Dan and I were a little late to our lesson today. Well, not late, but not warmed up and ready like I was hoping. Thanks to me not getting my act in gear and getting sidetracked this morning and then having a migraine. But luckily it went away before my lesson and we had fun.
We started off working on angles. First we started off jumping the 2nd jump in a grid at an angle from both directions. Jacel kept it smaller to start. Dan was a pro and just did it like it was nothing. Although she did warn me to watch his right drift and really ride my line. Then we added a skinny that was a completely unrelated line but made for a good tough line. It was basically an steep angle to a less steep angle. She told me to ride the line to the second jump, but then once I had my line, to focus on the first jump and then go to the second after take off. Cool! That worked. He pretty much did it perfectly. Then we did the same middle jump angled from the opposite direction to another jump that was a sharper angle to sharper angle but with more strides in between. Because we had more time, Jacel told me to ride the first fence with the second one in mind, but not ride the line to the second fence while approaching the first. We pretty much nailed that one too! :) Jacel was impressed. :)
So then we did a small course. She had us do the triple combination, progressing in height. Then we roll backed to a fairly large and wide oxer, then bendy line to the skinny, then roll back to angle the second fence of the triple to the smaller vertical on the steep angle, then back to the in and out. (The in and out that kept getting us stuck going into it in the last few lessons and having us put 2 in instead of 1). So off we went. He was basically perfect! I mean.. we chipped a tiny bit at the big oxer, but not the bad roll over his shoulder chip.. just the correct add. And we got a 1 stride in the 1 stride! She was thrilled! But she said by the look on my face, I wasn't and wondered why. And... I don't know. Maybe because while he did them all and nicely and easily, he required me to ride just a bit more... he wasn't taking me to them like he sometimes can. He definitely wasn't behind my leg or anything bad.. he just wasn't "on fire". And some of the longer strides felt a little bit like they had the slightest hesitation instead of being out of stride. Jacel said that it was okay. Yes, he wasn't as up in his withers today and wasn't as much of a pocket rocket, so it felt different. But that he was jumping so well and nicely and really jumping from the longer spots, which was so good for him. So we did it again and the second time... hee hee... he took the serious flyers and left me in the back seat over the giant oxer and the skinny! But we got it together and did the rest of the course and it was lovely. :)
We quit with that because we're showing this weekend and schooling Saturday before the show Sunday. Jacel thought he looked great and ready to roll!
We walked to the lake and Dan snacked a good bit the whole way there. Then we did "Sideways" back home and put in our hill work. Good pony! Afterwards, I bemered his back and stifles, so hopefully that will help. And he got his adequan and will get his Map-5 on Thursday or Friday.
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