Stealing ANOTHER saddle from Lyric!

 Ha ha... Poor little sister.. always getting hand me downs. ;) Ha!

 

So... I rode today in the Loxley dressage saddle. We had our lesson with Liz. And I was excited... excited to see what Liz was going to teach us and excited to see if this saddle really makes a difference. Honestly... I was really hoping that she was magically quiet and soft and round and ... normal... not feral... because then maybe I could stop panicking that I had suck terribly and it's my horrible riding that's making her so awful. And... it's a little bit of both. I mean.. she was sooooo much happier in this saddle. SO much happier! But, she's still a little fussy and a little naughty and not an immediate fancy prancy dressage horse. But I do feel better in ways... better because I really do think that the saddle was bothering her. But worse because I should have listened to her.. and myself... and not just kept trying to make it fit. Because not only did I screw her over... making her go in a saddle she doesn't like, and not listening to her, I've screwed myself over because now I'm really stuck with a saddle that doesn't fit. Sigh... Oh well. Moving on... And, maybe she'll grow into it at some point. Although I doubt it. She's definitely changed shape and most definitely lost some of her roundness. The potato unpotatoed! She definitely looks more thoroughbred-y now and honestly, even has more angle in her back too. She's still very flat from front to back, but she's definitely got more of an angle in her tracings now. And more of a wither. And today, Liz pointed out that she looked "young" again... like she was growing. And I agreed. She's gotten a bit weedy looking... thin.. .and I noticed yesterday that her legs look splayed out in the front instead of square. So... we'll go back to some thoracic sling work and balancing work too. 

 

Anyways... I got her tacked up and hopped on at the trailer. As we were walking to the road, she let out one kick with her hind end. I panicked... like... what, do you actually hate this saddle too??? But then she was fine and marched all the way to the arena. We walked around for a few minutes and she didn't do anything else. And her walk was quiet and not jiggy and lateral. And her neck was soft. Yay. Liz arrived and brought Grace out to the arena and we chatted some. Funny was good with Grace and was sniffing her. (But at the end of the lesson when Grace walked away Funny pinned her ears and snaked her neck at her! No ma'am!!!). 

We started our ride and started in the walk. I let her take her time and shortened my reins correctly... shortening as each forelimb came back... then when she seemed to tell me that was her happy spot... I held it and then brought my elbows back a hair to bring her into a slight contact. Liz then had me take up slightly more pressure and just wait it out... to teach Funny that she needed some contact but could find her happy place. So we did. And Funny did. And our trot stayed nice!! We managed to get a nice swinging marching walk that wasn't running.. wasn't lateral... wasn't jiggy! Yay. We didn't want her to get bored, because she's smart and motivated, so we went to the trot. She had me slightly counterflex her and then as I asked for true bend, pick up the trot. I had to post more up and down instead of forward to my hips. But that really helped me stay more erect, which helped balance Funny and kept her more slow and steady and on her hind end. I tried to keep a soft connection and it required a little bit of counter flexion and true flexion.. but not a see saw! Liz stopped me and explained it better. It was a counter bend to get her into the outside rein, then keep the outside rein, and then use my fingers or elbows to get the inside bend and keep her soft on it. In order to keep her from getting bored, I did some circles in different places. A few times she kicked out but Liz said it was very much my fault! I was blocking her and she was mad about it. As soon as I opened up the door and gave her room to move where I was telling her, she stopped being fussy. Okay... that's fair. 

We worked on the trot and the big take aways are... (if I remember.. it's so much nuances that I'm afraid I'm forgetting some good things!)... my head moves too much... I need to keep my head straight ahead and move my eyes more... because when my head moves, my body collapses on that side. And Funny follows my head. But I can't be stiff with it... I'm so awkward! I have to post up and down and stay upright and use my core and if I do that, I can slow my post a little and Funny will follow me. This was the slowest she has even been!! And I didn't have to get in her face. Although I could actually half halt some today and got results with it too. Yay!

We cantered and she got a little excited and quick. Liz told me that I needed to not rush into it... take the time to get the good walk.. then get a good trot.. take the time it takes.. only go into the canter when the trot is good. And THAT.. is how I will build a beautiful trot. And a better canter too. And, she did! She got quite nice in the trot. And then the canter was better. When we were tracking left, the way she always feels like she's tipping and falling... she sort of did it again. Liz talked me through it and told me to put my weight in my outside stirrup, make sure my head was looking straight ahead, lift my inside hand a little, and then sit to the outside but tip my pubic bone a little to the inside... And... oooooohhhhh!!!! She totally lifted up off that inside shoulder, rocked back onto her outside hind, and the canter got lovely! 

It's soooo cool how such tiny little changes make sure a big difference with her. Like... such a tiny little change in my body posture creates such a big change in her. Liz was excited too! And .... she seemed happy! Funny did. She was tired... but she wasn't angry... she wasn't pissy or bucking or sassing... and honestly... she wasn't chompy either. She was still fussy in the connection and spent some time trying to find her happy place within the connection... and she did go behind the vertical a good bit. But she wasn't chompy... and she got frothy mouth too. YAY!!!! 

