Tough Lesson

Today was a bit of a tough day. Not sure why... I think it's because I'm stressed about Danny not eating well and Fleck still intermittently going after him. I don't want either of them to get hurt, but I also hate to think of them being separated... And what happens when I take Dan to a show in a few weekends again and am gone overnight again?? Sigh. So yeah.. I was a little stressed. 

My lesson started off decently and overall it was a very good lesson with lots of learning and figuring out. It just wasn't all and rainbows and unicorns. :) We worked on getting him straight. Looking in the mirror, especially when tracking left, it appears that his shoulders are out but his nose is in. Sigh... So I had to very much make sure that I was riding his shoulders in line with his butt and then his head in line with his shoulders. Which was tough. So... a bit of shoulders in but really pushing him into the outside rein. ??? I think... Cindy said I was getting the diagonal pair rein aids. So yay! Actually, there was a lot of me actually RIDING today and figuring stuff out and feeling stuff. And a lot of me not reacting in my old typical ways (ie wrong and out of frustration and irritation). So yay for that! I was reacting and using my seat to soften rather than going straight to the reins. So whooo hooo!

I also worked on my seat. I swear.. this is where I really wish I had the soloshot or something. Daily! What I THINK I'm doing vs what I'm ACTUALLY doing are so different... And until I see it, my brain isn't convinced that I'm wrong. So... today, while working on my seat, it really felt like my knees were out like chicken wings and I was pinching up in my leg. Cindy kept saying YES so... maybe it's a work in progress, and that once I get my seat fixed, then we can address my legs?? Or maybe it's not as bad as it feels. But it's really hard for me to relax my butt and keep my legs straight and down. I either relax my butt and pinch up my legs, or get my legs straight and down and tighten my cheeks. Or at least that's what it feels like. So.... ?? It would be nice to see. But anyways, I worked on rolling my butt underneath me and then almost rolling it in the saddle. And using my seat as an aid rather than bouncing around. And then I asked Cindy if I was bouncing because she was saying YES when I felt bouncy. So.. she had me put the reins in the outside hand and my whip in the outside hand and then put my hand underneath my cheeks at the canter. And huh.... sure enough, I wasn't actually bouncing out of the saddle. It also helped me keep my inside shoulder up and back and not collapsed. So... neat trick to remember. And, I need to stop standing in my stirrups and bracing and using my knee bend as the shock absorber. I need to use my ankles... Which also means my seat sinks down into the saddle. Argh...  We also worked on getting a bit more forward with the canter. Which I think is something Beth had said too. He gets a little too up and down and doesn't reach out and forward. NOT down and forward mind you... Nope. We want up, out and forward. So I had to swing my hips forward a bit longer. And it works. Neato!

Of course before we worked on the canter we had to get into the canter. And I swear.. I keep asking wrong. I'm getting the right lead instead of the left and vice versa. Ugh.. what the heck?!?! Seriously?!! How can we have won practically every show last year and now I can't even get the right lead?? Sigh...  And go me, because instead of getting frustrated and taking it out on Dan, I stopped and asked Cindy for help. She pointed out that I needed to put him in shoulder fore before I asked and that I didn't ask with my leg (so therefore I needed to stop kicking frantically) and ask with my seat. Sigh... Ok... Fine.... And doh, it worked. Argh. I honestly kind of thought that's what I was doing?? I mean, I was pushing him into the outside rein and stepping into the outside stirrup to help lift my inside seat.... But when I thought of just doing a hair shoulder fore and then lifting... it worked. Then we worked on the 3 loop serpentine too and it wasn't perfect, but it was getting better. I had to think of making my body like I do when I ride a circle... and then keep that posture yet drift off the circle. I think??? It was hard and I never quite really felt like I got it long enough to accomplish the entire 3 loop. We came close and we actually got it a time or two, but we never really nailed it. 

So.. then we were almost done and Cindy called me out on using the whip and not having him in front of my leg. It felt a little bit like she was picking on me but she wasn't. It was totally me being all "victim-y" and sensitive... and it's because I know she's right. I tried to make an excuse that I felt like I was beating him all the time then.. And she helped me out. She explained that she had fallen into that trap too. And that the whip was different than the leg. And that Dan was a championship horse... which means, we'd end up in championship classes... and you're not allowed to use a whip. So I had to back up my leg aids with LEG AIDS! And that I was riding way too hard and that my leg aids were supposed to be whispers to pay attention and listen to what I'm about to say. Not a constant aid to keep him moving. How on earth am I supposed to get an extended canter or pirouette if I have to work that hard just to keep him trotting? Sigh.... She's right. And I wanted to cry. Because I KNOW THIS! I KNOW THIS yet I keep falling into this trap. I start off my ride demanding it but then I get sucked into it. And I feel like people are judging me for constantly beating my horse. But I guess I'll just have to man up and deal. And drop the whip for a couple of rides (or more) and use my legs. Pony club kicking style commencing. So we played with it a little bit. And sure enough... after a few reminders, he was hot off my leg and forward and going. And our leg yields were way better! Because he was moving forward and I could direct the sideways instead of direct the sideways and push him forward. Yeah.... #shetoldmeso #alsobethtoldmeso #alsokellytoldmeso #iknowthisyetcantseemtograsptheconcept 

