Jumpy Jumpy!

 Today ended well! I woke up with another migraine brewing... despite taking a prescription pill yesterday and then again right before bed. BUT... it eventually went away. It was a cold damp icky day. And as much as I wanted to stay curled up in bed with a good book..or just sleep more... I got up... went and got my part for my car, got my oil changed, got them to replace the part, and got it washed. Then I came home and ate lunch and then went to go ride. Luckily by then my headache was gone but I was in that foggy phase, but... it went away once I got on. 

I am a little surprised that Dan was as jumpy as he was because he's not usually like that, but... given the fact that it dropped about 30 degrees, the damp crept in, the storm was blowing in, he's not been ridden much in the past 2 or 3 weeks, he started adequan and reloaded Map5 and he's been bemered, had his hocks done, got acupunctured, and adjusted recently.... Perhaps I shouldn't be shocked! He was still good! Just a little jumpy and on edge. Very intent on looking for danger and freezing in place. But I guess that's better than bolting or bucking. :) 

We went for a little hack around the backside to get to stadium since I was later than I meant to be. And I'm bummed. I set my pivo up but apparently forgot to put it on airplane mode and when I got a text, it shut it off. Oh well. We had a good lesson though! Jacel met us there and it's so handy! Would be even handier if she would come to the house again, but... my arena's footing is still sketchy and then we got to hack too! Anyways... we started off trotting a fence but he kept breaking to the canter, other than the one time he didn't because I had him rocked back and balanced but he almost trotted through it that time. ha ha. I jumped more than he did. ;) So then we moved on and cantered it. We worked more on the leg yielding to the base and using the leg yield to keep his barrel from bracing and locking me out. By getting his barrel moving, he uses his hind end, and lifts his front end, thus freeing it up and allowing him to jump properly instead of rolling over his shoulder. :) We ended up adding fences and finished with a 4 fence course. :) It was fun! The jumps weren't huge but were plenty big enough. Just enough that I wasn't freaked out, but big enough that I wasn't bored or wishing they were higher. And Dan had fun! He was so in front of my leg by the time we were a quarter of the way through the lesson. I never had to close my leg other than at the base of the fence. I didn't have to keep after him to keep him cantering... heck, I didn't even have to keep after him to keep him cantering forward! He was just going and happily going!  

1. Leg yield in and out to the fence. It's not hunters, we don't have to arrive dead center. It's a better jump if I leg yield him slightly off to one side but have his hind end engaged. So, even in a line, leg yield a step or two right, then a step or two left, then jump. 
2. Close my leg as we get to the base of the jump. He is still waiting for me a little bit so I need to encourage him. He listens! 
3. Keep my shoulder blades touching (ie shoulders back), my chest tall, but push my hands forward and slightly up, while keeping my elbows at my side as we approach take off. (Ie ... stop being handsy and micro managing)
4. When he gets a little locked in the poll on the right side, (often when I'm turning right and leg yielding to the left), rather than cross my hand over the neck, I need to turn my thumb up and to the outside on the inside (right) rein. This unlocks the poll magically. 

 So yep. Not magic. Not rocket science. But also not easy. Although, it wasn't too difficult to accomplish broken down like that. So yay! Very helpful ride! And like I said.. Dan was forward and happy! And not quite as rocket launcher mode as the last lesson, so there's that! He was also mostly jumping with his shoulders up and bringing his knees up, even if he did pat the ground at the base. So whooo hooo!!!

Then we went on a nice hour long hack in the slight drizzle. Luckily it was intermittent and we were in the woods a good bit so we stayed pretty dry. Now I just need to decide whether I'm going to go for it.... it being the AEC's this year... or just keep playing and working on getting that bronze medal. Although I suppose I could do both at the same time... and we still aren't close to the bronze yet. No changes yet. So... maybe I'll be brave and do the Chatt Schooling show at the end of the month. We're planning on the Big Cheese CT and dressage show in April, but.... I feel like I need to be out doing before then. So... maybe we'll do a XC lesson in two weeks and then the following weekend do the schooling show! Eeeks!!! But..... Sh*t or get off the pot holly! Pony up!