Fun Hack

Today was a relaxing day... We just went for a hack. :) But I did aim for hills.

Saturday Fun

Today was a good day. (Isn't every day on horseback a good day though?) We went for a hack and then finished in the jump ring. I didn't do too much but we did play a bit.

So... in the ring, I stuck to the baby fences. And he was fine over them. Nothing exciting, nothing terrifying, nothing amazing. But then I got brave and took him to the little mini roll top. :) Eeeks! It's funny how big that looks. But he jumped it great. We trotted it twice and then cantered it. Wheeee!!

Friday quickie

Today was a quick ride as I was running out of time. We went for a nice hack after a quick dressage ride. He was good. We even kept the right lead canter through our shallow serpentine. Yay! So... as a reward, while we were out in the woods...  I opted to take Idlewhile and let him jump the log in the path. :) He did great. He just hopped over it. Of course he did the "look down between my knees" while going over it. Which was extra awkward in a dressage saddle with long stirrups. :) Hee hee. But we survived.

Commotion Central!

Poor Dan! It was crazyness today at High Point. But the SUN finally came out!!!

Dan hasn't been ridden in a few days and it was still a bit chilly out, so I figured he might be a little bit up. We went for a little hack around the farm to stretch his legs and he was super good, but he wanted to be naughty. He thought about going up a few times, but he didn't!!! Then as we were heading back by the road a motorcyclist went by. He didn't slow down but he didn't speed up or be obnoxious. And I was behind the fence and off the road a ways. But Dan used it for an excuse and leapt up and danced for a second or two. However, he didn't go up really high and he came right back down. So I didn't punish him for it because it was legit and not bad. And considering how good he was trying to be, I felt it wasn't fair to punish him. 

Then we headed to the ring and it was busy in there too. Cindy was riding Sunny and then Peri got on. And they were doing groundwork with a young horse in the corner. And then Stephanie put up a jump and had a student jumping. And there may have been another person riding too. Oh yep.. Claire was riding. So yep.. it was chaotic! But Dan was actually pretty darn good. At least with the people and the commotion. He did decide to be spooky in the corner up by Cindy. He spooked at a blanket on the rail and then at the equicube or something else on the wall. 

Cindy wanted me to take away attention from the outside and bring it to the inside, specifically my inside leg. She was trying to get me to let go of the outside rein and push him to the outside with my inside leg. If it meant that I had to turn to the left, so be it. I finally got it. And he was finally good. :) Oh, and I had to be super careful about my right leg. It tended to kick forward and block Dan's shoulder from going right. Sigh... I think it does that a lot, not just when he's spooking. At the canter, at the leg yield... I need to keep it under control!. :)

We worked on increasing my tempo at the trot. He sucks me into a slow trot which is nice, but his faster trot is so much nicer. Then we also worked at my seat in the canter. Dan has a lovely canter but it sucks me into pushing back with my seat. I need to really focus on moving my seat forward and using my core to keep him going. It's hard but we got it. And it helped with the right lead and our teeniest of teeny canter serpentines.

So yep... not a ton of specific work but it was great for his brain. He didn't pin his ears or go after anyone today too, even with it as crowded as it was. Good boy!!

Ahhhh....fixing my soul

Oh.... Cantering baby horse through the woods is just Heavenly!!!! It totally fixed my mood and my soul. Sigh....

 

I was having a rough week and am so over this stupid weather. And I didn't have much time but I managed to leave my house at 3:45 and get both horses ridden and back home by 6. I was quite proud. Granted, I only groomed where the saddle went and didn't have to do much more than rub them with a rag after, but still. I got it done. I rode Dan first and got in a nice 45 minute hack. Not a long ride, but we got out some energy and had a great ride.
 

He was being great! The footing was a little sketchy so we mostly walked, but I did find plenty of places to trot and even a few little short areas to canter. Which.... is just heavenly. He really is amazing to canter through the woods. I had to giggle because he was so good. He politely jumped over some puddles and carried on. He is a good Irish Hunt Horse. :) 

But yep.. we had a blast. I feel sooooo much better now. Ahhhhh.... 

I love this kid!

Canter Seat

Poor Dan. He spent a good bit of his lesson in the canter too, just like his big brother. Not really. He did a lot at the walk and a good bit of trotting too. We worked on go means go again. I was a little reluctant to go all out "shock and awe" being that I was in the arena with 3 other dressage horses. But I did reinforce my leg. He was mostly good about it. We did lots of walk to trot to walk to trot transitions. Cindy said to focus on the tempo..... one, two, one, two, one, two, ONE TWO into the trot, and then one, two, one, two, ONETWO one two into the canter. 
Then when cantering she said the he likes to let his right hind drag behind a bit. He doesn't want to bring it up and forward because he likes to fling that left shoulder out. Which means that I sit with my butt out behind a little too because he's pulling me there. However, if I sit and think more consciously about using my right seat bone to go up and forward, it pulls his right hind up and forward with me, which means our canter gets better! :) It's hard though because it's a lot of mental work for me and it makes it harder on him physically because it's correct and he doesn't want to be correct, so he tries to break or evade. But we're making progress and getting some nice canters in there. 

:) 

Love this guy!

Squirt is turning into a grown up!

I can't decide if I'm sad or glad! Either way I'm proud! Danny is turning into such a good boy. Either it's just time or all those beat downs this week and last have made an impression. ;) Ha!

Kathryn came out today to work on Dan and he was sooooo good! Like seriously good. We barely had to yell at him or fuss at him or pull the lead rope out of his mouth. He was almost still! Okay, so maybe not still, but he was much less fidgety. Kathryn said it could be that now that his sacrum is no longer locked, his brain can be quiet. Makes sense. Of course I believe some of it is age and some of it is me laying down the law. Regardless, he was great. He got a little fussy when she went to his poll again and while she was playing with him I saw where he was locked. I asked her if I could adjust his poll real quick and she let me. And he actually was good for it and leaned into it and it was a really good adjustment. I think the combination was perfect because this may have been the only time I've REALLY gotten his poll. He thought so too because he licked and chewed and yawned and then she was able to get the rest of what she wanted to get. Good stuff!! She was pleased with how loose and behind him his butt looks now too!
Yay! 
 

 Ha ha. His face cracks me up! And don't be too impressed... I did have to remove my shirt from his teeth twice. ;)