Fun Night

Got home in time to sneak one in. 

Took a few minutes to hack out and then went to the ring and did some dressage. He was really good!! We actually did great leg yields both directions, held the counter canter to the right every time!!! (although we did still keep it very shallow). We did some 15 meter working trot circles to 20 meter trot lengthen circles. :) :) We trotted to centerline and halted. He was great!!!

Then we went for a quick hack to try to catch the sunset, but it was too cloudy. 

 

The Perfection Monoflap!

Ooooh, I LOVE this saddle!!

We rode in Cindy's first and Dan put on his fancy pants and was great. Then we went for a quick hack while we waited for Cindy to arrive with the monoflap. It was the exact same saddle minus the extra inch in the gullet and a monoflap. It was awesome!! It really feels like you are riding bareback but with a comfy seat.

LOVE!!

So I ordered one. :) I've been waiting for ages to get Dan a dressage saddle and I'm so glad I did because now he gets the monoflap. :)

Now to decide what color.

Enthusiasm Overload

Well that was a fun day!!

We met up with Kelli and had a fun time jumping. Danny was good. Quite good. We went through the grid a few times so I could work on me and straightness. Kelli said I looked pretty good but I still felt pretty wonky. But attempting to fix it. We even worked on our counter canter again. I can get him to hold it if I almost leg yield him instead of actually counter cantering. But... it's a start. Especially for the baby horse.

So then Judy met up with us and we headed out for a quick trip to the lake. Danny was acting fairly lazy in the ring (although maybe lazy is too harsh... quiet. Not lazy) but as soon as we hit the field he kept doing his little bouncies. He would squeal and then leap up with all four feet of the ground. He would land in the same spot and then carry on like nothing happened. Except he kept doing it. Repeatedly. Like 8 times in the short ride. So as we got back up to the top of the XC field, Kelli asked if we needed to go take a gallop. Ummmm... I think so!

So I turned him away from them and tried to keep him together long enough to get some distance between us. Hee heee. He barely kept it together long enough for us to get some space, but... then off we went. HOLY MOLY!!! That was the fastest we have even gone I think! I just grabbed the neck strap and attempted to steer. We went a second lap and then we ended up heading towards the lake. I figured we had enough so we headed back in to Kelli and Judy. He was actually quite behaved and we trotted the whole way back. He broke into the canter once, but only once. And our trot was a power trot, but it was a trot. 

Good baby boy!!

Oh, and before the gallop and the lake, He did hop up the BN/Novice bank and over the hogsback like a good boy. :) 

Saturday Fun Day

ahhhh

lazy boy

jumped the ditch to water to coop to up bank to cabin to house. slightly surprised at ditch and upbank but went after backing off (but not a stop)

worked on counter canter...perhaps it's outside rein more than my darn right foot

splash in lake to end

Jump Lesson at Silverthorn

goats ok til they made noise
jumped a course like a pro. it's mom that needs to step up
worked on my bending elbows and shoulders back and legs forward over fences. Helpful when I pushed my butt back but more so when i focused on my bending elbows and grabbing mane

Dressage after Kansas

week off, counter canter, hard stuff

Got that lesson in

Excellent..... Even though my lesson with Kelly was cancelled for Thursday, she ended up coming to Ashland on Saturday and invited me to ride. I was able to go to my nephews baptism and first communions and then make it in time for my lesson and get back in time for the farrier. Perfect!!
 
(oh man... did I mention how much I LOVE this horses' canter?!)
My new saddle arrived too! It's basically the exact same one as the one Cindy loaned me in the meantime, but with long billets. Yay! Time to break it in right.

Kelly was running a little late so I went out for a hack in the XC field and did the hill 3-4 times while they finished up. Danny was a bit rowdy and reared going up the hill at one point. Yeah... rearing while already uphill is about as fun as bucking while going downhill. Why he insists on fighting gravity is beyond me! It wasn't bad though, although he continued to dance and prance. We had some very collected trot and canters. I was trying to maintain decorum and not get the other young horse riled up during their lesson, so we managed to shut it down and went back to hang with them while they finished. 
 
Once in the ring though Danny was initially acting like he was tired. However, he really did great. We started with a grid to work on getting Dan to use his front end better. Except that it ended up switching over to work on me and fix my position. So poor Dan had to repeat the two stride grid repeatedly. And from a "normal" trot... which on video looks normal but while riding felt like a western jog. hee hee. And he didn't act tired at all, so... yay for fitness. :) 

So... we worked on my position, and ultimately, the grid was only going to help Dan, especially with us keeping him somewhat collected and slow so he had to rock back and use himself. My problem was that I kept tipping forward. And looking at the video now, I think my whole body gets too ahead. It's not just my shoulders and my upper body, but my butt, my hips, my everything...except my leg. That goes out behind me. So Kelly had me working on pushing my leg out in front of me, pushing my hands forward, BUT keeping my shoulders up and back. I had to learn how to move my elbows independently of my upper body. 

So I had to get Dan over the jump while focusing on ....

1. slow and steady tempo
2. keeping my hands on his neck, grabbing mane or neck strap (We found that if I do that, AND hold mane for at least two strides on landing, I don't immediately bring my hands back to me)
3. keeping my shoulders up and back. (Herein lies my problem.... Instead of pushing my hands forward and my shoulders back on landing... I put my shoulders forward and row my hands back. So... the complete opposite of what I should do). 
4. pushing my feet out in front of me a little, creating landing gear
5. AND....while Kelly didn't stress this, I feel like I need to push my butt back a little so my whole entire body isn't so in front of him. 

So yeah... really hard to do all of that at once and ride the horse. It was much easier when he was taking the slightly longer spot than the basey one. And I found (at least I hope that what I was feeling was right) that if I focused on my hands in the mane and my bending and pushing forward elbows and shoulders, my back and legs sort of fell into place. BUT... I still really am going to have to fight that habit until it becomes more normal. 

You can see in the photos what I need to work on. Sigh.... Kelly is good!!! I can't really see this til I freeze it. :) 

 

So yep... lots of work, but that's okay. I really want to fix this once and for all. And Danny was amazing. He just kept clocking through like.... "I thought that *I* was the greenie mom... get your act together"!. Hee hee.. What a good baby horse.

Here's where I really messed up and almost ate it, but the baby horse just clocks on through....rolling his eyes at me ;) 

Of course at the end, because Kelly mentioned that it would be tougher for me through the grid because he was getting a little blase about it, she let me continue on over two individual fences to work on it. And he was good the first time... a little stronger the second, and then a bit bolder the third and fourth time. Hee hee. Stinker!

Lots of work, but at least I felt like I was making a little bit of progress. Now to get Kelli and Peri to help me maintain and continue to improve!!

Helpful to watch 
Towards the end 
Also towards the end