WE Lesson

 Went to Kay's farm (this time for WE obstacles, not beanie dressage). Such a lovely place and so close. 15 minutes.

Got tacked up and was all excited to use my new breastcollar and cinch and new bootcut riding tights... and.. the cinch doesn't fit. It's barely longer than the non-custom one (sadness) but the middle piece for the chest is about 6" too short! Even on the very last hole. Ugh... sadness. I so wanted to use it tonight. Was even matchy matchy ;)  and slightly sad because it's not really what I would call turquoise.. more of a greenish blue.. and then a minty blue. Sigh.. oh well. The "blue" and brown cinch is more turquoise, but that's a 30" and apparently his other cinches are 32". so.. not sure it'll fit. Sigh... I'm striking out left and right here... But it does match both his bosal's nicely, so.. that's a win. 

Anyways... so I rode without it.

warmed up but probably should have done a bit more. then did the obstacles. She didn't have all of them, but most. But not the double slalom which sucks. Oh well. we did the drums and it was the same theory. And a rope gate instead of a wooden gate, but fine. It was helpful. She even had us do the side pass and back the L, which.. dan did way better than I expected. :) 

Switch cup: practice my halts and timing. Prepare... 3 strides out at least start with "Think halt" and shorten the step and tighten my core.. then Sit... then ask for the halt, WITH my legs on, so he doesn't splat. If I overshoot it and we are going to get to a halt too soon, just walk him into it. 

bull line: Half halt him going into it so he doesn't "race" through it. Half halt if needed again... keep him slower and rocked back on his haunches. It changes his trot from dragging along with his front end, to quite nice and lovely. And once he starts rushing the bull line, it'll be harder to get him to stop. and it gives me more time to manuever the pole. Those big strides eat up that distance. 

single slalom: show change of bend, but yes.. ride it tight and "straight" vs big loops. and slow him down again so it's pretty. it's not a speed round yet. 

Ring the bell and back the L: She made us back the L... think of it like "back, back, back, back, then turn the hips (like a reverse turn on the forehand) then turn the shoulders (reverse turn on the haunches) and then keep backing... and eventually smooth it out into one smooth motion vs hips then shoulders. 

drums: Move my shoulders in.. but not just my shoulders. my belly button because I can move my shoulders and have my hips twisted the other way. Turn my whole body to the barrel and watch the barrel. aim for bigger circles. ride the center of the "doorway" everytime and ride one straight step before changing directions so it's not so sudden. Again, PREPARE the transitions (gait and direction). At home, while schooling, stay on the circle until he softens and relaxes and then let him out. If it takes 7 circles on A barrel, then don't go to B barrel til it's good. 

Gate: just... don't let him touch it or eat it. Seriously frowned upon. So retrain it. Even at home.. just go "park" next to things and don't allow him to mouth it or touch it. May need to take Linda's advice and add fake decor so he isn't tempted even at home. First attempt was icky but second and third were pretty decent. Right handed. apparently it's always right handed I guess... unless it's a reverse gate maybe? Guess I should check. 

side pass: he did better than I thought... you have to walk in straight to it, through the markers, then do a turn to get him lined up (so like a pivot.. not a turn on the haunches or forehand). And you can't step over it to start.. you have to start next to it and then go sideways. She had the second pole spaced out and you had to turn around and go the other way. Which was kind of handy. He does that pivot from outside rein on the right to outside rein on the left (right side pass to left side pass) better than he did backing the L the other direction. So note to self. 

GOod pony! Other things... take my rear cinch off.. it's blocking my leg. And... add spurs. Easier than a whip doing EOH and he does need to be a little quicker to my aids. And then I'm not "spanking" him. but note to self.. in warm up... do "shock and awe" and make sure he's moving off each leg... one foot at a time. make sure he's hot off my aids for go and stop. and do a litle canter to warm up too. 

But very good boy. He got lots of cheers. And was friendly and nice to Cindy (who came to say hi and watch) and Laura (same) and Shannon (trainer). and then Kay's daughter in law came up and he was friendly to her. Good pony!! Good mood I guess. Liked his fuzzy cinch too. even though it's silly looking. HOpefully once it breaks in it won't look so new, but also not look dingy. 

also liked my boot cut tights.. will order more. Might go down a size. they are a little high waisted too. And the sweat in my butt crack felt like it was pretty noticeable. I didn't get to ask Judy though discretely in time. Also had the tag down my crack the whole time.. it was soggy. Ewwwww! ha ha.

