Valuable lesson

 Today was Liz lesson day. I always love my Liz lessons. Today was no exception. Luckily the weather cooperated! It was raining when I woke up but the radar looked like that was the end of it and it was going to be south of us... so we went for it. And we got lucky. The skies cleared and it wasn't too terribly hot!

We were chatting and walking around and Funny was so calm and chill. Even when Grace started to chase a deer and had to get recalled. Impressive, by the way. We were talking about how she was such a different horse than she used to be. Her energy was calmer.. she wasn't buzzing so much... on edge. I said she wasn't as combative feeling anymore either too... then wondered if I was going to regret saying that. Ha ha.. .Kind of. ;) 

Anyways.. we were talking about how my trot walk trot transitions sucked and I couldn't figure out how to make them better. We decided that since we had nothing coming up, we'd address it. And Liz did warn me it wasn't going to be easy.. or fun... or feel pretty. I know, I know. I did tell her that I thought that this might be what differentiated the professionals from the amateurs. Me, as an amateur, was tempted to gloss over it... make it passable... but as a professional, those people would have fixed that hole in the training. Sigh... But I do want to do it right. And Liz said that because Funny is an upper level horse, we really needed to take the time to do it. I know.. I know. So we did. 

We worked on the walk. And it got ugly. Once Funny realized we were "doing things" vs just ambling around... she got animated and then started to want to do things. And man... once she starts getting amped up, I get tight in my core. Which makes her mad! And naughty. And I know... I knew this... so I was trying hard to keep my hips swinging. But it's such a subtle tension that she feels. It was hard not to do it. Liz said that at this point, she thinks Funny takes it as a punishment vs me just trying to not get dumped. So... I have to be very cognizant and get this undone. So we started on the buckle and did the slow picking up of the reins. Then she was okay until a certain point and then she would start to get crooked or tense or jiggy and I would get tight and then it would escalate. So... I kept my hips swinging... I kept my hands wide. And I just... waited. And once my hips got moving, she would settle. So then we went to the trot. She was very crooked today and wanting to fall in, so I had to be very tactful in getting a nice bend. What did help was some counter bend first, then true bend. But also, more importantly, a nice outside connection and then a soft inside rein pulling back and out. Not diagonally across her neck. Not up. Just.. back towards my knee. So when we went for the trot, Liz had me do a slight counterflex and then as I was allowing the bend to come back to the inside, ask for the trot very delicately. Because I don't need to scream at her. And it worked. We got some really nice upward transitions. The trick is balancing getting her set up for success and then letting her trot quick enough before she gets pissed and falls out of the good step. I overshot it both directions multiple times, but I also started to get the hang of it. Don't wait for perfect, but still try to set her up for success. 

Once we started trotting she got a bit more fussy and mad when we asked her to come back to walk. But that's what we were working on today.. not the trot. The transitions. Liz pointed out that I really really had to focus on keeping my hips/pelvis/core moving. Exaggerate the swing if need be, but me getting tight was shutting Funny down. Even if I had wide hands... I was blocking her energy and she was MAD about it. And then, I needed to reward her for the downward and then wait for her to actually trot before I asked for walk again. When she would start jigging or be about to go into the trot, I would get tight or half halt or halt and... I wasn't giving her the full chance to make the mistake. So it became preventive instead of reactive. Which... did not bode well with Funny. Yes.. she's anticipating.. and no, we couldn't get more than a few steps of walk. But trying to shut it down before she committed to the trot wasn't working. So I let her. I let her jig it out.. do all sorts of evasions... but I only reacted if she trotted. And I just asked her quietly to walk again. And eventually, after she threw all the things at me, she acquiesced and walked politely. And if I kept my hips swinging, the walk suddenly became an 8+ walk! It only took the majority of the lesson, ha ha.. and I'm sure we'll have to go through this multiple more rides. But.. it's an important hole we had to fix. 

After we got a decent walk we went back to trot and got some really fancy trot! Like.. super nice. Whoo hoo! Then we went ahead and cantered to reward her and got a lovely canter too. I had to be careful to ask very specifically for the upwards and very specifically for the downwards, but they were lovely. It was so cool how the walk work totally fixed the trot and canter without even working on the trot and canter!! Liz did remind me not to do the walk trot transition work AFTER we canter.. because that's just rude. And would not end well. Oh, I know... ha ha.. don't ask me how I know, because I don't want to admit that my dumb self didn't realize how tough that would be and tried to do it yesterday. ha ha. 

We quit with that because we had a lovely canter and she actually got nice and rocked back for a few steps and then heard my half halt from my core and trotted. Which... is so much pressure on me! Like... she's so responsive to my aids, but it's hard to find that delicate balance of tightening my core to shorten her/compress her but not shut her down and keeping my hips moving to keep her from getting angry but not letting her get big. Soooo hard! Oh, and I think that's why she swung her hips in at the last dressage test. Because when I got my downwards I had to ask hard and I bet I shut my core down and then her energy had no where to go but sideways. Sigh... Okay.. we'll keep practicing. We'll get it. 

Oh, and at one point... She was being naughty and frustrating and throwing all sorts of evasions at me and Liz reminded me how frustrating this was.. and it was just going to take time... and, and, and... And then we got a good transition and a good walk and then Jean came around the corner so Funny had to stop and look. So we stopped and I gave her a break and Liz and I were talking about how it was frustrating and she was like "I know you want to kill her right now". And I laughed. I mean... it is what it is. I appreciate this fire about her. But once I laughed... my body changed. And then we picked her back up and while she was still naughty, I was sort of giggling at her and it got better much quicker. Liz told me that I used to laugh off Dan's antics, and he was often way worse than her. And perhaps I needed to laugh off some of Funny's antics. I was holding her to a much higher standard at a younger age than I did Dan. And... that's kind of not fair. Ooof. She's not wrong. And to give myself grace... Dan's antics always felt like he was just bored.. not calculated! Funny feels calculating at times and.. much more dangerous. And more personal. So, I think it's somewhat acceptable that I'm not laughing it off. But, that was then. She's not that bad anymore. We're a team now. And so.. I'm going to try to laugh it off more. And see if that helps. Because I do love this mare and appreciate all she has to offer me and teach me. And I want her to enjoy her job! 

I slowly picked the contact back up and then slowly let it down on our way to the gate and then we headed home. She got cookies and a quick rinse and then I had to go get another mammogram. Good pony!