So yeah... A good ride with lots of good moments, but some frustrating aggravating ones on my end. My plan is to get up super early tomorrow and ride at home before work so that I can practice without the whip and practice some before the show. I've got a lesson with Beth but I really want to jump with her Thursday. Because... Tues dressage, thurs dressage and sat dressage.... That's a lot of dressage. ;) 

So... tomorrow morning.... no whip. Pony club kick if necessary then back to whisper. Butt in the saddle and rolled under me. Inner calf aids not heel or spur (In fact, I may take my spur off too), upright left shoulder (tall rebars) and forward a hair longer each stride. So... we'll see. :) 

One last vacation hack

Or not..... ha ha! 

Today was a great day! It was almost chilly this morning!!! GLORIOUS weather!!! I slept in, snuggled with Mike, and then went to feed the ponies. They hung out together a bit while I was getting their feed ready so after they ate, since it was such lovely weather, I turned them out together. And success!!! Thank goodness!!! I know Danny is happier. And it makes my life easier. So while they were out I went ahead and bush hogged the arena and behind the old barn. Then I went to the grocery store. And then I went to do some work but my cavanti was not working so I went for a ride instead. :) It was a bit hotter by the time I got out there, but it was still quite nice.

Danny and I headed out for a trail ride. It was a pretty chill ride but we did some trotting and cantering and had fun. Then I wanted to hop over a few fences just to work on pushing my butt back and staying behind the cantle. And a few fences turned into a few more fences. But we had fun. 

Relaxing Hack

Today was supposed to be Dan's week off.... after Boot Camp with Beth and then Boot Camp with me and him in Aiken with Beth, I figured he deserved a week off. Only... we had our lesson with Cindy which I didn't want to miss. And then I just really wanted to go for a hack. I figured a walk hack would be good for him. It wasn't too strenuous and he hasn't been out for a true lazy hack in awhile. We've been doing lessons and showing and schoolings... nothing lazy. So I figured he would appreciate it. And boy did he!!! I'm thinking I'm super glad I took him out as he was energetic. I'm afraid that if I had actually given him an entire week off, my first ride back might have been naughty! Maybe not, but... we had fun. 

He was on a mission and power walked most of the way. We started off heading through the woods alongside the XC field towards the lake. Well... Clay was working on the tractor right on the fence line. He was wearing ear muffs and concentrating that I don't think he ever realized we were there. Dan was fine... until he was just about past it, and then he spooked. He went up, bounced, tried to run, etc. But he settled down and I got him a few steps past it and then he was fine. I don't think he was scared... I think he was playing. :) Luckily Kelli and Arwyn were okay and we were able to carry on. We ended up hacking for about an hour and put in 2.7 miles I think. It was awesome. :) 

Only Danny....

Today was an epic day. Even for Dan. 

Seriously.... Only Danny and I would have this happen to us. So... this morning when I went to grab Dan from the pasture I noticed he had smears of stuff on his butt... that looked like black dirt but also some red, from the berries I thought. Great.. he's a mess and will be dirty for my lesson but I didn't have time to give him a bath. So we got to High Point and I'm grooming him in the sun. I got to his butt with the curry and I'm like... "Gah.. what is that smell? That's terrible... it's not pee... it's not poop".... and I carry on because... hello, it's me and I'm short on time. So we get tacked up and head down to the arena and as I'm almost inside I realize what that smell is! It's the Fly Trap Stuff.. you know... the juice that already smells like death now full of rotting fly carcasses... that's been sitting in the sun.... smells like death and maggots. OH MY GOODNESS YOU STINK DANNY!!! It was awful. And because I was on top of him, I couldn't really get away from it. Yucky. But again, no time, so... I carry on. We head into the arena and start warming up. He's being super. He's just happily walking and trotting along and with the momentum, the smell isn't so bad for me. And then... Dutch starts being stupid for Erin and Guardian starts freaking out for Alex. And then we notice that Vinny is in the cross ties freaking out!! Cindy was trying to figure out what they were looking at and spooking at. And... they were all sort of staring towards the gate mid arena on the far side, but we couldn't see anything that would spook them. And then they all got really riled up and were looking at three different spots. So Erin and Alex got off because those horses are typically not spooky. And then Vincent got pulled out of the cross ties and brought into the arena to help him settle. And he didn't. He got worse and was doing his best Arabian horse tail in the air hover trot impersonation. At this point, I suggested to Cindy that perhaps the smell of death on Dan was what was setting them off. She sort of shrugged and was like "no... I don't smell him.. it can't be that"..... And they kept freaking out. Meanwhile Danny is traipsing around without a care in the world while there are 3 very talented riders OFF their horses in the arena trying to not get trampled. And then the wind shifted, or I rode closer to Cindy and she smelled us. Ha ha. And she said that she thought I was right. That perhaps the stench of death really freaked them out because they couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Oh my.... talk about embarassing!!! Seriously Daniel.... What on earth!!! And the funny thing was that he look pleased as punch. I could just hear him saying "Excelllllennnnnttt.... my plan has worked!". Ha ha...  Eventually, after a 20 minute lunge session, they got Vincent calmed down enough and then Erin was able to get back on and finish her lesson with Dutch. She joked that Dan gave her the side eye and a very disappointed look when she got back on. ha ha...  So embarassing but so funny. 


