Better... but I've got to give up on some things

So... I rode today and started out with some flatwork. I adjusted Dan Tuesday evening and on Wed, when Freddie came to do his feet he commented on how square his pelvis was. ;) Ha! Good thing. So... I was hoping that he'd be much nicer to ride. And.. he was, but not perfect. Of course I'm sure it's because I'm not perfect. 


It started out a little frustrating again but I was able to stop and not get too frustrated and we ended up having some good work. I had to really think about putting more weight into my right leg and seat, but not just leaning into it... lengthening that right leg and sinking my weight into it. I did some no stirrup work and it helped a little but wasn't really working as well as I wanted because it created the tendency for my leg to creep up. But I think it did help. I was able to get a nice canter with my seat staying in the saddle (I think anyways!) and my legs behaving. Whether my toe did or not... I just had to let that go.
 
We actually got some really nice 3 loop canter serpentines too, even to the right. I had to think about keeping my weight in the right long leg and keeping the left outside rein half halts. Then I moved to the big arena and lost it but got it back. Peri was saying my right leg was slipping back and asking him, but... I don't think that's entirely it. I mean, that might be the problem, but I cannot make my leg go forward and fix the problem. I think that when I think about bringing my right leg forward I end up jamming my right seat bone into him. But when I think about keeping my weight in a long straight right leg and keeping the outside rein, I end up keeping the counter canter. 
 
So while I'm still frustrated with my body position and still want to fix it, I am also realizing that I cannot make my body do something it's not able to do and I am not wanting to risk ruining Dan's body for sake of the perfect picture. If my toes stick out... oh well. For now at least. But.. Kelli and I are planning to video each others' next ride so that we can see what we're doing, then try to fix it and video it again, so we can compare. I'm hoping that this will help me figure it out.

Then we had a wonderful trail ride. We decided to try letting Danny trot in the middle and see if that worked. He was nice and tired after dressaging and it was such a warm day (I was in a t-shirt and he got sweaty!), I thought it might be a good recipe. Plus we had already trotted in front and he was polite and didn't cavort on the moguls. And with Peri in the back, maybe he wouldn't feel like he was in the back. Maybe it's not that he's not in front, but that he doesn't want to be last. ???? But regardless of what the reason was, it worked. Kelli kept her mare from going too big and maybe that helped too? Danny was fairly polite trotting behind her. He was curled up and almost on top of her, but he was polite and didn't canter. And Peri was able to get Roux to open up his stride a bit to try to catch up with us.  We didn't go very far or very long but it was good!! I won that battle and Danny was good. :) 

So yep.. beautiful day and good rides!

 

Body Frustrations

Sigh... A frustrating lesson today. Danny was pretty good but I am frustrated with myself and my body. 

We started out with a quick little hack as Cindy was in the outdoor arena with Dagney. Dan was a bit rowdy as we worked around the edge but once we went within the white poles, he was sane. ;) Weirdo. After a few little laps around at the trot, we moved inside because Cindy was cold. The sun was nice but the wind was brutal. 

After we went in, she went to use the restroom and Dan decided that it was time to be stupid. He did his bulging right shoulder, grab the right rein, and bolt right trick. Ugh.. So I countered with flexing and bending him to the right to get his shoulders straight again and trying to work through it. We got through it but admittedly, it irritated me and I couldn't seem to let it go. Then I was frustrated with him and then it progressed to frustrated with me. Sigh... 

So anyways... We got a mediocre trot but a really nice canter. However, I couldn't sit it. I don't know if it's because of what I'm trying to do with my body, or if it's because Dan really needed to be adjusted, or because his canter was that nice and I really have no core. Sigh... I could do one of the 5 things, but not all 5 at once. I couldn't get my toes pointing in, my legs on, without my knee creeping up the knee block, with my butt in the saddle and flowing and not bouncing up and down in the tack, without falling forward or letting my leg swing back. In order to get my toes from pointing out, I seem to have to grip with my thighs and knees almost, which seems wrong somehow. And then I end up popping up out of the saddle. When I sit my butt in the saddle, my toes point out and/or my leg creeps up the thigh block. 

