Easy there

I think I might be pushing Dan too hard. 

Had a great ride today but he got very on the muscle and I wasn't able to soften the reins like I wanted. I had to hold him vs softening to him. And his tongue came out once. :( But he seems like he's having fun because when we were done, he surged off again. But maybe I should simmer down a little. 

did have a good ride. Played with the training level eventing test and ran through it for sat. then also played with some 2nd level stuff... 3 loop canter serpentine, canter to walk to canter, more collected canter, trot half pass, shoulder in to haunches in. leg yields. 

good boy just..a little crazy! Oh, and we got some good mediums today but then he got too excited and just starting running, especially down centerline. had to finish with multiple trot to halts. 

cantering... better downwards with my inside leg lifting as I half halt.  also got better canter in general that way.

So much Fun

 Good ride this morning with kelli. Super humid but occasional cool breeze and cooler temps.

fun dressage ride. did training dressage test - fun. also ran through some of 2-3. great 3 loops and pretty decent medium to working canter. Worked on collected/working trot. trot mediums sucked. half passed.

got to end and he got flat and runny. tired I guess. tried to do halt on centerline and he kept trying to lengthen. accckkk.. i created a monster. finally ended nicely.

went for a hack alone cause kelli had to go. kind of lazy and slow but... sound. not short stepping seems back to his normal self otherwise too

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Jump Lesson

Jump Day!

Today was lesson day with Kelly Eaton. Dan and I had a 10:30 jump lesson with two other girls. I was tempted to take a short hack before and after so I tried to get there early. Dan ate breakfast and then was hanging in his stall after I ate my breakfast and got dressed. He's been doing that a lot lately but it's been hot. And I didn't toss hay this morning. Luckily he was fairly clean so I didn't bother hosing him off before we hauled out. And it wasn't too terribly hot yet. 

We got to Ashland and it was busy! I let him eat hay while I groomed and tacked up but he was just standing there. He was cranky when I brushed him like usual. Not any worse or any better. But he was just chilling... not munching... not looking around at everyone. Maybe it was his naptime. He does like to sleep around 10ish, although lately I haven't seen him sleeping as much. Or maybe at all, but... I don't think he's not. I just think it's too hot to nap during the day recently. 

We took a short hack out in the woods and he perked up. We rode down towards the lake but veered off on XC and then trotted up the hill to the backside of stadium. I sort of thought I had less time than I did. He was happy to trot up the hill. We headed into the arena and met one of the other girls we were riding with. Kelly wasn't there yet so we walked around a little bit. But man, it suddenly was hot! Steamy hot and we were in the sun. I sat there for a minute and noticed that Dan was blowing a little. He was almost panting - his barrel was moving and his nostrils were flared. And... we hadn't done anything but trot up the hill and then walked around a bit. Hmmm... that's a little alarming. We walked around and I asked him to trot and he happily did. Granted when I asked him to walk, he happily did. And was happy to just stand. But, he did trot and canter when I asked. Hmmm... We didn't do much because I knew we would be doing more, so .... we just went to the shade and sat for a bit. 

Then Kelly came and we started our lesson. She wanted us to warm up. Ha ha. Doh! But Dan happily picked up the trot and canter. She told us to make sure to do smaller circles and test the waters. We also should be doing transitions within and through the gaits. I needed to keep riding his shoulders and also keeping my hands low and wide. 

So then we started jumping. The other two girls were going BN, so... we started quite small. No worries. I was able to work on keeping Dan motivated and working on me. Not unlike my Lyric jump lesson, she wanted me to push a hair. Go a bit more forward so that Dan jumped out of stride vs getting too deep. But... only push for one mile an hour faster on the approach (until the no messy with them zone). Except when we did that, I would get pulled forward, so I had to work on lengthening my arms, while keeping my shoulders back. I also had to keep my sternum up, stay close to the saddle, and.. keep my landing gear out in front of me. 

Things were going decently and she mentioned again that we could add one mile per hour more. And then said something to the effect of "we don't need him all bouncy and rocked back on his hocks and connected until you're going training level". And I was like... "umm.... except I signed up for a training level CT next weekend". ha ha. Whoops!! So... yes... but I still need to ride forward. 

