who s ths?

 wow!! had a lesson at jacels and she was so soft and slwo nt he trot. lke... s she sick?? got worked up once we started jumpng (phew) but soooo much better overall. 

diidn't want to trot, but... when she gets sucked back and rears and I send her forward, she gets to canter... so.. f i just gnore the bucks and rears and just keep turnng her towards the jump, she gves up. and trots. :) avod the fght. 

lovely grl today. settled beautfully and was lstenng and had some fun jumps. I can't get complacent... 'm havng too much fun... sometmes  've gottta get grtty and rde and make t happen. 

fun course work though. 

then hacked wth jacel on smdge. we felt small. funny stll as a bt of a slug. but comng home she was more marchy. ???

wll keep an eye on her

photos: 5-26 soft jumping

not zoomy

 rode at home. not zoomy! quite good. did get a ltitle kicky with left hind and bucky, but at least one of the times  iwas defniitely confining. got a ltitle quick but only a few tmies. played with sit trot and leg yield and shoulder iin. good canters. diid some baby lengthenngs at trot. good pony!

finiished wiith halts and trot walk trots. got fussy but did get some good ones. was liftnig her back some today, especially if i thiink of drawnig her up wtih my seat. 

photos; 5-26 not zoomy

Lunge day

 photos; 4-26 lunge day

lunged because i got off "early" from work and she volunteered. mniimal snacks. ddi ground work frist workng on thoracic lfit. turn on hanches both ways, turn on forehand both ways (trackng rght way harder). swervy poles, ground poles at walk. then put equicore on and lunged. 5 miiniutes trot each way and a lititle canter each way. good pony. nice and soft and relaxed.

love her. followed me to dan too. snuggly

ahhh, good girl

 stormy morning. cancelled liz lesson because of storms. moved repeat mammogram to am instaed of afternoon. then did errands. then cancelled liz's postponed lesson because of stress. had a good talk wth her though. opted to ride. 

took funny first and she was good. stayed at home and diid some thoracic sling work before startng. sooo good overall. much slower tempo. made sure my saddle was back (though may need a narrower plate??? sittngs slihglty low). not n heat, but no buckng or kckng out. got a lttl quck but settled very ncely. ddi some canter early on and then managed to have a nce respectable riide even after. did more rapiid transitons/changes than just settling nto one movement. played with si and hi and sttng trot. gettng better. also dd the trot walk trot transiton MUCH better today. sttng defntely helps. Did some canter transitons. super good grl. phew..  i needed that!

photos: good girl

Good Day, good pony

 photos: Good day

miike told me to go riide while he went to the mountains to ride biikes. yes please. gorgeous day so opted to take both dan and funny to ashland. 

hacked. lovely hack. bloodhound.. headless horse. ;) didn't spook at traiiler like dan (though much less spooky for her... farther away, not as loud,etc). trotted in the woods and got a lovely trot! crossed the creeks... even diid the water complex and the ditch wiithout stoppnig. even the down bank into water! water treadmiill for a few laps.

then arena. good pony. got a ltitle quiuiuick but settled decently. played with sit trot and shoulder ini. improved the trot, walk, trot with sittnig. good girl!

Sitting Trot

 Fun lesson with Liz

worked on sitting trot. Started with walk and walk poles. Set them slightly closer (i need to go measure!) and Funny was really lifting her limbs, iie really engagniig her joinits. then paid attentioni to my pelvis.. the lateral swing both ways. that's how it should move in sit trot. Which... odd, because in postnig trot liz wants me to post more up and down (not front to back) and in the sit, more side to side swing... which, seems to be the opposite of everyone else, but.. ti seems to be worknig! allowed trot after the poles (but not every time cause she's too smart) and was able to get a few good steps ini bweteen. Had to post some and some of my sit was more of a hover trot. but managed a few steps here and there. And ii have to stay uprigiht ini my core too. 

then went to canter from the trot but had to get a good walk then a good trot first. took a bit, but got trhough it. liz was proud of me because i never got angry or frustrated. just ignored the tantrums and kept asknig for what i wanted poliitely. and she threw a few tantrums. Once was naughty enough and had kept escalatinig that Ii got after her but then went beack to neutral, so no big deal. and she needed it. because she wasn't lettnig me get back to good. but then she did. 

got some decent canter and tried to sit the canter, like how i sat the trot. except instead of a bilateral swnig, iit was a unilateral swinig.. except when i needed to rebalance her. Cool!