I can't figure it out. And it's driving me batty! I don't know if lunge lessons would help... or make it worse. If no stirrup work would help...or make it worse. Or if it's my beloved beautiful amazing saddle. Or my weak weak cruddy core and horrid posture... 

I'm hoping that I can work on it some this week and then get help figuring it out at the biomechanics clinic this weekend. Dan should be sound so I can address it. 

We did have better luck at the counter canter though. Cindy said that now that he's not as likely to swap, I need to keep his canter from getting longer. I got it a little bit but the right lead is just a little tougher because it's such a delicate balance. 

I think part of it is that I'm frustrated with life now. I'm feeling frustrated that my body isn't cooperating. Maybe it's cause I'm turning 39 too. Then I'm a little frustrated with my job. I love it. And I enjoy it. But it's starts to get a little monotonous, in theory. Not really when I pay attention but when I'm having to rush, it's getting a bit monotonous. And I feel like I am losing all of my vet knowledge and falling way behind. But I don't really want to go back to being a traditional vet. I'm still not quite ready to start having to kill things and make people cry. And I certainly don't have time to do both.. but I feel like I want to, so I don't lose it. So I'm frustrated with that. 

I'm the Queen of being frustrated with things that are impossible... wanting my cake and being able to eat it to. And not doing anything about it. Which frustrates me more as I'm frustrated that I'm frustrated but not doing anything about it. Good grief!!!
 
Maybe I just need another gallop..... 

Riding with Liz

Today I met Liz and we went for a hack. Dan was a little up so we did a few "suicide sprints" up the big hill before we headed out. He was still a little naughty but not too bad. I made him trot behind Forrest some and he ended up just bucking and cantering. But he would happily trot in front and behave. Goober. We decided that my best bet was to find a horse, like Beau and Jeff, and just let them trot in the front and keep trotting until Dan settled and trotted rather than carried on in the canter. We decided that it would take a horse like Beau to make that happen as it could easily take 20 minutes or more. And Beau didn't seem like he would care about the antics. 

 

We then happened to be in the field behind halfshire so we did some side by side trotting. They were good and Dan was fine even when I let Forrest get a little ahead. Then we happened to come across Jeff and Beau. So... I saw that he was taking another canter lap so I asked to canter behind him. (Although it's not really cantering that is the problem, but... ) So Beau went off in a canter and Dan loped along behind, like a school horse. Around the first bend though he suddenly picked it up a gear and covered some ground quick. I managed to keep him behind and got him to turn off the after burners, so it was a good thing. 

But I really need to meet them some time for a planned trotting trail ride. Maybe after already doing some dressage work. So he's more likely to settle sooner rather than later. ;) 

Then we headed back to the ring to play for just a little bit. I had the dressage saddle on so I wouldn't be tempted to jump so we did some flat work. Liz helped me with it and said that I needed to slow him down. She said that he was throwing me to the left (inside) and that I should over flex him and then shift my weight to the outside stirrup to sort of throw him into the outside rein and then regather him. I tried... and I couldn't quite make it happen. But when I did haunches in right, it seemed to help and made it a bit easier to get him into my outside rein. She also mentioned that he needed to be slower to get more push, rather than rushing him off his feet. So we played with that. And we got some nice work. 
 
Then we watched her and Forrest play and then she let me hop on him. Dang.. he's like a sportscar! So quick and hot off the leg. Almost too much so. But I definitely need to get Dan more reactive to my leg. But Forrest was fun and we had fun jumping a few fences. 

Then I started to get a migraine and wanted to hop on Fleck too and it was getting late so we finished our ride. 

 

Run and Jump Day

Today was a fun day!! I went to ride with Kelli and Peri and we decided to hack first and then play in the jump arena. We started off in the field and Danny was very bouncy. We got to the lake before I realized that I was going to have to burn off some energy or spend the entire trail ride fighting him. So... I told them I was going to go burn some rubber and meet them on the trails shortly. :) We trotted back to the XC field, drunkenly, and hit the field. I made him trot up the hill the first time and then trot down. Then we cantered up the hill and trotted down and then we went to the gallop. He basically ran off with me. I was water skiing just to get him to turn. Jeepers! Crazy horse. 