Got a little in my head after... the devil was telling me lies... that dan and i weren't good enough... I needed to be more competitive. Even Shannon said something to the effect of... he can't play... he kind of has to be a tool... make him behave and do his job instead of costing you points cause he's mouthy. more or less. And... she's not wrong. but also.. the whole point is to have fun with it. But I do want to be competitive and i do want him to look nice. And feel good in his body. So .. not today satan, not today. And the videos' showed a happy dan who was quite nice. And we'll keep encouraging him to rock back on his haunches and use his hiney and maybe, he won't mind it as much. Now that his noltrex is kicking in and then I'll shockwave him again. So I'll balance being a bit more adamant that we do things correctly while still allowing him to have fun and not insisting if he's telling me it hurts or that it's no fun. A delicate balance but I think we can do it. And if not.. we'll just keep eating the obstacles and having fun :) 

photos: shannon lesson and breastcollar

Glorious Day!

 Oh how I love Tuesdays!! (wait... today is Tuesday right? yes.. it is!). It was a beautiful day too. God has really blessed up with a most amazing year weather wise this year. This is what every summer to feel like! Green grass, blue skies, fluffy clouds, no humidity, lovely breeze, and sunshine! Ahhhh. It got a little toasty at times today when the sun came out and the breeze died but overall it was glorious!

 

I ended up riding Dan first after spending the morning doing adult things... Did some scheduling, shipped my trode back, and then spent a good bit on the phone with the bank. And did some laundry. And ate breakfast. But then I decided to go ride. Kelli couldn't join me that early so I decided to ride Dan at home first. Which worked out well.

I brought him in and we walked our raised poles twice. I noticed that his left hind was puffy laterally and he had a large scrape across his hock and cannon bone. Dang son! I don't know what he scraped it on or if he got kicked, but... it took some hair off! It looked more superficial though, although it was pretty puffy. I figured a bit of exercise might help and if he was sore, we could just practice the gate, so we carried on. And he was fine. I honestly forgot he was puffy because I didn't feel anything. 

We warmed up and did some walk work. We practiced our "refined aids" and responses to my leg and then did some leg yields on the rail. Then we did the slalom poles at the walk and the cloverleaf at the walk. And then we played with the gate. It's definitely getting less problematic and I'm figuring out the best way to maneuever. We even had our BEST pass through yet today!! He was almost perfect and I don't think we would have even let any cows out. Yay! Cookies for that sir!

We did walk the double slalom and didn't bother trotting it today because I figured we may just be better off walking it. Though I do need to check the rules to make sure I can walk it. We trotted the single slalom and it sounds like that one is more of a very shallow line vs the double slaloms. So we should be okay with that. We also did some general dressage work... working on our bend. Which is much improved lately. Yay! I just need to make sure I'm not nagging with my inside leg. We did some leg yielding too.

Then we did the walking leg yield on the rail and then turned in and cantered. And the right lead canter was okay. Not great, but not bad. And the transition was maybe better. Then we did the left lead and ... wow! That made a magnificent improvement! He was round and lifting his back and very collected feeling. Like a beach ball! It was lovely. I didn't make him hold it long and gave him cookies for that. We tried again both ways and it got a little better to the left. 

We finished with a bit more trotting and then did some transitions. His backing is getting quite good and smooth too. I do think that I need to "sharpen" him up in my warm ups more. He starts off rather dull to the aids and sluggish but after we canter and do some transitions, he gets quicker and more engaged. So I'll have to remember that at the show. Even though we don't have to canter in our test, I should probably canter in warm up. For dressage and ease of handling. And then we've got a lesson Thursday at a new farm so I'll ask Shannon about whether she thinks we'll score better walking or trotting and see if she has any other hints for us. 

Good pony! After I got off, I walked him through the poles again and the doofus tripped hard and almost fell down. Dude! Pick your feet up! Which, reminded me that his leg was all scraped up. It didn't look much better but also didn't look worse, so... I cold hosed him a tiny bit with his rinse. And then he got to go spend the rest of the day chilling. 

 

Except when I brought Lyric back from our ride and turned her out, he walked up to say hi and I had turned my back and heard a squeal and a thud and they had clearly argued! I don't know if Lyric kicked Dan or Dan kicked Lyric but they both looked fine, so... jeepers! 

Escapees

 apparently i left the gate open this morning because I took hay in through the pasture gate but then i think I left via the stalls... maybe.. maybe I tossed some old hay in the spreader though?? I don't know. Regardless, the horses got loose around 10 this morning... Mike said he heard a noise and looked out and saw Lyric and Funny in the front yard... and then heard more noise and walked out and Dan was on the porch. All up in the porch, clip clopping on the concrete. Ha! Of course Dan is on the porch! Glad he didn't eat the regumate in the box setting out for a client. ;) 

Luckily mike shooed them towards the garage and then got a halter and lead rope and got dan haltered and put back in the pasture and then was able to get the other two. phew!

Whoops!

photos: 6-26 wardrobe malfunction

Western Lesson

 Fun day!!

