Making Progress

 Today Dan and I went to The Vista again for XC schooling. We had the farrier in the morning for Funny and Fleck and then I grabbed Dan and we headed to Ashland to pick up Laura and Smartie! It's always more fun to travel with friends... except for maybe Smartie doesn't agree. Ha ha.. I did tie Dan so he couldn't chew on him. But honestly, I don't think he did. He just wanted his alfalfa. 

We got to the Vista and it was warm and sunny. We did a long walk to the starter to novice field and warmed up there. We jumped some things there and Dan felt great. He was jumping out of stride and we felt pretty good. We jumped all the bigger novice stuff, including that corner again. And did some of the technical stuff. Then we headed over to the training and prelim field. (Which, I was wrong... the stuff we schooled before Full Gallop was training and unlikely prelim.. the blue corner was novice). We did a few things that were on the smaller side and he was super. He felt like he was bold and jumping out of stride! I was "breaking him up" by wiggling the bit his mouth a bit and asking for a bit more flexion in my turns to the fences. So... I do think that getting him unlocked at the base of his neck is helping. I was also counting strides... and when he wasn't locked, I could see 3, 2, 1 jump! And I was comfortable sending him if needed or holding if needed. And even when I held him, he still felt like he was jumping more out of stride and from a more powerful place. So then we started doing some of the scarier stuff. We did the corner and this time he jumped it first attempt! Then we did the big green table and it was much better than our last visit. Still a hair sticky but again, more because I held him vs sending him than because we both sucked back. We jumped the big giant log and the upright rolltop thing again. And he was good. Then we did some of the water stuff but there wasn't anything too exciting there. Other than... a darn chevron into the water. It was so tempting because it was a smaller and more inviting chevron... but it was associated with the water. Why?! Why can't I just have a chevron to jump on it's own.. without the combo part?? Although in retrospect.. the water a few strides after landing might have been incentive to Dan. CANNONBALL!! So instead.. we headed to the chevron with brush near the bank complex. I asked to do it... and then chickened out. I rode him up to it and at the last stride I gave up and tipped forward. So he squirted to the side. Argh. We did that 3 times. I just.... couldn't make myself brave enough to send him over it. I think he would have gone... but he felt me say "no... actually". Sigh..  So we decided to work on it at home. 

So then we "galloped" over the ditch and he was fine. So then there was a prelim coffin set up. Two upright coops with brush on an S line over the ditch. Jacel wanted us to jump the ditch to the out coop. I came into the ditch way too hot 2 or 3 times and pulled him out of the coop. Or just didn't send him to the coop. Argh... So then Jacel told me to jump the coop to the ditch. The first time we missed the ditch but the second time we did it and then I carried around and did it ditch to the coop and got it. It wasn't super pretty but we did it. Sigh.. So then I was all disappointed in my self and sort of felt like I might cry. Ugh.. Everyone was pretty much ready to be done and go home, but I wasn't. I told them that while I knew all the rest of the day was great and I was so pleased with him and myself for the other things... I was going to fixate on the bad parts since that was the end. So the others headed back in and Dan and I stayed out to finish up. Jacel sent Llama back without her, but Laura stayed with Smartie even though she had gotten off. So.. Jacel told me to do a few jumps in a row to end. We did the bench to the corner to the green table to the tree to the blue raised roll top thing. The first time was okay but I was holding a hair. Jacel said that it was fine because the adds were there. Had we not added, they would have been huge fliers. Okay, but.... "Do it again then!". So we did. Only we just did the tree to the table because I didn't want to punish him for me being a chicken. And this time he was brave and forward and out of stride. yay! Even if the last one was a tiny bit of a long spot. :) But yay!! Okay, now I can quit and be happy! 

Danny felt good today though. Much more forward and happy. He didn't feel lame. And he was even a lot less cranky. Maybe the gabapentin really is helping. Which... opens a whole other can of worms regarding showing and... such. But.. we'll focus on the good jumps today!

Not great still... but better. 

But... then we fixed it!

Dressage Lesson

Today was lessons with Samantha again. I opted to ride him second because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to catch Lyric quickly and Samantha was waiting on me between horses. But, in retrospect... that's not a great idea. I'll have to swap next time. 