Fun ride. That was probably the most bounciest and most up her back has felt. Like she felt like she was bucknig almost. and.. ha. sometmies she was. ;) but super cool. and the trot diidn't feel small. Soooo fancy feelnig!! 

oh, and... even quieter. Just when i think i'm benig quiiet... be even quieter. don't even ask, just think canter and she cantered. And then... sometimes it's not pushnig her shoulder around.. ti's openng up my thigh to allow her shoulder to move around. Good gravy! This horse is gonna teach me how to be so soft and kind. And... i can't get ahead of her. because if i think canter at A, when i'm at B... she'll hear canter in my brani and canter at b. 

and... nistead of thinkng of "benig behnd the motion/energy"... think of "letting her energy lead"... in other words... let her lead and follow her, vs having her race to catch up to my energy. 

super fun ride! But... a bit sore ini her pecs and chest and shoulders. So.. definiitely way overdue for an adjustment. But also, make sure my saddle isn't too far forward. Epiphany with dan's... and remember to keep hers back too.

photos: 4-26 sittinig trot

Novice 3 Day Test practice

 Just like big brothers three day... learned the wrong darn test. Wrong year. Luckily just at the schooling show vs at the actual three day.

warmed up much better and more chill. didn't feel like i was going to die or get any children bucked off. stll a bit quick and against my leg. but in heat. so maybe that's part of it. Also need to adjust her soon!

went to do the test and got the bell rung because i didn't halt and salute. (for the record.. there is no halt and salute in the 2022 test). then went again and she rang the bell at the track left... we're not on the same test. Oh.. because it's 2026! Ugh. luckily got to go out and learn it and come back and ride it. honestly not sure it would have gone any better had I ridden it before because it's the same issues, but she was fussier because she had to sit and i didn't get to get her settled again. But she was quite good considering. The walk for 4-6 steps over X is hard though and we definitely need to practice that. our free walk and stretchy trot kinda sucked this go round. 

good pony though.. rinsed off and headed back home to swap out for dan. 

photos: ashland nov test

Epiphanies that extend ( add videos)

 I have the best team!! 

Funny and I went back to Barbara's for a lesson with Jacel. And Laura got to come!! She took videos while Jacel rode Smarty. It was so good to be reunited! And Funny likes Smarty again. Although Smarty took a cheap shot snarking at her today while they were standing together. Funny was quick on her toes though and snarled right back at him! Sillies.

Anyways... I warmed her up briefly because I wasn't as early as I had wanted but she was quite good and settled into a nice soft trot fairly quickly! Yay! Then we jumped. 

Jacel had a 4 stride down the middle, then two outside sinigles, and then two singles on the diagonal. So she had me ride some serpentines to start and the goal was to ride the barrel around the turns and make long approaches but keep it soft. By riding her barrel, I softened her body. It took us most of the lesson to grasp the whole concept of what she meant but I finally put it all together! And it helped to add in some other parts. I was stepping into my outside stirrup, like Liz had me do, but forgetting to use my inside leg for bend. Then I managed to get that. Then I was still ahead of her energy. Jacel told me to slow her down with my thighs, not my hands. And aha! Yes.. my thighs, but also my balance. So I was able to sit a little deeper, close my thighs, and get the tiniest bit behind the motion and then she was so soft and ridable. Except then I panicked because we got to the fences on a small balanced canter that felt way too small compared to the big flying gallop and so I kept throwwing her at flyers. Ugh. So then Jacel made me just sit and wait. She gave me some tough love and told me that I couldn't micromanage her. If I wanted to take her 2, 3, 4star... then I had to let her figure it out and do it on her own. I just had to stay out of her way. Well, I had to get the canter first, but then stay out of her way. And then Barbara's husband, bless him, he commented that when I got her settled, the second I "panicked" and tipped my body, she got fast again. So Jacel told me to just slighty rock my pelvis forward to keep myself from getting behind the motion and feeling the need to then throw myself at her. And that helped. But not to think of perching, because that was way too extreme. Just a slight rock of my pelvis. And then Jesse redeemed himself because he said he "quite liked my handsome cowboy horse". Ha ha... Barbara was like "he meant that as a compliment"! I know! It's a funny way of saying it, but he's not wrong. And she always gets called handsome. ha ha.

So anyways.. I had done a few tries in a row and finally finished with two good jumps so then Jacel went. And then she told me to go once more and I managed to put it all together and we had a most lovely soft round!! She even added to a few and didn't pull any rails and was soft and quiet and ridable! I was like "I think I need to quit with that!!!" and they all agreed! So yep... it's a combination of slowing my roll.. ha ha.. don't let my brain get frantic, keep my shoulders and seat just behind her energy (not the motion but her energy), close my thighs as needed, keep my hands soft but present and ride her barrel with my inside leg and.. viola! She was lovely!

Jacel did a lovely beautiful round right after too so we all quit! We hacked the ponies out to the XC field and Laura walked with us and we got to chat briefly. It was so nice! Then a quick rinse and home so I could take Lyric to the vet.

