Oh how I love this mare!!!
Anwyays, we went for our lesson right after lunch. It was a Barbara's again. It was just me and Funny as Laura was having a flat lesson after. Luckily the weather cooperated a little and we had some cloud coverage and a great breeze out there. We warmed up and Funny was not wanting to bend to the right. At all... and when she finally did, she would drift hard left. Ugh. She was slower and softer though... Jacel yelled to me "MOVE YOUR RIGHT SHOULDER BACK"!! Ugh. It's so hard. She throws me so sideways. Maybe... maybe it's not her though. I really need to see the chiropractor! I did try to make an appointment today but it's gonna be two weeks before they can see me. Ugh. Oh well. Once I moved my right shoulder back though, she was much more bendy and correct. She still drifted a little, but.. not as bad. Especially when I put my outside leg back to bring her butt back in.
So then we chatted a bit and then I cantered. She was bouncy but not terrible. We had been talking about me offering to ride Drago for Jacel since she said she can't fall off and get hurt because of Grace. And I laughed and said that perhaps I'd be better off riding Drago because Funny was still such a sassy pants! ha ha.
So then we started to jump. Jacel had set up three fences on a curve. A vertical, 3 strides to a small vertical then four strides to a bigger vertical. No ground lines. Then farther down the arena was a small cavaletti bounce and then farther down the arena a large square oxer. We started with the three jumps on the bend. And it wasn't great. But I was not riding her on the turn... Stop using my hands.. keep my hands low... turn her with my shoulder! So I did.. but left out my inside leg, so she fell in a bit. So we did it again with inside leg and it was so much better! I was sitting too quick though and she had a few rails with her hind end.
So then we moved onto the bounce and she told me to let her mess it up! Don't micromanage and nit pick and never let her learn. Plus, when I hold her and pick... she gets mad and fights me. If I let her make a mistake, she doesn't get mad at me for it and learns from it. But if she's too busy fighting me, she's not learning. So I half halted a few strides out and then set my hands low on her neck and just sat there... and darned if she didn't self correct and bounce through it nicely. Okay then... So then we added the oxer.
And then.. we finished with the three jumps on the curve, then bend to the bounce, then bend to the oxer. It was basically a repetitive figure 8/triple bubble and all the jumps were off a bend. And it was really quite nice! I had figured out how to not touch her face, and you know... I didn't need to! She was riding off my shoulders and my inside leg. And it was amazing!! When I kept my hands low, kept my inside leg on, stepped into my outside stirrup, stayed back with my shoulders, kept my butt out of the saddle til after landing, and turned with my shoulders... she didn't need the rein aids! She was riding off my body position. IT WAS SO COOL!!! It felt like I could have ridden her bridleless! SO NEAT! And there was one moment where she got a little tipped on the forehand, so I did the softest halfhalt and she came right back. Oh how glorious! If I stay out of her way and don't "scream" at her... and just whisper with my body... she doesn't fight me and we can be super soft together. And she jumps so nice!
Such a fun lesson. That was super cool. It really feels like all the hard work is finally paying off. It feels like Funny knows I'm her person and she trusts me and is working WITH me, provided I follow the rules. But fair... I mean... that's a good relationship to have. And she's still sassy enough.. but not naughty anymore. SO MUCH FUN!
And then tonight when I fed dinner I notieed she was missing her hind shoe. FUNNY!! We literally just got that put on this morning! And we're showing Sunday, and probably have to leave at 5 am Sunday. Ugh. I felt so bad but I texted Patrick at 8 pm. He's amazing. He's coming tomorrow morning to put it back on. Gah... But at least I found it. He asked if I had it and I told him I was about to go look... in the rain! (Drizzle.. ha ha.. it was just drizzling at this point). And I found it... I pretty much walked straight out to the hay feeder and there it was. I sent him a photo and he laughed and said I was incredibly talented at finding lost shoes. Ha ha. It's my super power ;)
So yay.. horse show still on! There's only 3 people in my division. It's such a small show. I'm guessing partly because of the storms for the weekend and mostly because it hasn't rained enough that the footing there is probably pretty hard. I didn't think about that until today. Ugh... Well... hopefully they got rain today (and tomorrow) too and the footing will be better!
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