So then we finished our lesson which was quite nice. We worked on keeping MY BUTT IN THE SADDLE instead of allowing Dan to float me off. I focused on keeping my seat aids rather than focusing on leg aids and while it created a slight leg/knee creep up, it helped my seat. Hopefully my leg will relax again and my seat can continue to be in use. We also focused on Danny going forward and upward, not just forward. Lift Lift Lift!! It was a good ride. 

So after my lesson I untacked and gave Dan a bath. Before I could get the bath started, I noticed he had about 10 flies buzzing around his butt. GROSS!!! Seriously Dan... GROSS!!! I scrubbed his butt hard... twice... and then sniff tested him. He finally passed. :) 

Adult Pony Camp: Day 6

Last Day: XC Day

Keep him ROUND!!! Had to fight but ended up getting it :)

Did some training stuff but kept it fairly simple.

Adult Pony Camp: Day 5

Dressage: ride a test

Day 5: Dressage Ride a test. Warmed up AWESOME. In the epiphany. I cannot wait. Then did our test. I’m not accurate. I need to COUNT MY STRIDES each quadrant of the circle and make them match. I need to leave at the letter. And the weird center line diagonal thing…. Don’t ride it like a circle.. ride like I’m going across the diagonal and then square turn to G. And sit it. It’s too squiggly to not sit. And then Beth said basically he’s just too long and on the forehand so collect him up. I sat up and deep and closed my leg and he immediately got lower behind and higher up front and felt awesome. He was tired and so I had to pony club kick and whip at one point, which pissed him off, but it gave me the most lovely little lofty trot. Beth said it was awesome but probably a hair too much for novice. But to go for it and then just add a bit more forward. So.. it was quite nice. 😊 Now napping.

Adult Pony Camp: Day 4

Stadium Day:

So much fun! We rode fairly early and it was quite nice out warming up but got hot once we did our rounds. We warmed up and then Beth warmed us up over the warm up fences. Then we went in and did our stadium rounds. It was all the jumps at FG, which includes the train, the triple bar, the butterflies. Danny was AWESOME! He just went in and clocked around. I was pretty proud of myself too. I rode pretty darn well. It may have been the awesome monoflap. Sigh… Beth said to nitpick.. I needed a bit more connection and collection and get him more uphill rather than longer. I was also dropping him when he got to the base and not releasing enough at the good spots. So we tried again and I got better. It’s that whole…. I almost need to release a stride out so that I don’t “row” and catch him. I got the hang of it but it took 3 fences. Then she upped them to novice height and we did it again and it rode well. I got the hang of it. Yay!! No drama… Other than the fact that at midnight my A/C died on the trailer… as did everything else. And then I spent the day trying to figure it out, calling people, etc. We went for lunch and tack shopping and I picked up another GFI box to replace mine with, and theoretically fix the A/C. God Bless Mr. Bruce because he replaced it for me. At this point between the heat, lack of sleep, lack of good food, etc.. I was about to pass out and/or vomit with a migraine. So he fixed it and the air cut on for literally a second and then it died. WHAT???? I wanted to cry. So he wired the wires without the GFI box and I was back in action. Yahoo. So I chilled for a bit in the a/c and cooled off and my headache meds finally kicked in and and then we took the ponies swimming. Danny went in and swam, choked down a bunch of lake water and thus sounded like a seal swimming. Then he farted a really long embarrassing fart. Then we let Kloie ride with me double and he was awesome and took her for a swim too. 😊

(ADD VIDEOS)