XC Fun!

 went to stableview with alissa. had fun. liz came to support

dont' rush to jump... rush to get to the first fence.. rush to get to the next thing. Make a courtesy circle for crying out loud. ;) ha ha. 

feral at first... closed all the doors and she said absolutely not... so rode much softer and waylon said good, but i'm not sure it was any better than what I was doing before her told me to keep contact. ???

oh well. had fun. good girl. fit. 

photos; xc lesson

also videos

Forgiven and forgotten

 Ahhh, I tempted fate today, but it worked out in my favor. :) 

 

This morning we had the saddle fitter come to check the saddle for Lyric and then she ended up doing some osteopathic work on her and Dan. Poor Funny, yet again, gets the short end of the stick! She didn't even get adjusted this week. But she did get her stifles shockwaved yesterday. And maybe I'll adjust her tomorrow. Anyways... after that Mike and I took the mustang out for lunch and then a little drive. And then I had time to take Funny to Ashland and meet Sharon and Baylor. Yay!

 

We met up and went for about an hour and fifteen minute hack. We did a little bit of trotting but mostly walked and chatted. It was fun! Funny was pretty good with Baylor. She only pinned her ears at him once when he got a little close. And then when we let Sharon lead in the trot, she was inverted and hollow and charging after him, but we didn't trot for very long. The next path Sharon let me lead and it was much more relaxed. For me anyways.. not sure how Baylor felt about it. :) Then we did a third path that was more wide open so Sharon could have come beside us if they wanted. Except Funny kept weaving to cut them off. Ha ha. It was a nice hack. And an absolutely beautiful day. It was hot in the sun but there was a great breeze and it was lovely in the woods. Not humid at all and not quite hot enough overnight for the bugs to have come out yet. Glorious! I think today was probably the last of the non-humidity or not quite hot days sadly though. 

 

After our hack I decided to take Funny into the arena so Sharon and I chatted a bit and then split ways. I walked a little bit and she was slightly anxious but then settled quickly. We picked up the trot and she was actually quite pleasant at first. Then she got a little quick but I did my checklist and she settled. She still wants to lean into my left leg and fall in, and we started to fight a bit but I remembered, so we just did some smaller circles. Which drives me bananas because... we're sort of cheating, but... I guess it's creating better body muscle memory and eventually she'll get strong enough to not have to make smaller circles and hold herself upright on her own without having to cheat and use the circle. We played with the shallow serpentine loop and it's way easier in a proper arena. So then we did some leg yielding. And she was quite good! We had to do some circles to rebalance but overall a MUCH more pleasant ride for us both. She did toss her hind leg at my left/inside leg a few times but I just ignored it and rode through and made sure I had given her an out and went back to riding her outside shoulder around instead and it got better. 

 

Then we just ran through the western dressage test 1-1. I had to make a few extra circles here and there but overall she did it quite nicely! COOL!!That's actually a fun test for her too. We stopped and I let her process (again, I had been doing it earliier too) and then we went back to work. I played with some more canter and she settled quite nicely and we had some really nice canter work and even some nice canter to trot to canter transitions. Those were way better than the walk to trot transitions. She's still so explosive into those. I can't quite figure out my aids for that yet still. We even did some more leg yielding and some trot lengthens that felt like actual lengthens. Tiny ones, but still.. actual lengthens vs just speed. Which is HUGE for Funny! And then we did some stretchy circles (properly by slowly letting her out vs dropping her) and she felt great. We even added a tiny bit of reinback. Which, she fights at first, but then once her feet get moving, she's good. And we finished with a few steps of shoulder in sitting trot left. And she was lovely!

 

So then we got a cookie and took a cool down hack around ptyeradactyl lake. Good pony! After she got a rinse and she was thirsty... she was lapping the hose water like a dog. Hee hee. Sadly I had left my phone at the trailer so I didn't get a funny video. Girl, if you would just drink from a bucket it would be so much easier!

 

So yay! I'm glad that we're back to our normal. Still feral, but not combative. And I'm definitely not as hormonal today so I'm sure that played a huge role!

 

Payback's a witch!

 Dang Funny!! You hold a grudge! Sigh.... Or maybe it was my energy?? Today was not a good day. I'm tired, cranky, pms-ing, burnt out and just... cranky. And maybe I wasn't too bad but then while I was tacking up Liz called and... she just irritated me. I'm sure it's more to do with being pms-y as she didn't do anything wrong. She was just asking me if we were jumping or flatting and then when I said I wanted to flat because I was tired and didn't get a chance to set up jumps because of the tractor guy yesterday coming late and staying to try and fix the spreader and then running out of daylight... and that after our last cavaletti lesson and being a little cranky about it... I felt like a flat lesson was better. Then she asked about the cavaletti lesson and I felt bad because I said "I thought I told you already"... which, is probably a trigger for Liz. But then I had to tell her again and... it just came out like it was an awful ride and it wasn't, but... for whatever reason all that just irritated me. And the whole having to have a long drawn out discussion that... really, ultimately, doesn't matter... while I'm trying to tack up. It's just... I'm tired of multi-tasking I guess. Just please let me tack up my horse and be present with her instead of not being able to pay attention! So that put me in a slightly more off mood than I already was. And again, TOTALLY nothing Liz did.. .just my mental state at this time is so easily tipped into cranky. 

