Eeeeeehhhhh I'm so excited! Funny was SOOOO good today!
We had lessons with Jacel today at 7 am and 9 am at the house as I still don't have my truck. I opted to do Funny first because I figured that Jean would want to jump and I may want to jump Lyric some but didn't want to jump Funny and since the lesson was so early and I didn't finish dragging the anena until dark... I didn't have time to put jumps up. So... Fun buns was up! I got up early and fed them early and she was super. We saw a marvelous sunrise!
I got on early and walked around the arena. We saw the momma deer and two fawns in the pasture but Funny just looked. However after a few warm up laps she got weird about the scary corner/long side. I tried hard but... she just gets so hollow and tense and then I get tense. But luckily Jacel arrived pretty shortly and walked her into that corner and comforted her. And then she stood there for a bit while we rode which helped.
I also mentioned that she had been quite zoomy but that I had tried to do the trot walk trot transitions to help. So we picked up the trot and she was quite zoomy and looky. So Jacel reminded to do multiple changes of direction and get her to follow her nose. We also tried a halt and reinback and discussed how that would also encourage her to sit and engage her hind end. Except when we tried it, Funny got fussy and silly and we decided that it maybe wasn't a battle I wanted to engage because I either had to do it quick enough and then send her forward before she got fussy or... fight the fight and get her to stand. So we abandoned that idea as it seemed like maybe not the best decision. Although I will consider trying it again later when I can play with it a bit. So we went back to the changes of directions and anytime she started looking for things to spook at, turn her nose the other way. It's a gentle reminder that "I've got you girl... pay attention to me... don't mind the scary stuff as I won't let it hurt you". And... when I allowed it to work and didn't get into my head that I was just "spinning her around in circles".... she actually started to settle. And use herself. And Jacel pointed out that she tended to hold her tension in her left jaw. Ah.... yep! Once she pointed it out, it was obvious. So anytime she locked the left jaw... change the direction and change it again. And it unlocked her poll, which unlocked her jaw. And then she was so much softer and in better self carriage.
So then Jacel set up 10 trot poles across the short side of the arena but in the middle. She had me walk through them and then trot. She said that having that many might blow her mind but... smarty pants just trotted on through like she'd been doing it her hole life. Okay then miss! :) But it was a brilliant move. We trotted through them multiple times and they encouraged her to balance herself. She started to lift her back and move in self carriage. It was fantastic! I had to do a few half halts and pay attention to my position but she got LOVELY! Like... self carriage... up in her back.. soft in her neck and poll and she was really using herself nicely. Like a proper dressage horse!!! It was awesome!!!
So then we went to canter. I told her about my struggles with the left lead. And of course, right as we got to that point... Jean came up with her crew and in her golf cart... and waving her cowboy hat around. And it should have been fine. Funny didn't REALLY care.... but I sort of did because I was a little stressed about the canter lead. And because I got a little stressed and Funny got a little distracted.. it went to pieces. We couldn't get the left lead. And I kept making it worse the harder I tried. Jacel kept telling me I was tipping but I was trying not to. And apparently I was grabbing and holding the left rein. We tried multiple times and tricks and it just kept not happening. Right lead... then she was really overbent. And really throwing her right shoulder out. And the more I tried to correct it, the worse it got. And I got frustrated. We took a breath or two and tried one last time and bless her heart... that girl is soooo freakin' smart. She picked up the right lead and immediately swapped to the left. Like... "FOR REAL MOM.... gah... I cannot pick up the correct lead when you are making me so crooked but I realize you want the left, so I'm just gonna swap before you can get upset". So... we quit with that. What a smart girl. Sigh...
So once I got over myself and my frustration, I remembered (with Jacel's firm reminder) how amazing she felt in the trot! Like... she really was carrying herself... with a nice soft reaching for the bit connection... self carriage.... lifted back... lifted tail... engagement!! It was awesome!!!
And... when I got back for my lesson with Lyric, Jacel had a plan for Funny. We practiced it with Lyric and I had an epiphany. I had figured out with Lyric that I was bringing my left hand down and back and blocking her instead of doing an opening rein and going back to my hip instead of down towards my ankle. And I was able to correct it on Lyric. But it never correlated in my brain that I was doing the same thing with Funny. Duh! And in an attempt to get the right bend I was overcompensating and tipping instead of sitting back and to the outside and lifting my inside shoulder and hip. So Jacel had me trot Lyric through the trot poles and as we were coming over the last one, while staying straight, pick up the canter. So as her front legs were coming over and I knew we were turning left, ask for the left lead. And it worked. It put my body in the proper position. And then once I felt that, I felt what I had been doing wrong. So.... now I'm excited to try it with Funny next ride.
We hacked back to the house and gave her a bath. We were both dripping sweat despite it being early. It was sooooo humid!
What a good pony. I'm so excited about our future!
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