Work day ride

 

I finished work "early" today so I snuck in a quick ride. I set up the blocks as obstacles and practiced the clover leaf and the gate. I couldn't remember how to "gate" properly though. Ha ha... It's the RIGHT HAND always and I have to back up first. But I did it with both hands before I realized that it's the right hand. We also cantered a tiny bit. We did some leg yields and halts too. He was a good boy but he's leaning hard onto my right leg. 

 

His stifle is definitely swollen and sore. Sigh... I bemered it and he was happier and then I put some butacort on it. 

Improvements... I think!

We had another lesson with Linda tonight. He wa a good pony but so naughty in the beginning! We had walked our course in hand and were waiting our turn while Judy and Teller had a go and he was bored I guess. He was chewing on his lead rope and my hat. I ignored him for a bit but he got a bit more carried away so I had to get after him. Then I got on and went to warm him up before we did the course. Linda wanted us to do the whole course "blind" for practicing for the show. But... ha! She gave me so little warm up time. Okay then... off we go. She called the pattern and we did it. And it was not great. But we learned some good things. 

Like... apparently I have to salute the judges! Oh! It's just like a dressage test. They ring the bell for you to start and you have to stop and salute the  judges. Then you go through the start flags. Ah, I also did not know there were start and finish flags! (Or didn't remember).  I did... and Linda told me to stop and I may have DQ'ed myself. Wait?? What??! Why?? She asked if I saw her aknowledge my salute. No.... She told me to make sure that the judge sees my salute because otherwise, they could miss it and not know and then I'd get disqualified. Okay... good point. 

We also played with keeping him slow. He wants to run in the bull line. Jousting is more fun!! ha ha. Yes, but... I have to have time to get my pole back into the barrel buddy. We're not doing speed rounds yet! Simmer down. So she had me half halt him hard going into it and then she even had me do it at a slow walk to make a point. Then she reminded me that in general, not just in the bull line, I could use a super slow walk to make him more "on the aids". Ahhh... it is helpful. And it also is effective in the trot too. He can trot slow!! I need to use my core and my seat. 

We also talked about making better lines between our obstacles. And then ride those lines. It's easy to think of a line but then when we are in the heat of the moment, the next obstacle comes up quick!! (Just like in the dressage tests!).

We practiced the gate and Linda made us do it left handed too. Ooof. It was helpful but hard to get my brain to do it "backwards". It took us about 7 times to get it nice. Linda told me to slow it down and focus on moving individual body parts. Also, I have to ask for reinback with alternating legs (which seems counterintuitive). But in the dressage test, I ask him to back with right hand, right leg, then left hand, left leg. So, I should keep it the same. Except, he usually wants to swing his butt right, so I can do right hand, right leg, then right hand, right leg again. I just need to not hang and pull constantly. But slowing it down and focusing on moving what needs to move and only that body part really helps. 

 

For the livestock pen I tried to be fancy and do a turn on the forehand but Linda suggested I just stick to a nice teardrop. It'll score better because it'll be smoother and more harmonious. In other words.. our turn on the forehand isn't quite good enough to show off yet. ;) 

Also, use my eyes and look where I'm going. Look at my barrel in the cloverleaf! Ha ha. She told me not to be a "hunter rider". Hee hee. Liz would be so proud because she's been trying to get me to be a hunter rider. ;) 

I also need to make sure I finish each obstacle and ride my lines, instead of cutting corners and veering too soon. It's not a speed round. Yet! So keep my lines straight and steady. 

Then we wanted to challenge Teller since he's been herd bound, so I got off and walked Dan to the trailer while Judy ran through her course. I tied him up and left him so I could go watch Judy. He waws a good boy. Mostly. He did walk up his trailer ramp and poop. And he pawed and bit the trailer some. But then he was fine and sat there like a good western horse. 

We went back in the arena and hung out after we realized Teller was behaving and didn't care. He stood quietly. And he even shifted his weight between both hinds and wasn't just resting his only right hind. So yay! I think! 

Ahhhh... unwinding

 

Ooof, I needed this today! I am so stressed. I had a very mild panic attack. I had the dream that there were no breaks on the horse trailer again. I'm overwhelmed.. burnt out... burnt to a crispy fried crisp!! I've got so much to do. BUT... Mike went to the mountains and he told me to go ride, so... I'm a good wife and gonna do what the hubs told me to do. :) Ahhhh.. I love that man. 

 

So I took Dan to Ashland (and took Funny later too!). 

 

We had a lovely hack. I did almost get dumped because as we were coming down the wooded path behind the paddocks towards the green lake, there was a truck with a flatbed trailer coming down the hill to go get hay. They were oblivious to the fact that I was in the woods (Assuming they couldn't see me, but.. maybe they didn't bother looking) and it was RATTLING loudly!! Bouncing and making all sorts of racket. Dan was not a happy camper and was on the edge of bolting. And I was in the hack. But luckily he held it together and they passed us and moved on and he took a breath and was fine. Phew. But then I started to worry about him getting tripped up in the get down rope. I've got to find a way to wrap it/carry it better. We had a lovely hack in the woods though. 