Anyways... I finished and got on and hacked Funny up to the arena. Then I hopped off to move some of the poles out of the way. And Liz got there and when she walked up Funny gave her the stink eye. Liz was like "um.... Funny's in a mood today"! Great... me too! Doh! We chatted briefly and Liz decided that she needed to walk with Funny and help diffuse her energy before we even started. Yes please! And that helped. But... Funny was in a mood. I think she was still pissed off about Tuesday and made me pay for that! But it could have easily have been my energy was rubbing off on her. Or both. So.. it wasn't a great ride to be honest. I wanted to cry. Heck, I kind of did cry. But that was more hormonal. 

We started off at the walk and Funny was immediately braced and quick. And wanting to lean into my left leg and counter bend. So we worked through that. I had to go through my checklist... is my head facing straight/to the outside? Is my chin soft and not locked? Am I tight in my shoulders? Am I locking my elbows? Am I tight in my core/hips and blocking her or swinging with her? Am I pinching with my knees or thighs? If all those check out... then it's on her, not me. And by softening my chest the tiniest bit, she softened. Then I could lengthen the reins a teeny bit and she relaxed. Phew.. okay. So then we stopped and let her process. Then we started again, and had to go through the checklist again. And then I had to wait it out. I had to give her time to go through her checklist. And when she was throwing her inside barrel at me and ignoring my leg, or... fighting my leg - kicking out, bracing, coming at me ready to fight.... I had to find a way to diffuse her. Because continuing to ask with my leg wasn't getting us anywhere. So I tried haunches out.. nope, then she started slinging her body around. Okay... so then I remembered... overbend to the inside to a smaller circle. And that worked. She had to bend around my leg but I didn't have to use my leg to get it, so we sort of avoided the fight over my leg that way. So then at this point, Liz was like... let's go straight to canter. Once you get a nice walk (without being nitpicky or drilling for it..) ask for the canter but ask for it in the nice polite way we've been working on. So, okay.. I tried. It took another minute but we got a nice walk so I tried to ask for a canter in the softest way possible and she flung into it and was wild. Sigh... I of course immediately tipped forward. But Liz talked me down and I was able to sit back "behind the motion" (which isn't the case, but.. behind her energy) and she settled. I had to do one rein half halts and give with the other rein. I had to sit and keep my core up but not tight. And then we finally got a decent canter for a bit and then I asked for a nice downward and we got it. The trot was okay but once we got a step or two of softening, I asked for the walk and then the halt and let her process. And then repeat. Except every time we picked her back up, she escalated with her antics. At one point she reverted back to her crow hopping, bucking/rearing thing... she was kicking out. She was flinging body parts in every direction. I was trying VERY hard to not get mad. Because I was getting super frustrated and annoyed but... Liz kept me calm and I just sat quiet and did my checklist and she would eventually settle into a walk and then to the canter and then the canter would settle a bit and we'd stop and reward. Basically the whole lesson was reward the soften and relaxation. But good gravy it was hard. I wanted to just get after her for being so ridiculous. Because she was being naughty. Even Liz said that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I wasn't trapping her.. I wasn't closing all the doors. I just... needed to wait it out and not fight her. But man that's hard! 

The good news is that although she escalated her threats every time we picked her back up, she came back to me much quicker each time. We finally ended with a fairly good and quick turn around and finally got a decent trot after the canter for a few steps and then walk. We let her process and then Liz asked if I wanted to be done. I was like... "no.. not really, but it's probably the right choice". So.. she said "okay, she's gonna pick another fight, but let's do it and go to the trot instead of canter" and so that's what we did. She picked up the canter but then quickly came down to the trot but then I pitched forward and the trot was quick and rushed and awful. So we came down to the walk and Liz called me out. She said that one was on me! It was not Funny being bad but her following my body and then she was frustrated with me. Sigh... but it was good to realize that when things get rough, that's my body muscle memory. So we tried again and I stayed behind the energy and it was so much better. We did it once more and then we decided we were done. We made her sit and process until she took a breath. Which took a hot minute! Then Liz wanted to do something different. She wanted me to walk to the end of the arena and leave on a nice calm relaxed note to really hone in on the lesson today. So she figured she'd walk with us to help ease the tension. So we started off and Funny was actually really good. She didn't immediately get combative even though I picked up the reins. We got a nice walk for a few steps and then I slowly let her out to a stretchy walk and we got to the arena gate and halted. Liz told me to make her stand there until she breathed. She could wiggle and fidget but she had to take a breath before she was done. She really wanted todays lesson to be "You can get fired up, but once you're breathing and thinking and soft, you get rewarded... and when you're soft and relaxed, that's your happy place.. your safe place". Oh, and I was scratching her neck when she was releasing and breathing, so that in the future, when she's tense but starting to breathe and I can't do a free walk because I'm in the middle of a test or a jump round, I can scratch her neck as a relaxation signal. Kind of like Pavlovs dogs in a way. Anyways... she stood there for a solid ten minutes before she finally relaxed. She never took a deep breath but she got soft and relaxed and cocked a leg and almost took a nap. So I scratched her wither and got off and then we walked home. 

