Ooof... emotional ride today.
did my lesson with liz and it was cool enough and we finished early enough that we did dan too. He was up at the arena with lyric when I took funny down so I called him a few times. Liz went to do some energy work with him and he basically told her to eff off... and came at her aggressively (with energy i'm assuming) so she sent him away. He (and Lyric) came galloping/trotting down to me. But I wasn't done hosing funny off yet, so he went back to Liz. She said he "challenged her again"... and she sent him away again. So he came trotting back again and I was done so I caught him (easily) and tacked him up. But he was in a mood and calling for the girls and a little anxious. They are in heat. Again.
walked up to the arena and chatted. did a short walk and then a loose stretchy trot to let him cough and loosen up. then picked him up and did some walk work. Tracking right... ride haunches out. Tracking left, ride shoulder fore. It helps him "cheat" his bum stifle and stay more balanced and share the load with the left hind.
then decided to canter because... we both know that stifle isn't going to get "stronger". So liz suggested I work him hard and ride but then the week before the show.. take it super easy and maybe don't even canter. And we started with the canter today because we wanted to do it before he fatigued.
started with the hard lead.. left lead. He was okay. Did a 10 meter walk to canter and he picked it right up and had actually a really kind of lovely canter. She wanted me to sit up tall and help support him and it was quite nice. We tried to avoid lots of circles so did the long side. At the end, I was trying to "shorten/collect" him more and he did.. but then felt a little bit hoppy... i couldn't tell if it was a a "omg... I'm about to lose it and swap behind" or "oooh, this is a lovely balanced sitting canter that is just really fancy". And probably.. both! ha! Liz saw it and told me to trot now! Get out before he falls out. And then I lost my balance and fell forward and his trot sucked and we fell into a walk very quickly.
then went right and did another few canters because he got anticipatory and silly. Then went to go left again and I tried to get him to circle and he basically said no and ignored my aid. Like... I was literally hanging on the left rein and pulling with all my might and he woudl NOT turn left. I got mad. I got frustrated. Liz told me that she felt like he was just being an ass and challenging me. Just like Funny does. And i usually laugh him off. But today I was getting pissed. Like.. .just effing turn!! So we tried again and same thing. I got mad. She told me that I was pulling and then he finally turned and I kept pulling and didn't release. She's right. cause I was mad. Then I started crying and told her that I was mad, but... more mad that he's broken and I can't fix him. I'm mad that we can't find a job for him that doens't hurt his stifle. I'm mad that his stifle is broken and I can't fix it. I'm mad that he's so talented and loves to work and I can't find a job that he can comfortably do. I'm mad that even standing in the pasture all day he hurts and is resting his right hind. I'm mad that he's feeling bad enough that he's rarely shenaniganing in the field. So I had a little cry. And she did too. We talked about how he's my "first born child" and it's a different relationship. And how it's okay for me to be proud of him and all he can and is doing but also sad that he isn't doing more. But that he feels that. He's emotional and has emotional baggage that he has to work through. She said that he is jealous a bit and needs to feel like my "number one". Sigh...
So then I walked around and asked him to bend left, using my leg and body more. And he was good. So we tried one more canter and he turned... when I used my body and my leg too. I rewarded him and then we called it quits. Liz said that because he was a jerk, he worked harder and more than she meant to. But... then there's me... "but we barely did anything"!. So we did the gate and he was pretty good. Then I hacked him down to the barn. I trotted a little but my spurs fell off (on my horn because I goosed him in the canter so liz took them off) so I got off. I wanted to do more... so after liz left I got back on and we hacked back up to the arena. we trotted a bit and just worked on a nice soft round trot and my small post. (another thing liz mentioned during the little bit of trot we did.. keep my post small to keep him balanced). I did some halts, some downward transitions, and then a tiny bit of leg yield. We trotted the ground poles. And then we did the reverse gate. And he NAILED it. Like... it was amazing! Then we did the regular gate and it was okay. I hope we get a reverse gate at the august show. Then we hacked home.
I'm sorry buddy. I just.... sigh. You're my numero uno. A wierdo but.. numero uno.
photos: 7-26 numero uno, and silly and silly goober
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