 

(She was not a fan of Art's chickens in his yard when we were walking back home! The scary inflatable dinosaur is no big deal but the chickens.... scary!)

Liz got some video of our canter for me. She did say that tracking right, I got a little excited and let her get big and lost that beautiful canter, but.. it's still overall much better. We talked about how it's going to be steps for now... maybe 4 strides of lovely trot... then 3 steps of lovely canter.. but then the next ride it might be 6 lovely trot strides and 4 lovely canter strides. If she falls out of gait.. let her. It's hard work. And if I get a couple of steps of amazing work... consider doing a downward before she falls out of it. We also talked about how transitions are going to be so much more helpful for strengthening her than just endless circles in the same gait. Which... to give myself credit... she used to get so much worse after we cantered that it was hard for me to do a lot of transitions because it all went to heck! But now, I feel like she's progressed enough that we have been doing more transitions, so we can definitely be better about it. 

Good pony!! I let her have some naked time too. It's weird weather today. The sun comes out and the breeze dies off and it gets quite nice.. but then the clouds come back and it's chilly.. and then the wind picks up and it's freezing!

 

Bright spots!

 Tuesday! Lesson day! Except not today. ;) But that's okay because it was ICKY! It rained allllllll day and most of the night before that yesterday and has been misty and dreary all day today. The arena's at Ashland are closed although my arena held up great! But... Jacel had to cancel lessons anyways, and it was cold too! Wind chill of 48 but so damp and chilly. I did end up pulling clothes but left the girls in 100 grams. I let Daniel be naked. I was hoping to jump in my lesson today as Funny and I are dressaged out. And Laura had mentioned me coming over to her new farm to jump, but... that's just a long drive and with the weather.. I figured Funny might be extra feral. And I was sort of leaning towards a long hack... so I ended up postponing with Laura. I ran errands this morning and then ate lunch. And then Nancy messaged me that she could come check my saddles this afternoon, so it was good I cancelled with Laura. 

 

So... after I ate I snagged Funny and we headed to Ashland for a nice long hack. I figured that it would be best to take her out and do a nice long walk and maybe even some trotting to work off some energy before our saddle fitting. So we did. And I timed it just about perfect. We got to Ashland I put the jump saddle on and we headed out. 

I sort of let her pick the way and we ended up over in the magical lane. And then I saw Lucy's dog... and then Lucy. She was chatting on the phone so we just hung out for a bit. I almost turned and went up the hill but figured it would be nice to say hi. She got off the phone and we chatted. She told me that they were contemplating making the Jake's hay field into a pollinator field. Oooooh, that would be soooo pretty! Funny was great and just stood there quietly while we chatted. And then Adam came up with about 8 people behind him. Funny just stood quietly and bravely and they all walked past her... a few petted her nose. It was nice. :) We could NOT have done that with Dan. ;) Then Lucy mentioned that she was contemplating opening up the covered arena to members! OOOOOH yes please! So we chatted about that for a bit. Then we both headed back our respective ways and Lucy made the comment that Funny "could be quite patients at times". ha ha. I laughed at her clarification of "at times" because... yep, she was certainly correct!

 

We headed up the hill and then did some trotting in the fields. Then I decided to do some cantering and figured I"d let her gallop if she wanted to. She opened up nicely and we had fun. So then we went the other way and did it again and she really opened up!! I think she did swap to the left lead when she really opened up and let it rip. Like Dan. But it was sooooo fun. I had tears streaming down my face (This time from the speed vs sadness). She had fun too. We ended up  hitting 30 mph! So... super fast! But not as fast as Dan. Although, honestly, she opened up and reached, but I'm not sure I felt that "drop" you get when they really kick it into another gear. Which... maybe she did and it's just not as obvious as with Dan, or.. maybe she's still got another gear in there! Wheeee!! She came back pretty nicely though. She got sweaty! Oops, sorry girl. One of these days I will get you clipped. 

 

We went back to walking and trotting and then headed back up to the hills behind cross country. I kept myself from jumping the one smaller tree branch alongside the creek because the ground was full of leaves and I wasn't sure how slippery it would be. But I thought we'd go jump that half fallen tree that we did the other day. So we headed that way. Except... the darn tree had fallen all the way down. And it was small enough that it was no fun. Boo. So we carried on and then shortly after that.. there was a bigger tree trunk that had fallen. Oooh, not as cool since it wasn't angled but still fun. So we jumped that. Hee hee. We then headed to XC and I debated popping over a few jumps for fun, but... didn't want to slip and make her extra hot and sweaty again. And I realized that I needed to get back to meet Nancy!

 

Good thing we headed in because once I got untacked and got her sponged off (she was so sweaty!), Nancy texted that she was on her way. I managed to make it home right at 4 pm and Nancy got there at 4:15. Which was perfect. I put Funny in her stall and had grabbed my saddles and bridle and helmet and had just enough time to pee. 