 

Phew! Not a fun ride at all. And I felt like we barely did any work. And we probably only got about 10 steps of good work today. BUT... I do think it was a mental win. I think it was a win in the submission part. Without having to exhaust her or fight with her. I mean.. it was a fight, but not on my part. I stayed fairly neutral. (only thanks to Liz.. cause I hate to admit it.. I don't think i could have had she not been there). And hopefully Funny will start to realize that we're a team and she doesn't have to fight me. And that we can do fun things when we're relaxed and calm and that being relaxed and calm is a good place to be. 

Sigh... hopefully tomorrow we'll just do a nice hack and then maybe, I can get in a more calm and happy arena ride before we go XC schooling on Tuesday. We'll see. Liz did make me feel better because she said that this grit that Funny has is what makes her an upper level horse. And we don't want to squealch it. But dang.. I gotta be able to survive it. So yeah.. I did cry a little. Because damn girl... way to make me get so frustrated and annoyed and then sad that I wouldn't have been able to ride neutrally without a third party present, which made me sad and cry a little.. and then I was just sad because... I don't know.. hormones!?? Ugh. But I managed to pull myself together and didn't cry on the walk home. Maybe because I was processing as much as she was. I really think we're alike. We're both so gung ho and full speed ahead and neither of us can get off the hamster wheel long enough to breathe. And we both want to do all the things and be the best at all the things. And honestly... I was annoyed that Liz kept making us take breaks.. and talk it through.. and wait and let her process. I wanted to do the thing and move on to the next thing. Ugh... But that's not good. And it's not good for Funny. Just as much as Funny needs to learn to breathe and balance and not rush through... so do I. In fact, I probably need to learn that way more than Funny does. She used to be the one to try to get me to stop and smell the roses... and now I've made her into this overachieving feral beast just like me. Maybe that's why I was crying and sad. Ugh... freakin' hormones are awful man!! But maybe this will be helpful. I'm sure it will. I'm going to have to ruminate on this more. 

We did have some snuggles in the field later when I went back out for Lyric. And I did shockwave her stifles tonight. Which made her mad too, but she only made faces and didn't threaten so that's good. And then she licked and chewed, so hopefully that helped her feel better too. 

We MISSED Aunty Jacel!

 Oh fun day!!!

 

Jacel is back and teachiing (limited) and we were able to sneak in for a lesson today! She's teaching at Barbara's because it's only 15 minutes from her house and the kids school. Ashland is over an hour for her. But that works great for me because Barbara's is only 30 minutes from me too! Just the opposite direction from Ashland. And Barbara is so sweet. So I jumped at the chance!

 

And.. side note... the timing is kind of falling into place! I was supposed to have the saddle fitter today but she tried to come last night instead, but then I got stuck longer at work so instead of today, she asked about Saturday. Which, great! Because that meant I could lesson today with Jacel. And then Liz and I are doing Friday. And then next Tuesday I'm going to XC school and Jacel is teaching at Barbara's, but when i mentioned being sad about missing it, she told me she could teach me Friday next week instead. Which is perfect because I have Patrick in the morning and then Liz is out of town. So sweet! And then I have the show the next day. And then I can go back to Tuesdays with Jacel and Fridays with Liz and just play around with things. Liz probably can't do every Friday and in the summer, she's not going to be able to do all three. So I'll rotate through. But anyways.. things seem to be falling into place! Now I just have to see about getting in a lesson at Linda's for the obstacles with Dan, which was supposed to be Saturday but I can probably bump that up a bit. And then figure out getting Dan's saddle! Because that's going to be a big priority!

 

Anyways... we hauled to Barbaras and it was so good to see Jacel and give her a big ol' hug! Oh how I've missed her. Funny did too I think! She was finishing up teaching Barbara so I helped set up some poles and cavalettis. (Side note, those correct connect pylon things are awesome!). Then I tacked up and then Jacel got Smarty tacked up and we walked around the arena a bit chatting and catching up. Then we trotted and cantered and then she put us to work!