So we did another course and then she had the other girls do a course and finish up and then she moved everything up for me. yay! Not huge... and maybe not even training level, but... definitely bigger than earlier in the day. And he was super! She did note that when I asked for the "one mph more" he was a little sluggish about giving it to me. It was like "oookkaayyy.... here you.... go"... instead of "yes ma'am". So she had me do one "shock and awe" and then we did the last two fences again. And he was great. Oh, also I had to use an opening rein in the arc of the jump to help direct him on landing and it made my turns smoother. Yahoo! Except... I noticed as we were finished the last course and then walked between that and redoing the last two fences... he was walking a bit short again. I couldn't tell which foot and it was subtle, but I felt it. But I asked for the canter and he jumped right into it and didn't fight me or act sluggish. He was reponsive. And he was acting like his normal self. Hmmm. So after that me and Jenn went on a short hack to the lake. And I felt it. It almost felt like he was walking how I would walk when I had a blister and was trying to walk in a way to keep the boots from rubbing. I mentioned it to Jenn, also a vet, and she said that he didn't look at all lame! And I agree.. other than the walk, I never felt anything. She didn't watch his walk on the trails, but... she said she definitely didn't see anything in the arena. We went to the lake and splashed a little bit and then headed back. I decided to just go straight back rather than meander longer because of his foot. Maybe he's just footsore still from his trim? Maybe something isn't setting just right? But between the breathing, the mild sublte lethargy, and the limp....  Although he never acted super out of breath during our lesson and wasn't blowing that hard at all. And he was sweating. I hosed him off and he still wasn't super interested in his haynet. When we got home he hung out in the stall with the fans, but... so were the other ponies. And then tonight after he ate his dinner, he went out to eat hay but then came back in before the others did and was just hanging in his stall. Hmmm.... I hope it's just that it's hot and he's a little bit foot sore from his trim and nothing more. I wish his scoping was a bit sooner, but... 2 weeks isn't too long. 

Then Friday morning... he didn't finish his grain, but was anxious to get into Flecks stall to finish his. Maybe he doesn't like that new collagen supplement? And... last night we had a very brief sprinkle and then a rainbow!!

SUPA!!!

UGH.. it's sooo freakin' hot!! I opted to not horseshow at Ashland today because it was supposed to be 100 degrees without the heat index. And it was pretty miserable. Although I do think the show ended before it got REALLY hot. 

I had planned to get up early and ride but.. was so worn out from working and ended up with a headache, so... I decided to play it by ear. I didn't sleep great either. But, despite getting up later than I was hoping, I did man up and ride. I put on my sports bra and rode in just that and breeches. And it was hot. But not awful. But hot. I was tempted to ride all 3 horses today since it was Saturday but figured it may be too toasty for that. And for whatever reason.. I really wanted to ride Dan. So I picked him first. Good thing too because after that it was too hot and I opted to not ride Lyric. 

 

(Ha ha.. his pinned ears in his shadow!). 

And Dan was SUPER!! We had a great ride. I rode with two whips. Hee hee. We did our homework from our lesson. We started with our stretchy walk and then trot. And then we did shoulder in and haunches in. Then we did our shoulder in walk trot walk transitions. And he was being awesome. Then we did the shoulder in, 10 meter circle, haunches in and I worked on getting him to go into the shoulder in and haunches in coming out of the corner vs building up to it. We also played a little bit with the mediums. And..those suck. But we did get one really good one. We also played with a more collected canter and got some nice work. We did the three loop canter serpentine and those were nice. Then we worked on our canter to walk to canter transitions with the ping pong. And while I didn't get much ping ponging, I did get some nice downwards, so yay! 

 

It was a FUN ride. For both of us I think. We also did our stretching. We hacked home but.. it was so hot. Plus I was in my bra. ha ha. So no neighborhood hack to cool down. We just untacked and went straight to the hose. 

 

Love This Saddle and this Pony

 lesson with kelly eaton, got to use covered

slightly feral because of lyric in the stall in the barn, kicked out a few times with my whip reminders

worked on leg yield, must go more sideways. got stuck at the base of his neck, so did leg yield, change flexion (half pass), then back to leg yield, then back to half pass.

talked about 2nd level so played with haunches in, 10 meter, shoulder in. haunches in left is hard and shoulder in right is hard. must be more prompt.. not building up to them. have it coming out of the corner. start haunches in halfway through 10 meter circle. don't go for big yet on mediums.. allow the lengthening and keep him upright by ping ponging him side to side if needed

canter to walk... ping pon side to side. it doesn't have to be pretty. it almost needs to be ugly to get him reactive. got some nice canter walk canters. got nicer canters too but need to get them quicker 

overall quite pleased and thinks we're definitely past 1st level and very capable of doing 2nd level, even recognized. good pony

love the saddle.

oh, me... keep my pelvis tippedup and my sternum up and out. keep my elbows above my hips, and my shoulders loose and swinging. Almost like I'm pumping a swing... let my shoulders be a hinge. i don't look ridiculous. left shoulder back and down. 

when dan starts leaning on my right leg, ride both hands to the left and inside (right leg) to get him upright, but when he moves in that direction, reward. Don't wait for perfection. Keep at the small little subtle cheats. he's a thief. keep my reins, don't let him inch them out. 

started with shoulder in down rail and walk to trot to walk in shoulder in. then stretchy circle

New Saddle

 Arrived last night, but had lost a shoe and so hot and sweaty and cranky (Me cranky.. he wasn't but we were all hot and sweaty).

farrier this am.

foot sore. sadness. but did ride to check saddle. love it. he looks so pretty in it and i think he likes it too