He was turned out and we walked all the way up to the arena so I didn't feel too bad picking up the trot fairly quickly, but... he was way behind my leg. And he felt a bit off behind again. Sigh... I also felt a bit like I was falling off the left side of him again. And... I got upset. I got upset that he's broken again and I can't seem to fix him. I'm upset that we keep getting soooo far and then hit the roadblocks again. I'm upset that I told myself that after injecting his neck again, I would know if we've hit the end point and he just can't do the work we're wanting to do... and maybe I did actually hit that point. And then add in the fact that I'm hormonal and was rushed because of Samantha so... I took it out on him. I was annoyed that he was behind my leg and I was trying to do some shock and awe but Samantha kept teaching and I got annoyed at that too. Which... isn't fair. So, I did a few shock and awe's but they weren't very effective because I was trying to also do what Samantha was telling me, so.. poor Dan basically just got spanked. Samantha was trying to get him in front of my leg with lots of transitions. Which did help, eventually. Then I felt embarassed and horrible for Dan. It's not his fault I didn't get to warm him up like usual. And then I felt terrible because he probably knew I was upset and thought it was at him... instead of the circumstances. But I tried to apologize to him and carry on. Samantha ignored me and kept teaching, so.. 

The lesson got better. We started out with our trot and then she wanted him more forward.. quicker tempo. Duh! That's why I'm trying to do "shock and awe". ha! We did lots of transitions. We started with walk, then immediately trot again. Then we progressed to halting from the trot, and trotting off again. She had me go back to the halt using my rein aids only - in an effort to simplify and "clean up" the aids. She also said it would help him halt more uphill rather than plopping down onto his forehand. It did seem to help. And I could be very subtle with the rein aids. Then when we trotted off, instead of using my legs, she wanted me to try to get him going with my seat first. Which was a lot harder to do than I thought. Mostly because of habits being hard to break and Dan not quite trusting it. But we kept trying. 

We then moved on to leg yields. She had me come down centerline or quarterline... then get him straight.. then get inside bend.. then leg yield. And she wanted the inside hind moving quicker than the other 3 legs. Which is hard! She did say it got better though and at one point she told me to get him swinging and... not sure what I did, but he did get more swingy! Maybe I let my hips swing more and stopped blocking him??? We then worked on making our leg yields steeper, thus more accurate and more push/reach with the isnide hind. We started with this at the walk and progressed to the trot. And then after the leg yield, we trotted off straight and very forward to get him moving forward again after the sideways. 

We moved on to the canter. She had us do 10 meter circles and then back to our working canter. She noted that he was using his neck to lift himself in the 10 meter canter vs sitting and pushing. Sigh... this seems to be the common theme in all the things... trot, canter, jumping. We did some lengthen on the rail.. then 10 meter circle.. and then canter on. He kept falling out or trying to swap from the left lead canter to the right. (Hmmmmm). I did try to get more flexion to see if that helped him lift his sternum by unlocking the base of his neck, but I'm not sure it helped today. Then we cantered across the diagonal with a simple change focusing on the straight line. I thought we did fairly nice on that. And when I focused on holding the outside rein and not giving it up, our upwards were decent too. Although a few times we didn't show a clear enough transition. But, yay smarty pants for being so smart! 

 

Overall a good ride and we ended well. She mentioned that I needed to focus on riding Dan in dressage like those horses that do all the fancy dressage moves in a neck rope only. Don't worry about his neck. Let it go where it goes. And... okay, I"M TRYING!!! I'm trying to send his neck forward and out. Sigh. I'm a little hormonal today I think. But we had some good stuff today. I do feel bad because there's not much breaks in our lessons. But we also kept changing it up so he wasn't fatiguing. At least it didn't seem like it. 

She had to run to get her baby chicks from the post office so there wasn't any talking, so... I was able to  grab Funny and took them both to the lake and back for Dan's cool down. I don't think he was as thrilled as she was. :) 

Day "off"

 Poor Dan's been working hard so today I opted to give him a light day and a spa day. I put him in the round pen today and we did some pillar work. Lots of releasing so hopefully we're getting some good stuff, especially with pillar 3. Then we tried to lunge. Seriously Dan... you don't have to lunge yourself! He kept grabbing the lead rope, which.. in the roundpen isn't as big of a deal, but.. it means I can't manipulate his body. So after a bit of a "play" he finally settled and let me have a proper lunge. Good boy!

Then we went to the barn and I did some bodywork. We played with the surefoot pads and I did some fascial work. He still has some serious tension right behind the scapula at those cranial ribs. I spent a lot of time there and got some really good releases. Then I adjusted him and did a short K-taping session. Only 20 minutes to help release that fascia, but not cause it to become tighter. (Thanks to the learning from my online vet rehab summit lectures). Then he got to go enjoy the sunshine. 

Tomorrow, back to work. Then he gets Wednesday off as I've got to work and finish Christmas shopping. Then Thursday we go cross country schooling. Yay. 

Dressage lesson: Fancy Pants

Well, I couldn't help myself. I signed up for another lesson. Ha! I just enjoy Kelly so much and since I don't think she's coming again until January... I couldn't resist. Plus.. it's a good excuse to get to ride in the covered and there was rain predicted all day, so... it's a guaranteed ride. 

 Short and sweet

worked on collecting the gaits and getting uphill lift in the withers. Worked my core. He listens to my seat so well. but it's hard for him, so go for GLORIOUS but then get out quick!