It was a perfect exercise and exactly what we needed. Not super fun, ha! Because it was hard. BUT soooo productive and really what we needed. She had set up a set of three trot poles at noon, a cavaletti jump with placing poles at 3 pm and 9 pm, and a small flower box pole at 6 pm. Then across the diagonals she had one line of a single pole to two cavalettis and then a single pole to a single cavaletti. The plan was to start over the trot poles, then canter the diagonal line, then trot the flower box, then canter the diaonal line and continue on multiple times. And oh my! Funny was pumped! She was charging everything and wouldn't hardly trot. It took multiple trips but essentially she did become much more riable by the end. It meant I had to ride her body. I had to steer and ride the inside bend and use my outside reins and outside aids and my seat aids and my leg aids, and lastly.. my rein aids. I had to ask for downwards with my thighs (without pinching with my knees, which is really hard) and one rein half halts (not just hanging on her face). I had to "get in and get out". Jacel explained that if we just nagged them the entire time, they tuned us out and never relaxed. If we insisted on the downward, and then relaxed and softened, we started to teach them to relax and soften. Ooof... okay... if you say so! Ha ha. But it did work. Not at first. At first iti was ugly. They were rushing, inverted, mad, fighting us, etc. And then Funny starting flinging body parts at me and I just... gave up. Like... I didn't fight her on it but I also just became passive. It was almost like sensory overload... too many body parts and I knew if I tried to correct them all, she would feel trapped and explode and richochet back around and over-correct. Fine... except... I still had to ride. When I ignored her flailings, I also quit riding and... then nothing happened. So instead, I had to ignore the flailings and just.... keep riding and keep asking for the task at hand. One step at a time. Build it and they will come! AHHHHH... I JUST put that together right now! Ha. I'll have to tell Liz. :) Anyways... focus on the task at hand, ignore the theatricis, and continue with the job. If I do my part, she'll do hers. Aha... and sure enough.. when I wasn't fighting, but was still "there" and asking her to "come her with me"... she did. It got better. Still not great, but... actually... it kinda was great. She started to come back down to the trot off my seat and leg aids (admittedly I still had to use my hands, but at least it was a one rein half halt vs a "whoa dammit" teeth flossing). And then she was more balanced in her canter. It got quick and there plenty of moments that got wildy and wooly again! But overall, she was more ridable!

Then we did the outer circle... trot to canter to trot to canter. And that was hard too. But again, when I rode off my thighs, one rein half halts, and asked kindly until I got a response, it worked! I did have one moment of an argument. She was ignoring me so I really asked hard! And probably didn't leave an out for her... I shut all the doors. And she stopped and then reared straight up and almost tipped backwards. I guess I probably held too long... but she caught us and then she and I both apologized for being dramatic and we carried on and we were both much more respectful of each other. :) 

So yay! Super fun and super educational. And I worked on my low hands. And we had some really nice work. After that Jacel had to ride Finn, so she couldn't join me, but I took Funny out to Barbara's XC field and walked around in the field and woods for a bit. She was brave!

Then she got a rinse and stood tied to the trailer munching hay for a few minutes while I chatted. Then home we went! Good girl!

Quick fitness

 quick hack. no rain :) But like a jungle out there

hacked... hills... trot and canter... then ditches, banks and water and water banks. jumped about 3 or 4. low hands holly. argh. good pony though

photos: quick fitness

Easter Bunny

 Saw two bunnies

lesson with liz. worked on one rein stop

photos: one rein, funny bunny, feel better

Powerhouse!

 Funny got her teeth done this morning. She was a good girl and there wasn't anything major. I let them all recover and then later, we went for a ride. I even asked Diane, and she said it was fine. :) I took Dan to Ashland so the girls got ridden at home. 

 

Funny was a good girl. She was a bit more powerful today! A hair quicker but it didn't feel as quick and unbalanced as it used too.. it felt more powerful today. Still too quick, but much more balanced. And she did listen and slow her roll a bit. We had a short but good ride. We played with the serpentine again and then played with the western dressage test. Her leg yields to the right were bad... she was inverting and bracing and twisting her head. I'm not sure what I was doing to make that happen/allow it, but.. the left ones were lovely. And we got some good ones to the right too. We did a fair amount of cantering today and the canter was lovely! We also worked on our walk. 

 

It was a good fun ride. She got a nice rinse after because gracious it's hot. At least we had a nice breeze and some pretty clouds. 

 

Fun Hack

 Fun hack.

rotten mood this am, but got better. good canter is good for the soul

met kelli and did a walk hack around the lake, but the longer path. funny snacked. saw a nice cute little black snake. 

then left kelli at the top of XC and did a loop of trotting and cantering. ahhhhh. much better. almost came off at the head of the lake though, came around the turn at a power trot and hit the corner and the ptyerdactyl swooped off and she spun hard left. luckily she didn't keep spinning and caught me and stopped and i stayed on. good girl! Much better than when she used to try to launch me. :) 

lots of fun

photos: 3-26 fun hack

Growing up!!

 Oh my goodness! What a great day!

 

Funny and I showed at High Points Combined Test today. We showed in the Novice CT and then did a Training 3 test. I didn't get there quite as early as I had wanted but it worked out pretty well for our warm up. She was really quite good and she settled quickly. She wasn't rushed and her balance felt so much better. However she was a bit stiff and distracted. I did all the things Liz had taught me and she got much better in the warm up. We leg yielded and did serpentines and circles and spiraled and even did our T-3 test manuevers to warm up. And then it was our turn. I was able to ride a little bit in the top third of the arena which I think helped a lot. So we did our test. And she was sooooo good! She was soft and quiet and slow(ish) and more balanced. The only thing we lacked was a more steady connection and she was a little distracted and was looking around. But I was so proud. And our stretchy work was great. Her walk was even lovely.. not lateral! YAY! We ended up scoring a 31.3!!! Our best score yet! AND.. she got a TEN ON HER STRETCHY TROT!!! Whoo hooo!! 

