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.
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