And kind of chilly! Which was a nice bonus. I was expecting humidity to the max but while it was humid, it was more clammy and chilly than muggy. There was a nice breeze too.. a cool breeze, like a storms a brewin' breeze. But no rain today, so yay! We've had enough that I was grateful to not have it today. Anyways... I wore my Fleck shirt! The one that I had made with his sunset photo on it. And it's such a cool shirt...even if it doesn't really match anything. And I rode all three horses today, so it was kind of cool that Fleck joined us for all three rides. ;) Ha ha. Not really... I do need to make myself a hat band or something so he really can ride with us. 

Anyways... today was lesson with Kelly Eaton day. I opted to take Dan first because I wanted to hack Lyric after and felt like she needed a longer hack than Dan. And I was hoping to get there early enough to do a little hack with Dan too. Which I did. We were able to hack around the small lake and then head to the arenas. I told Kelly where we were at and my concerns.. basically that I needed "more bend" and was worried about his posture and him not using himself correctly - whether it's saddle fit or just.. the work in general. We had done a tiny bit of leg yielding before my lesson started as she was finishing up with Caroline, so she had us pick up the trot to see what we had. And then we went back to "shock and awe" to get him moving off my inside leg. BUT... it didn't take much shock and awe. :) He was actually quite good. He's so freakin' smart. I swear.. he kind of cheats. Ha ha.

So, we had halted and she had me very lightly tap him with my right leg, slightly back. He should step his right hind over. And he did. It took a few tries to get him more prompt and I had to use the whip to remind him once or twice, but.. .in general, he was pretty anticipatory. So then we did it at the walk and then at the trot. I have to make sure I'm timing it right... when the outside fore comes forward, that's what I ask, because that's when he's lifting up the inside hind. I *know* this, but I think sometimes I get sloppy and don't make my aids clean. So I need to consistently ask very softly and not keep getting louder and I need to make sure my timing is right. And when I did that, he was actually quite nice. And quite bent in the trot even. 

So then we went the other way and he was actually worse with the left hind. Interesting! Ha ha. A nice pat on the back for me... way to rehab that right hind Holly. Ha ha! We did the same thing tracking left and got some nice bend too. And he was soft and forward and quiet in his mouth. 

We also did some leg yield on the rail to help him engage the hind end and use his core. At the walk. It also gets him more even in both reins. She did tell me that I do need to keep the contact, especially with the outside rein, even in the bosal. Don't throw him away. 

We finished up and she mentioned that he had a few bobbly steps here and there, but more so in the beginning and not really at all towards the end. She didn't see anything worrisome and said that basically if he needs to warm up out of his discomfort, so be it. He's 15 and has had a lot of trauma! Poor guy. But she also said that she didn't see anything else and thought he looked mostly symmetrical and happy. He was soft in his mouth and seemed to be enjoying himself. Yay! She did say that she saw the neck muscling that I saw and agreed it wasn't great but that he was using himself nicely, so... give it time. So, maybe it isn't the saddle or too much work in general. Maybe it's just... getting back into work and compensating and me not being as balanced in the saddle myself. We'll give it time. As long as he seems happy, which he does. Mostly. And he tells me when he's not, so.. as long as I listen, we will hopefully make progress. I did mention that I wondered if some of it is from him throwing himself up into the canter with his head, vs pushing with his hind end. But we had run out of time, so.. she told me to try the leg yield on the rail, then turn for inside bend and canter and see if that helped. So we'll try that next time I ride. 

 

I was going to do a cool down ride but ended up talking to a friend I hadn't seen in awhile briefly, so I opted to just head back to the trailer and head home so I could swap ponies and come back for lesson number 2. I don't think he minded. 

So yep... good pony! He felt pretty decent so hopefully we can keep building on this. 

Obstacles

 photos: 5-26 sat obstacles

trying hard. good boy. backing is way better. stirrups shorter is helping me. got good circles on cloverleaf but still struggling a little bit with double slalom. may need to walk in the show.

neck still looks awful, but was using himself better today i think. rounder. left lead quite round and nice but right lead still a bit wonky. using his neck (hence the awful neck muscles???)

dressage and hack

 hacked hills... 

then hacked with marvin to lake. saw one snake

then arena work. shortened stirrups two holes. big help! felt silly but could ride. still wider twist but doable. even canter, even in cowboy boots only. 

pretty good kid. trying hard. didn't feel bad and had a decent ride despite the fact that i think his stifle is bothering him. but has only been 2 weeks and 4 days since noltrex, so.. will shockwave it in a few more days. may consider osphos too.

frothy though! lathered like shaving cream under his rear cinch straps. need to pull them off or use the rear cinch

hosed off and chilled while i shockwaved marvin. good boy

photos: 5-26 hack and dressage, video of hose and in the woods

spa day

 chiro, acupuncture and myofascial work on accessory nerve