We had a little break before our next test so we watched a few of our friends and she snacked on the clover. She was pretty chill and relaxed! Then we got tacked up to jump. We warmed up in the dressage arena again and she got a little fired up with the cantering. I did get two changes on command across the diagonal as we were warming up. :) Probably not dressage changes, but still. They didn't have any warm up jumps, so once they got the jumps set up for me, they let me in and I got to jump the two jumps on course that were the designated warm up jumps. She jumped them both nicely, so .... we just decided we were fine to do our course. And she was great! Quick, but very good. Except we took out a stride in the last line coming home and instead of balancing her, I sort of sent her and she took down the rail. Cindy was the jump judge and told me that my hands were too high. DANGIT! I forgot about that. It's been too long since I have had a lesson. Oh well. I was proud of her! Jessica told me that she was a better jumper than Dan. I know! But... shhhh, don't be talking smack about Dan! Ha! So we ended up winning our division, as we were the only ones in it ;) But I did get my ribbon, "So we could go home, because if you're not first you're last!" ha ha. I texted Mike our ribbon photo and my ETA when we headed home and he replied "I see blue, good, you can come home"! Ha ha... 

So then I had more time than I thought before our final test, but I also figured she might be riled up after jumping. I was sort of thinking it would help me out, but in retrospect, it didn't. She was amped and then she was expecting XC. BUT... she did settle better than I expected in warm up. Much better. And Liz and Grace showed up! YAY!!! She helped me a bit and then we headed down to the arena. Unfortunately I couldn't warm up because it was full sized and I didn't realize that the girl before me hadn't even started her test. So we just stood there and chilled. Which... didn't work in my favor. Once we went in, she was fired up and threatening to canter and getting all tense and balled up. I tried to do all the things. She was spooking at the rails on the side of the arena too. I managed to get her somewhat settled but certainly no where near where I wanted her. Sadly the judge rang the bell and we had to start. Ugh. Oh well. I tried to make the best of it. And, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. There were moments that were naughty but they were only moments. She tried hard! She came back to me a few times and settled much quicker after each tense/tight/rowdy moment. And we had some nice work too. Our stretchy trot was not nearly as good this time. I let her out too quick and then brought her back too late. But we still scored an 8. I was disappointed, because... I wanted to show off how nicely we had gotten our serpentines in our lesson and warm up. Just.. because she's nice. And she deserves to have people know she's nice. But Liz reminded me that there was still a lot to be proud of. And that she had womaned up because she was struggling with those things yet she tried and did well. And she's not wrong! I just got greedy. And got focused more on the score and performance instead of the progress. Liz videoed and we watched it together and it actually was a pretty decent test afterall. And, turns out... we ended up with a 65% which put us 2nd of 4. Well... that's not shabby at all. :) 

She hung out patiently and then we loaded up to go home. Poor girl still won't drink out of the buckets. Maybe I need to try a bigger bucket. She did drink a good bit when we got home. Oh, and she was so sweet when a friend came up to see her. She was snuggling with her. And then when I came back from walking away for something, she nickered at me. Awwww, I love you too baby girl. Although, she was making faces in warm up when it got too busy, just like Dan. Ha ha. Well, not just like Dan. She wasn't as nearly as bad as him. No shenanigans, just... snarky faces at some of the horses. Hee hee. 

 

I'm so proud of her. She's really acting so grown up. She gets the job. She's trying. She's doing well. And we're having fun!!! But I think she was tired! When I went to grab Dan for a ride about 1 hr after we got home, she was standing in the shade under the tree just resting. Sleep well tonight baby girl!

Much Improved!

 Today was our Liz lesson. Yay!! It's been too long. I've forgotten some things and it's so much easier when Liz is there to remind me. 

Funny was a bit feisty and naughty today too. We started out okay but then as the rides went on, she got more animated. But we worked through it and came out better. 

We started off walking around and I was telling Liz our struggles with the test. She wanted me to trot through it for our warm up so she could visualize it. Which, was a good plan, but I rode awful because I was just riding the pattern vs riding my horse. So our warm up was way too fast, way too hollow, and just.. not great. So then we had to sit there for a minute and fix the trot. I had to make sure my feet weren't behind me (which I think is possibly because I'm moving my saddle slightly farther back and it's now sitting a little downhill, which is pushing me a bit forward with my feet out behind me), my sternum and pelvis were rotated up and forward, my hands were wide, and my chin was up and pointed slightly outside (which is actually straight) and that I wasn't trying to catch up to Funny. And it works. It works so well. I almost have to get "behind the motion" again, but it's the only way that keeps me from actually  being ahead of the motion. 