 

Then we went to the arena and played with the WE test and did some other fun things. We even cantered! I'm really struggling though at the canter with my stirrups. When I need to use my leg and squeeze to keep him cantering, I end up standing on my stirrups and my foot slides up in my boot. It almost slid OUT OF MY BOOT twice today! Egads.. I'm gonna have to figure out how to make this better. Like.. USE MY SEAT!?? ha ha. But it's hard! He was a good boy though. And I feel SOOO much better now!

 

So then we walked back to the trailers and ran into some friends. Callan was on the ground and walked up and gave him pats and he wasn't too snarly. :) But he was snarly for grooming. I think he's due for some body work. I did play with the tuning forks with him tonight. He liked them! 

 

Double header

Poor Dan had to pull a double header today. :) We had a lesson with Liz this morning to start. We worked without stirrups to help me get the balance and hang of my new saddle. It was hard but not as hard as I was thinking it would be when she first asked me to do it. Then when I picked my stirrups back up, I dropped them a half hole. I'm starting to get the hang of it. We also had the best canter ever!!! It was so uphill! But I have to help support him with my core. I can't just let him flop around. That's when he falls on his forehand and trips. Literally. So if I support him, he can carry himself better. And when I make him straight and more corect in the canter, it's harder for him to hold himself up. So I have to add a little more leg and be a bit more supportive. BUT, he can do it. For a few steps. And, he also lopes off a smooch now. :) Neat!! We also had some nice trotting. I need to keep my post much smaller. Almost like I'm sitting it. But still lift my core. And that helps his trot and lope be smoother and more poweful and engaged. Also... like with the trot, don't do too much with my aids. Think shorter, softer, quieter, and longer asks between aids. Ask... give him time to respond... I keep throwing too many aids at him and making him ping pong around. I also need to sit on my outside seat bone and sink into the outside stirrup. But I still need to ask for bend around my inside leg but also allow the stretch on the outside. 

 

   

We also chatted about how he seemed very happy in this saddle. We suspect it might be because it does seem to put me farther back on his back. So, maybe his center of balance is a bit farther back than I thought, and not perched right up on his withers. Hmmm. That's helping him be more uphill hopefully. We had such good work and knowing that he was doing another lesson tonight, we didn't do a ton. GOOD BOY!

    

So then tonight, we loaded up and headed to Linda's for an Ease of Handling lesson. We met Judy and Teller there and did a group lesson. It was helpful and fun. Dan did pretty well. Although he did try to eat her gate once and he did try to knock over a barrel. And he was messing with Teller some. And then he was bored at the bridge.. and tried to take charge and went full speed ahead at it. No sir!! Nope!! We are NOT running over the bridge. I liked Linda a lot. She was very helpful and gave us lots of advice. I definitely need to read the rules too. Apparently when we do the coursewalk we have to be "in dress". She was also helpful for dressage in general. She had both me and Judy working on our "small" walk. Like Rana's calculated walks. Manage each foot step. It's like a walking half halt almost. Very cool. I'll have to do this with the other ponies too. She also suggested getting a metronome app on my phone and playing it while I ride. She said it helps to keep their gaits pure. But back to the obstacles.. I need to just mostly keep him small. When he gets big, he gets strung out and fast and I lose control of him. If I keep him small, I can help him balance his body better and fine tune our obstacles better. So yay! It was a lot of fun. The obstacles sound so easy on paper, but actually doing them and doing them well is hard! Really hard. 

 

New Saddle!!!

YAHOO!!! We got our saddles!!! Mark was super nice and delivered me and Sharon's saddles to us at Ashland. Sadly, he and his wife couldn't join us for a ride, but.. at least we got our saddles and he could check the fit and we were able to go hack! They are gorgeous and well worth the wait!

   

We fitted Baylors' to him and it looked great. Then we tried to do Dan. He was in a MOOD and super bouncy and wiggly. We managed to get it on him and get him cinched up, but not the back cinch. But Mark said I didn't need it anyways. Dan was too bouncy for Mark to really get a good check, but he seemed pretty confident with it. And he made me shims for my saddle pad until he fills out a bit, so yay! 

   

So off we went! It was fun and the saddle is comfy. We mostly walked but tried a little trotting and cantering to check them out. Man... I gotta get my western sea legs under control. It's a bit different and is going to take some getting used to! When we finished our ride I realized that my cinch was apparently way too loose because my saddle was halfway down Dan's back! Ha ha. Not really, but... it had definitely slid back. But he didn't seem to care. I'm sure I'll get the hang of doing up the cinch and hopefully Dan won't be as wiggly and silly as he was today so I'll get it situated better too. 

  

 

I took conformation photos to start to hopefully show the improvements to his topline with the new saddle. :)