 

So...I told Nancy what had happened so we looked at Funny's jump, the ryder dressage and then the peter horrobin dressage. Nancy immediately noticed how much more narrow Funny was. Yeah.... the potato unpotatoed. The jump one was easy... a hair too narrow, but fixable with flocking! So Yay!  The Ryder... just really didn't seem to fit her. She did think she could make it workable with flocking but admitted it was too curvy and too wide. Then we put the Peter Horrobin on her and... Nancy just didn't like it. Never has. Which is understandable. But she did think that with front shims it would be workable. So then... she asked about Lyrics dressage saddle.. the loxley. I did mention that Funny's jump saddle, the loxley, also had the same gullet plate in it, so... we tossed it on her for funsies... and it actually fit quite nice. Like... Funny really got narrow and angled in her back...she's more of a typical A frame now. 

 

So... since the Ryder was flocked I asked Nancy if she would mind watching me ride in it because of all the chatter I was worried about. So we headed up to the arena and I got on. And... Funny was naughty... fussy, a bit behind my leg while also being quick... and fish tailing. Which... I told Nancy... that was kind of normal. But then she just... seemed kind of worse than usual. So I hopped off and we put the shims up front and I got back on. And she was worse! In fact, she started kicking out and throwing in a few baby bucks and props. Okay... this is definitely not her normal behavior. Though I did mention that I was not sure how much was unhappiness with the saddle or annoyance that I didn't have cookies (She was expecting one when I got on and I had forgotten) or being in heat or annoyed since she had already been ridden once today...  So then Nancy suggested we try the Peter Horrobin on her and offered to go get it. I told her she might as well grab the loxley and she could drive back up, so she did that. I tried to ride Funny a bit longer to see but the longer I rode the worse she got. Okay... so we then put the Loxley on her. And aside from the stirrups feeling really long... she was actually quite nice. Like... she was still her usual sass but... not nearly as quick while also balky... she was still fussy in the bridle but she felt better in her back and neck base. And... she didn't offer to buck up or kick out. I even cantered her and oh thank goodness I can sit down in the canter again!!! I even got a flying change out of her!! I didn't really ask but shifted myself and she swapped so I went with it and changed directions. Wheee! So then, to be thorough, I put the peter horrobin on her and... she wasn't as bad as she was with the ryder, but she wasn't quite as nice as in the loxley. And I was a hot mess in the ryder. Nancy pointed out that it was so shifty and busy up there... maybe that flex tree... 

 

So... very helpful!!! Frustrating... that the stupid ryder doesn't fit her at all anymore... nor does the peter horrobin. And kind of frustrating that she's stealing Lyrics saddle again!! But yay for at least having something that fits her. Nancy did point out that she's likely to change again and might go back to fitting into the ryder again... So... I guess my plan is to ride her in the loxley for a bit. And see what happens. It'll be interesting to see if she really likes it and settles and our dressage becomes less feral or if it's not as big of a change as I'm hoping for. I guess I'll hold onto the other saddles for the moment. Not like either of them are gonna be easy to sell. And who knows.. maybe I can put the Peter Horrobin on Lyric?? I don't know. At this point, I'm not even sure Lyric is going to be sound enough. Ugh.. I hope so, I really don't think she's that broken, but... ugh. 

So yeah... Poor Funny... she was such a good girl today. And note to self... listen to her when she throws in bucks and squeals. She's not just being a sass... she's trying to tell me something. 

 

Extra spicy

Brrr! It was cold and windy and blustery today. And Funny was spooky! (Shocker!). But we set out to Ashland to meet Sharon and Baylor.

 

We were both tacking up and as I had set the saddle down but hadn't gotten it girthed up yet, a bunch of acorns fell on the roof of my trailer and made a "ratatattattat" noise and Funny spun and slung her saddle off! Duuuuudddeee.... Sigh. But she didn't panic or pull back, so yay for that. And then shortly after Baylor spooked and somehow flung her easy boot off. Ha ha.. This is not boding well. ;) 

   

We persevered though and headed out. We had a good ride, although at one point she jumped and did a side to side shimmy. NOt sure why... Then we came across a tree branch that had fallen diagonally across the path. You could go around it, but.. we opted to jump it! She of course picked the high side. Good girl. hee hee. But it's awkward jumping in the dressage saddle. 

 

After our hack I did a little arena work because she was spicy and needed to get some energy out. She was good, but... quick. We had some good moments and she was half passing about as good as Dan ever did. Her leg yields were nice. We had some lovely turn on the haunches. And our baby lengthen was nice. But dang...she just is so fussy in the contact... and there can't be any contact. Oh well. We'll eventually get there. I hope. Sharon got some video of us when we first started out, which was super nice of her. But then she left and of course that's when Funny got a little better. Still, very grateful to have the video. I really need to get my pivo back out. I didn't ride too much longer.. just got some decent work and then we quit. We worked on the walk to cool her down. She gets so tense and jiggy and lateral in the walk. So we practiced our free walk to working walk to gree walk and back. It was okay. 

Quick Ride