WHHHHHEEEEEEEEE

 So much fun today! Dan was back in his element! We went Xc schooling at Chatt today with Jacel and Mackenzie and Laura.

 

But first... we had the saddle fitter at 7 am! Eeeks, that's early. Luckily we just had the time change so it didn't feel quite as early as it technically was. And it was nice and warm too, so not cold and miserable like it could have easily been. Phew! She checked both saddles on both ponies. She said "man you ride a lot" because all of my wool was smooshed down. Doh! I mean.. two ponies... 4 times a week... and we ride for a long time I guess. Most of the time. Anyways... she fixed the jump one and the dressage one and fluffed them both up. They both looked good on both ponies and she felt like I could even ride Lyric without the fluffy brown half pad. Yay! We'll try it. I did ride Dan in the jump saddle just to test it out as she did so much refluffing. While she was checking his saddles though he was ANGRY! He was pissed off and snarly and fidgety. I was telling her that while it's "kind of normal" for Dan, I felt like he had gotten a bit worse lately. Granted, it's always worse in the cross ties without his face in a hay bag like at the trailer. But he was a total butt. And then he got all pissy at the end because everyone else left and he was getting nervous and almost acting like he was going to escalate to his behavior at the cattle drive. Seriously dude?! She felt him and said his fascia was SUPER tight. Well no kidding... did I mention the cattle drive behavior? Anyways... after she watched me ride (and before too) that she suspected that we had just fallen backwards in our riding a bit. She thinks that we probably got sucked back into our old habits as we were getting farther along in our rehab and back to doing the harder stuff. And without Gerd telling me not to ride backwards, I probably was. And then Dan was compensating and cheating a little. And that was probably aggravating his soundness issues. After she watched us ride she said I was getting a little bit off the true classical way.... his neck wasn't as straight out of his withers as it could be. So... sigh... unfortunately because of timing... I had sort of forgotten she was coming this week and I had told her Tues or Thurs and then... scheduled XC schooling on Tues. So.. we couldn't do lessons, which she had apparently scheduled me for two of them. Doh! Oh well. Sigh... but today was fun regardless. Hopefully I can do some virtual lessons with her and/or go visit her for a weekend for some lessons. After my brief ride I untacked him and turned him out and he TOOK OFF out of his stall at a gallop and went galloping off. Jeesh dude! You're in a mood! But he got to enjoy the pasture for a few more minutes while we talked and I paid and then packed my stuff back up in the trailer and made a quick travel breakfast.

 

Then I grabbed him and we went and got Laura and Smarty and headed to Chatt. We met Jacel and Mackenzie there and headed out. It was a beautiful day! Gorgeous weather... although almost hot! We warmed up and I tried trotting a tiny fence and Dan said "no, we canter!". Doh. Ha ha. Oh well. Then we went into the field. They had the 3 star a few weekends ago and they still had most of the prelim, intermediate, etc stuff up. So.. the training stuff was looking small :) They didn't have a ton of little stuff for the green beans so I was glad I didn't bring Lyric. But Dan and I had a blast! He felt so good and was jumping great! I felt like I was riding much better although now looking at videos... I held a lot more than I should have. Jacel told me that it was the right move most of the time, but.. not all of the times. I need to get better at trusting him and sending him vs holding/checking. Don't half halt just to half halt. But I do need to ride his hocks. We jumped a lot of big stuff too including some scary things. But I wasn't as scared as I had thought I might be. Yay! Mostly cause he's feeling so game and I'm trusting that he's going get me through it. And he is. Bless him he did save my bacon a few times. There were a few fences, like the big corner, that I wimped out and didn't add leg and he stalled out at the base, but... jumped anyways. Almost from a standstill. Like.. dude!! Don't do that! We could have just stopped! But he cleared them! Mostly. Ha! But ... it makes me feel better because he wouldn't have done that had he been hurting. Hurt Dan says No. And he said "Yes... and not only Yes, but I will save your bacon repeatedly". So yay! And overall, I think I am riding better than before. I did manage to keep my butt from going over the pommel some of the day and I managed to get my hands low some of the day. But yeah... we did the training coffin with long reins. :) We did the training bending line of upright blue skinny half rolls, off the big stone table. We did the wing jump downhill. We did a circus tent then into and through the water and out and up the hill to a skinny chevron. We did a big corner to an uphill on top of the hill cabin thing. And granted, he stopped at the corner the first time, heaved over it the second and I finally got him going over it the third time! We also did another few big table things and we even finished with the prelim log stack jump. Good boy!!! I just need to get braver about sending him and letting him jump out of stride but keeping him on his hocks for it. It's a delicate balance. At least for me. ;) 

Such a fun day and such a good boy. I think he was glad to be out and about again. So... tonight, we signed up for stableview at training level again! EEEEKKKKS :)