I'm so glad we signed up for another Cavaletti clinic with Beth. And so glad it didn't get cancelled because of this stupid heat wave. But it was HOT. And HUMID! Ugh. My group was starting at 8 am, so that meant I got up at 5:45, fed ponies, left my house at 6:30 and got to High Point by 7:30. We had a great sunrise too! And of course I was a hair late and had to get gas, so it was like... 7:45 when we pulled in. But it was still fine. I rode with Jamie and Kelda, which was fun. I got tacked up and we all got on and took a little walk around the property while we waited for the 7 am group to finish. Funny was super chill and relaxed....until she saw a cute palomino pony in the pasture. And then she got all silly! I don't know if she was scared of him... intrigued.... or what? But she got animated. Of course it was still nothing major. She just stopped and stared and got a tiny bit jiggy. But then we walked on and she was over it. Okay weirdo.. whatever. :) But I'm glad that's the worst of your behavior today. And it was!
We warmed up in the arena for a tiny bit, just trotting. Funny was very distracted and focusing on all the random things outside of the arena. There is a lot to look at there. And then Jessica was watering the lower arena so that was distracting too. But overall, other than being a swivel monkey head and a bit quick, she was good. No shenanigans. Just hollow. I got a few good moments though and she did get better as we finished our warm up.
Beth had a great exercise set up. It was zig zag poles... then a triangle with the point facing us, a few steps, then another triangle with the point facing away. Then in between that but perpendicular there was four poles with flowers in them. Short poles too... so like skinnies! And then on the backside there were three poles on an arc. She had us walk through the flowered poles first to make sure they didn't freak out. Surprisingly all of them were pretty darn good. So then we trotted through the flowered poles, turned left, came down the triangle line, then turned left and trotted the arc, which included the last triangle, and then went back over the flowered poles the other direction and repeated the exercise.
Funny was good but quick. As expected. So Beth had me get her back to a nice soft slow tempo and sitting and getting some lift. I'm really pleased because she told me that I could half halt to get my point across but that I could do a few things first. First step... Sit up and upright and lift my sternum. Don't perch. Don't tip forward. Step 2.... Keep my elbows heavy and at my side. Don't lock them, but... hold them. Set the boundary. Step 3.... wiggle my fingers to keep the big moving in her mouth and ask for half halts but don't hang. The wiggle is to keep us from hanging, but it's not a seesaw. She said that if I did that, I shouldn't need to really half halt loudly. And it worked! Granted, it started out much louder and firmer, but as we kept going, it got quieter and quieter and she got more and more responsive and better sit and lift.
We then added jumps on the non pointed side of the triangle. Low jumps. Like... cavaletti height jumps. So it was perfect. It was a great extension of my last lesson with Liz. And Funny was super! We kept doing all three steps and she got really lovely at the end. Granted, I had to increase my ask a bit when she first made them jumps, but then she quickly got the hang of it. She's so smart!
It was a blast. At the end Beth said that she was impressed with how far Funny has come and she is realizing how sensitive she is to my body and aids. So she liked the three step process for me. I told her about how Liz and I had been working on that and I was getting a bit ahead of her and she was trying to catch up to me, and then I was following her... but if I sat quiet and waited for her to lead... then it was better. Beth mentioned that she liked that but to make sure I don't think about "insisting" she goes here... and to instead think more of "inviting" her to come back to here. Yep! You're preaching the same sermon my friend! And it's working! Slowly... slower than I'd like... but probably because I'm slow at getting it.
So yep! It was a great learning day. And I was so proud of her for behaving so well and trying so hard to be good. We got some really nice moments and some of our half halts were nice soft and relaxed half halts and sometimes we even got lovely soft and through downwards! Sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident. And while it was soooo hot and sooooooo much more muggy.... we had plenty of breaks so the horses fared just fine. After we finished I hosed her off and then we hauled home with her fans on. Good pony!
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