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!