Oh today made my heart so happy!!!
Danny and I got up early and hauled to The Vista for some XC schooling. He was filthy so I had to hose him off first and for once, it was pleasant this morning and not so miserable and humid already. But never fear.. by the time we rode, it was steamy. ;)
(Dan's not so thrilled about the early morning bath and trip)
We met Jacel (Bless her... her other riders bailed and her horse threw a shoe but she still came just for me! And her kids came too and they were sooo good) at 9 and hacked out to play. Dan was feeling good! We started in the baby jump section just to warm up and had a nice trot and canter. There was a cement truck in the distance that Dan was very concerned about and then another horse dumped his rider and then was being super silly while she lunged him. And Jacel brought the wheelchair for Grace in case she got tired. And Dan didn't really care about any of it! Except the concrete dump truck. ha ha. So we popped over a few fences to warm up. The first one was tiny and we kind of pooped over it. Basically... "If I am not impressed with a jump and fail to ride it, Dan will be unimpressed with the jump and fail to jump it nicely". So... Sit up and ride better. And I did and it got better. She mentioned that she wanted me to be okay with Dan taking the longer take off spots. He doesn't have to add all the time. I shouldn't gun him for the flyers, but... when he chips in, especially without any impulsion, that's when he hangs his legs and rolls over his shoulder. But he doesn't when he takes the longer spot. So.. just be comfortable with it.
So then we moved to the training section which... had a few novice stuff too. There wasn't a ton of novice stuff out there but we made do. We started over the ditch and Dan was super about it. Then she had us jump a table and WOW!!!! He felt amazing! He just cantered up to it so nice and balanced and jumped it so beautifully!! Yay! We did it twice. Then we went to the ditch. She said to allow him to look but don't follow him with my shoulders. And of course, I followed him with my shoulders but he still went and bounced me around. So then we came again and it was better. Then we did a "bench" that was new. Which was exciting because it looked fun to me vs scary and I usually don't like benches. He jumped that one beautifully too. Then she had us do the full coffin. It was a skinny, bending line to the ditch, bending line to a skinny. They were probably novice height but being skinny and in a coffin, I think it was a training question. He was actually super!!! Although we got a not perfect distance to the out but he still went. So we came again and it got better because I rode better. Yay! So then as we were coming off it there was a corner and he was going towards it so I said "No, not the corner" and pulled him off. And Jacel was like... "actually.. that's a nice corner". Yay! So we came and jumped it from the other direction and again, he was perfect! He just loped up to it all lovely like. She said to jump the corner and if I wanted I could continue on to the coffin. I said "we'll see how he lands" so I think she expected me not to. But he jumped the corner so great we just carried on through. And I rode the first half of the coffin beautifully! But then he took the tiniest of peeks/hesitation/backed off the ditch, which meant that I either needed to half halt and add or push for the bigger stride and... I got a little cocky and started to push but then chickened out. He jumped it, but not well and I really think he partially hung a leg and we could have flipped! But he held it together and we landed safely. Phew!!! GOOD BOY!! We came through again, maybe without the corner this time, and fixed it but it took a tiny bit of my confidence away. So then she told us to jump the lincoln logs, (which I typically hate) and then to go canter to a big table. It looked huge but she said it was only slightly bigger than novice. So we jumped the lincoln logs but he slid a tiny bit at the base, but he went. He jumped it HUGE! Like almost straight up in the air. I popped out of the tack but landed back in the saddle. Jacel said that it was just him peeking and slipping a hair and that because I had stayed in position, he still went, but... the laws of gravity popped me up. Hee hee. So she said that when he gets to slipping... to lift my hands a tiny bit to help support him. This still allows him to peek, but doesn't allow him to peek so far so that he can't fall on his forehand. And this will help support his front end. So we did it again and he was lovely! We kept going to the big table and... I think I got intimidated so I pushed him/gunned him for it. His hind feet slid in the wet grass (It looked like it had just rained there... like puddles in the road) a stride out and he basically did a reining stop into the fence. We decided that it was just too wet and we would skip that fence. So then we did the lincoln logs the other direction twice and he slid a bit and twisted the first time. So I went back to holding my hands a hair higher. I also told Jacel that I thought that perhaps I was getting Dan a bit too big and strung out in an attempt to get over the bigger fences but if I thought about keeping him a hair shorter/more together, then he was more balanced. And then when he was more balanced I could see my distance better and then push him for the final stride. She was like "yeah, that's basically what I meant by lifting your hands a hair". Ha ha.. Fair enough! We talked about how it was nice that we talked through it to get to the same point. :)
So once I kept doing that.. .everything went back to tiggery!! We also jumped a smaller open coop thing but it was on a hill with a nice drop on landing. He was so brave and just bombed over it but then got strung out down the hill. So I needed to sit up, close my leg and help support him keeping his hind end underneath him. We did it a second time and turned and went to a log after and then into the water and then around and dropped into the water. And Dan was awesome!!! Of course. He then got a drink from the water complex and was pawing and splashing. Jacel was like "he's such a fish!". Ha ha.
So then we were almost done but we really wanted a big table because... stableview. I still didn't like the red table he slid into so we found a nice big ramp table thing. Those things I tend to hate! It was training I believe. And he jumped it like it was nothing!! I rode him slightly collected and "Rode his hocks" and he just bounced on up and over. Yahoo! We did it twice and called it quits.
SUCH a good pony! We're definitely feeling ready for novice at stableview! Heck, Jacel said it wouldn't be long before we'd be ready for training again! Then Faith wanted to pet Dan and Jacel told her no but I told them I thought he was actually going to be snuggly today. So she petted him and he was so sweet. Then I gave each of her kids a cookie and they all gave Dan a treat. He was so good!
I got him all cleaned up and linimented and then we headed home. He got to hang out and then we had a beautiful sunset tonight. I walked out for photos and he insisted on butt scratches. So I obliged, because... good boy!
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