So once we got a somewhat decent trot we tried our serpentine. Sooo bad! Ha! Liz gave me some big pointers and we ended up with some amazingly lovely serpentines! Mostly.. just better preparation. But going into the corners, if I almost counterflex for one step, then it straightens her and then I can ride her into my corners and ask for bend. And I do need to ask for bend. Then ride her through the turn in the corner and ask for bend. Then once I come out step to the new outside and ask for the other bend. Once I get the other bend, then go straight for a step or two, step to the new outside and ask for the original bend again. Then counterflex slightly before we go into the corner, and then step outside and inside bend and just flow through the corner. It wasn't pretty a good chunk of the time but there were a few passes that were sooo lovely! I had to keep it slow. Slow it down tracking right and slow it down even more tracking left. That's how she balances! And watching video.. it's not too slow or too small! Yay! We did it both directions with some breaks. 

Then we went to canter. And Funny knew it was time and got all nutted up. And at one point she kicked out at my inside (left) leg. Liz pointed out that it was because I trapper her. I have to remember to give her an out somewhere. Soften that inside rein... Open the inside rein. Give her space because otherwise, she'll kick out and get mad. Ahhhh... that makes a lot of sense. And it's usually the left hind kicking out I think, but I think that's because it's usually her falling onto my left leg, so I end up crossing my left hand, squeezing hard with my left leg, blocking the right shoulder and then holding the outside rein and she has nowhere to go! So.. noted! So we managed to get a nice walk. But instead of panicking and resorting to the above... I have to go to my happy place. Build it, and she will come. Slow my post... sit behind the motion, make sure my head is straight and slightly outside, lift my inside shoulder, keep my hands wide... and then she takes a breath and slows and settles. Ahhhh.. Just give it time Holly. Don't fight her! You'll lose. ;) And if she really starts throwing her barrel at my left leg... resist the urge.. and instead spiral her in. Almost think shoulder in, haunches in, and halfpass in. That makes her have to step up and onto her right front and squares her up. And when she's square, she can then go straight, and when she can go straight, she can slow down and balance. 

So we took the time to get a good walk, then we got a good trot, and then we fixed our fast trot, and went back to the good trot, and then we did our serpentines. They unraveled a little bit but I managed to get them back mostly. Then we cantered. Liz told me in the test... don't stress so much about the canter depart as much as the trot before the canter. Aim for picking up the canter right at C and A (vs in the corner) because that gives me a better chance of getting in while we're bending to the inside and it gives me time to get her soft and breathing before I ask. And if she's not soft and breathing, don't ask. So we managed to get some good transitions into the canter and then the canter was better to start. And she corrects nicely in the circles, so... if I can maintain the energy and not let it escape out in front of me, by holding it with my chest and core and position, then it's better. We did the right lead first and worked on our downwards not on the diagonal. I can do those fairly decently. But when we went the other way... we had to start all over again with the calming because she got all worked up and angsty and naughty. Even Liz admitted she was being naughty. So at one point, she told me to take a firm contact and make her carry herself within it. And... she did. She settled and while it was still too powerful and big of a trot, she balanced better in it and softened. So then we decided that it was just pushing her buttons and we would just get a nice trot and then canter vs doing the whole serpentine. So we got a nice canter and the first time we came across the diagonal.. I rode it so nicely in the turns and then kept it in the corner, and then I just didn't let it get slightly bigger for a step or two coming out of the turn and she broke super early. I rolled with it and we got a nice trot after and carried on. The second time we got a nice trot and then a nice canter and I allowed her to get a hair bigger coming out of the turn and then sat up, "dribbled" a bit, and lifted my hands a bit and closed my thighs and we got a nice downward. Yay! And the trot was lovely. So Liz told me to immediately go into a stretchy trot and then walk and reward her. She said that when she does something really good, reward her with a proper stretchy trot and then get the walk and halt to process. That will help teach her that the stretchy trot feels good and is a good reward too. Yay!!

So... while she is still Funny... she was super lovely today too. Especially compared to what we had at Ashland the other day. She got super soft and floaty and even seeking contact and just flowed through that test. Or at least bits and pieces. I'm not sure if it'll be better to do it all at once because she won't get mad by the starting and stopping, or if it'll just escalate very quickly and not come down. hee hee. But I'm so proud of her. She gave me some really lovely work today. And Liz said that this test was kind of perfect timing because it was exposing our holes and letting us know what to focus on but... it also was very helpful work focusing on those things. And while most people choose a test that they can nail... ha! Then there's me... overachieving. But I'm not going to win.. I'm just going to get some practice and play with things and see if we can get used to performing again under pressure. So.. we'll see. :) 

I ended up giving her a quick rinse but then she immediately rolled. Of course! So later, after all my lessons and after I got my flat horse trailer tire fixed... I gave her a bath. And then, decided I might as well shockwave her stifles as I've been thinking about doing it and I was getting the machine out for the other two... so I shockwaved both stifles. I did rinse the goop off, I thought, but we'll see what she looks like in the morning. My novice a test is at 10 am, then I jump at 12. And then we do T-3 at 1:11. So hopefully she'll be a bit more tired and less rowdy for the T-3 test. :)