 4 of those miles were while we were burning off steam. ha! So we tried to catch up with them but because we took so long getting Dan to settle.... we ended up missing them. So then they did another loop and we got ahead of them. But we caught back up and headed to the ring. I decided to do a little bit of jumping.

And you know what?! It wasn't too bad. I was not thrilled with every part as he felt a bit behind my leg. But.. he did respond to my leg when I asked (I got the canter, checked my leg response and got forward...  see Kelly, I listen and learn!) and he did what I asked. It just felt underpowered a little. But I was pretty proud of my position. I still need to tweak things but it wasn't horrible without too much effort on my part. :) Yay!

Jumping Dan


 More Jumping Dan

 And one more

So yep.. Fun day!

Why be bad if everyone is doing it

 Today was an interesting day! Danny was mostly good!! And he had every excuse to be bad. It was an odd weather day. It's been raining and cold and they were in last night because of severe weather (wind, storms, heavy rain.. it actually thundered and lightning-ed). So I turned them out for about 30 minutes this morning before putting Dan in the trailer to go to our lesson. As we were pulling into High Point, the two horses being led in the driveway were rearing and spinning and kicking. I got Dan tacked up uneventfully and we headed to the arena. Because of all the rain, the outdoor was closed so everyone was in the indoor. Joyce was riding a known bucker. And there was at least 3 other horses in the arena. One of them was a pony who wouldn't go into the far end of the arena so Jessica was standing in it waving her arms at it to get it to not bulge to the center. Then another horse was acting up a bit. So I fully expected Dan to be a poop head. But he wasn't! He was actually really really good! I guess if he's not going to stand out he doesn't see the need to be naughty. :)


We had a good lesson once I got my act together. Cindy said that I went back to riding how I was months ago! I finally got it together and we had a lovely ride! I was rolling my shoulders forward and poking my elbows out and tipping forward. Argh... Especially since I just had the revelation about my trapezius muscles with Beth the other day. Ugh.. So I thought about my traps, and kept my elbows at my sides (even though it meant lengthening my reins) and sitting up. And then I added in keeping my ankles loose but not too loose, my toes in, and my calves on And... then it got lovely! Dan went into my outside rein and we had some really really really nice canter! Like a back up, round and soft, and uphill canter. It was awesome!! And hard. Dan broke to the trot a few times. But it was glorious when we had it. :) Yay!! So.. I must remember to keep my elbows at my side and my traps engaged!

And then... Danny decided it was too hard to be good. :) I untacked him at the trailer and he noticed that the neighbors were working in the yard. He saw the blue shirt moving around and it got him all riled up. I took him into the wash rack to hose him and he was still somewhat panicked. It didn't help that the gray mare was on stall rest and doing bucking fits in her stall. So Danny bulged forward and broke one of the cross ties. And pooped. Ugh. I ended up showing him the people again and he settled enough to get him hosed off. But then when I went to put him in the trailer he got all scrambly and almost  slid because the end of the trailer was wet. But he finally got over it and then he hung out while I adjusted one horse.

Then he had to sit in the trailer while I lasered one more. And then finally we got home. I turned him out for about 30 minutes and the Kathryn worked on him. She ended up spending near 5 hours on him. By the end he was HANGRY! hee hee. But he was really really SUPER SUPER Good for her. We were both surprised! We played zen music for him and it really really helped. He was really quiet for most of it. He was fussy and mouthy of course but no where near what he normally is. She found a lot of stuff in him and he actually showed her but then he wouldn't let her do anything about it at first. He finally did and she accomplished some good stuff. 

She liked how his feet were done. She felt that the left side of his head was lower and that he was a bit jammed/twisted in his chest near his withers. She thinks his left hind is being pulled inward and forward, creating issues. We were talking about his gelding as she was worried about castration scarring and I mentioned the radial nerve damage issue and she thought that might be why he's fussy about his front right. But we got a lot more accomplished than we both originally thought it seems. 

