail riding... I'm so glad that I get to do this again, with him. :)
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