XC Grid Day

 

Well, no parade... but probably a good thing. Danny was DINO DAN today!

Did the XC footwork/grid clinic with Beth and had a blast. Rode with Jill and Brady, Laura and Smarty, Danielle and Rusty, and another girl who boards at Full Gallop with her white TB. Dan was in rare form, snarling at everyone. He even stomped his foot at them repeatedly. But seriously dude.. it doesn't get old after a few hours? Though at the end, me and Brady went on a short hack and he was happy and even friendly with Brady. He just does NOT do crowds. Hence... no parade. 

Clinic was super fun. Started at banks... walk up, walk down. Dan was soooo bored. ;) Been there, done that Auntie Beth. Then added small jump at top and bottom. Worked on keeping the connection. Dressage canter him through it. We tend to get blase about things and really I need to be riding for perfection even over the "easy stuff". Because otherwise both Dan and I get sloppy. Worked up to grid plus a jump before.

Then moved to ditches and worked up to vertical, bounce, ditch, bounce, vertical. Again, ride him connected. Dressage canter him but WITH LEG! And.. it was actually kind of cool because when I had him connected/in the bridle, I could send him and he felt much more powerful but I wasn't having to just gallop him. he was balanced! But I think it's more about getting the base of his neck unlocked than getting him "on the bit". Maybe? I had to do alternating half-halts to "break him off" and get him to let go, and then I could send him forward. I could ride him round and deep, but... that's not really conducive to long term xc riding AND I think that it's not so much getting him there.. it's that by getting him there, I'm unlocking his brace. But I will have to play with it and ponder and feel things out and see. 

Moved on to the water. Jill was laughing at how wet I got compared to everyone else. YES!!! Why does my horse throw up SOOOO much more water than everyone else!?  Kept choking him and hanging on his face up the bank to the bounce. And we were ugly going into the water. Beth noted I had to keep it consistent the last 3 strides. I could throw him away OR I could hold, but I couldn't hold, hold, throw away. It was better if I "held his hand" into the water, but almost had to break him off in the water with a good alternating half halt and get him to unlock, then give him his head up and out. We also jumped a few smaller fences (novice maybe) after and before the water and I worked on galloping them, but... it did make a difference when I galloped only vs galloped with him "on the bit" or the alternating half halts to get him unlocked. And I also used some extra inside flexion (ala my kelly dressage lesson) to help keep him soft. 

After the water we did a course. We jumped a coop then around to the ditch, then through the water, then another coop, then down the bank. It was helpful having to gallop, then collect and shorten for the grids, then gallop, then shorten. SUPER fun day and super educational :) 

Afterwards Jill and I went for a short hack back to the trailer and I made a pit stop and "galloped" the doghouse. Not a huge table, but... a bigger fence. My goal is to "gallop" at least one table every time I'm out there... so my brain and body can get back into that mentality. Beth also mentioned that Dan's little stutter step was almost becoming a habit. So.. we're gonna fix both of our bad habits at those big tables. I figured if I started doing it at the smaller ones on my own and getting our confidence and 'technique" back, then I can start gradually doing bigger ones on my own and for sure do the bigger ones with trainers :) 

  Here's a good comparison... Dan when he braces and locks his underneck against me..... vs Dan when I "break him up" and unlock the base of his neck. 

And.. another example where he's bracing against me....  

Dressage and short hack with kelli

Went to ashland and rode with Kelli. Didn't have time for both ponies because I opted to drag the arena and spread manure in the morning and then help Mike paint before I rode with Kelli. I'm getting my house painted!!!! It's mike's christmas gift to me. No more ugly yellow!! So, I figured it was Dan's turn since Lyric got ridden Tues for the bit fitting and he didn't. 

We had a good ride. Lots of really good stuff, although he did swap behind once or twice and felt a hair assymetrical in the beginning. Trying to decide if I'm just panicking and reading too much into things or if I need to be proactive and stay ahead of things! Sigh.

Afterwards I convinced Kelli to come on a short hack with me. We just walked around the lake and enjoyed the views. 

 

Stupid pivo.. but yay for extra ride

 

I tried to get the pivo to work today and it didn't. It was better than before... at least it tries to track me now instead of being frozen, but... it sucked at actually tracking me. So after a few minutes I gave up and just took my phone back and put it in my pocket. But we had a great ride. Some nice lateral work and I tried to do more cantering. We tried to do our Samantha homework but honestly, I can't remember it now. Doh! We did work on extra flexion though to keep him soft underneath. 

Then to get back home I opted to ride the "gallop track" which is the perimeter of our property. BAD idea! It's so overgrown I basically had to lay flat out on my saddle as I scraped underneath all the overhanging brush. Hopefully I was able to cover my saddle so I didn't mark it all up. Dan was annoyed too. hee hee.