Kathryn wants me to try to ride him haunches in to the right as he seems to travel haunches in left. I'm going to try to adjust his poll/occiput tomorrow to see if I can fix his head and get the left side from being lower. Then I'm going to work on his pelvis and see if I can help open up his left flank area more. She also suggested that when cantering, I alternate sinking my weight in the right and left stirrups with the rhythm of the canter to help teach him to rotate his spine more. 

So we'll see! He will have tomorrow off as I'm working all day, but then I'll get to ride Thursday and feel him out. :)

Riding in the Rain

First Ride of the Year!

I should have ridden yesterday (Jan 1st). But... it was cold and supposed to rain all day long. Of course it didn't actually rain. Just misted. But I was feeling non-motivated and lazy and then I was irritated that I didn't ride or accomplish anything. Ugh. 

The weather today was not much better and on the weather apps, looked even worse. But the farm I was scheduled to work at cancelled. And because I had to be in Madison at 9 am to laser Dixie, I was up and motivated. I ended up working on Arwyn too. And... at that point the weather was just foggy and a lot warmer than yesterday. So I got home and looked at the weather again. And it was supposedly going to be a big rain from 2 to 3ish, then a window of no rain, and then more rain and stormy weather at 5:45. Kelli and I debated waiting and going at 3 ish. But finally I decided to just go immediately! It wasn't currently raining and I was afraid that the longer we waited, the more likely we would be to not go. And I'm so glad that we went!!! Of course it started raining a little bit as soon as I started down the driveway to Ashland. And it stayed at a light to medium drizzle most of the day. But it was okay. I was dressed appropriately and I was just so glad to be on my horse. :)

 

We had a great hack at the walk, as it was too slick for more. Although, Danny was a little annoyed about that! There was a girl taking a XC lesson despite the weather and when we started off the ride, Danny was obsessing and desperate to get to meet that horse. So we headed up to the jump arena first. I did a few minutes of walking and then started trotting some to help him get his mind off the other horse. He did great and I decided to canter because I wanted to. :) We had a lovely canter both ways. So then we went for a hack. 

She was still in the field having a lesson and we went across the field so we didn't have to cross the bridges. Danny was sooooo mad he couldn't play too. He leapt up in the air a few times and did his "squeal/groan" under his breath thing he does when he's so mad that he can't go play. hee hee. Once we got into the woods he settled back down and was pretty good on the trails. We even did a few downhills without the bucks. 

 

After the trail we went back up to the arena so I could watch Arwyn go and check her out for soundness. I figured I'd do a bit more again too and we worked on our trot and canter again. It was so tempting to keep riding but... I wanted to get back to spend some time with Mike. 

But yep.. Fun day!

Last Ride of the Year

Today is the last day of the year. And I had a great day! 

 Mike offered to let me go shop at White House Black Market for an outfit for New Years Eve, so I went and did that in the morning. I got some really cute stuff!! Then I headed to Ashland to meet Kelli and Peri. Peri was late and Kelli left her keys in her husbands car, so I ended up getting on Dan first. Peri got there right as I was basically all tacked up and ready to get on. I told her I was going to get on early in case he was rowdy. And then she ended up talking to some others that were there and not getting on til Kelli got there.

So I ended up doing a good 20 or so minutes of dressage on Dan. It wasn't great but it wasn't bad. He was a little distracted but he tried. We couldn't get the right lead 3 loop serpentine though. Ugh. And it started to sleet. But it felt good. :) When I was just about done, Kelli and Peri joined us. I did one more attempt at the right lead 3 loop serpentine without breaking to the trot or swapping, although I cheated a little and made it a little bit more shallow.

So then we went on a hack and had a good time. Of course by this point it started to rain and not just sleet. It got worse and became a light rain before too long. We were all sooooo cold. My hands especially! So no pictures as I was frozen.

But it was a nice way to end the year. :) After I rode Dan, I hopped on Fleck bareback with new dry winter gloves and we warmed back up. :)

 When we got home I threw them out as they were already wet and the rain had mostly stopped. That way I could clean stalls in peace as they were calling for more rain. And I kept hearing the wind chimes. Hee hee. Danny was playing me a song. ;)
Danny's song