Today was a good day!
I slept in. Which was great since I had an awful migraine and ended up taking two prescription pills last night... 10:45 pm and 12:45 pm! Ugh. And this was really my only day to sleep in. The ponies even let me. I still got up at 8:30, but... it was lovely because I actually woke up at 7:45 and just sat in my warm cozy bed til 8:30. After I fed ponies Mike and I went out for breakfast and ate at Betty Gene's in Madison. Then we stopped at TSC for cat food and I also got treats and tack cleaning spray. Because Jordan got in my head and my tack is getting all dry and icky, so... we'll see if I can at least wipe it down every ride. Then I did a load of laundry and then Mike suggested I go and ride. It was still a bit too chilly to go for an emoto ride, so we decided to maybe try and do that later. (And we did... when I got back from riding with Funny, we toured the back roads in Mansfield. It was fun! I got up to 57 mph very briefly! We rode long enough that my battery went for 100% down to 8%!)
I caught Funny and we headed to Ashland. I tacked her up in the dressage saddle and we headed out to the trails. We walked down to the lake, then crossed over raccoon loop, and then crossed the bridge and went up sideways for the hills. And then we headed up the backside of cross country and then back to the arena. It was a nice warm up with some hills for added benefit.
Then we did some dressage. She started out quite soft and lovely but then got quick as we went on. And there were people popping in and out of the woods and Davis drove by to get something from the shed, and Funny was super distracted! It was hard with the way the light was hitting and creating dapples to tell what was monster vs horse in the woods, but still. It was a little frustrating. I finally just gave up and let her stare til they all moved on and weren't scary anymore. We had some good work and some not so great work. She was a bit bracy again today. I really wish that other bit was legal because I think she likes it that tiny bit more. But maybe it's just me being more demanding. When I softened a tiny bit it got better. And we did have some lovely parts. We played with the test and did some of the movements. We practiced the stuff Linda had taught us. And I also practiced square immobile halts. Because I get what Linda was saying about "get out before she has a chance to move" but while I'm training at home... I should probably train for the immobile part. And she picked it up quickly. We got some straight lines into our halts.. we stayed on centerline (most of the time).. and we were fairly square and immobile. We also practiced our geometry and the stretchy walk and trot. And ugh... she gets 3/4 of the way in the stretchy walk and then wants to pop up. We finally got it all the way and I think I almost have to completely throw away the contact and then push for forward. But it may have just been she was ready to stretch longer that time? Or maybe it was coincidence or the fact that there wasn't anything worth looking at or distracting. I don't know. But I definitely need to work on that because she has SUCH a lovely free walk if she would maintain it! She's got march, she's got forward, she's got reach and she's got down and out! We do need to make sure we stay on our line though and stay straight so I practiced making sure we went past the letters a tiny bit before we started out diagonal and that helped. We also played with the stretchy trot and it got better too. I have to ride the bend with my body position and step into the outside stirrup and really make sure my upper body is telling her to bend but keep my head looking slightly to the outside. Our trot to walk to trot still sucks. We might have had one good one in the 12 we did, but the other 11 varied in okay to horrible. Especially because it's right after the canter. But if I close my thighs that helps. And if I think of the s turn and switching my stirrup step, that helps. And if she's small going into it, that helps.
We also played with some canter transitions, mostly because we did the whole canter to trot to walk to trot sequence repeatedly. But it was good for the canter transitions. When I pick up the canter in the first corner, I need to make sure I don't ride too deep into the second corner. Although on the one side, I think the arena rails got blown slightly amuck because I think I was going too deep because the first corner rail was set back a foot or two off the rail. I tried to ride the canter transitions as "And ... canter" but also "and... allow the canter" which helped. And her canter was LOVELY today! I rode the octagon shoulder turns and it helped. Our downwards I tried to do the ride uphill into a piaffy canter to downward and they were okay. It's slightly hard to make sure we finish our circle and get onto the straight line and don't fall out of the canter before then, but then I almost end up giving her too much go and we risk running past the area and into the corner and missing the transition area allowance. A delicate balance that is really on me and my timing and finessing of the aids.
We ran through the test a final time and it was actually quite nice! Like... okay.. that's where we should quit! I almost did a bit more, but was like ....nope. She did it well and now get out! So we did. We went back to the trails for a little more fitness and our "cool down". Except.. I had remembered that we needed to do the banks and ditches and water EVERY time I was at Ashland so we can ingrain it. So we headed to cross country. There was a group schooling but I was able to work around them. We trotted to the banks and then I walked her up the baby bank and then down it. And she was fine. And then we did it again. And then the next size up.. up and then down. And she was brave and actually trotted up to the down bank, so I let her. So then... I looked and the next two banks got big quickly, but the solo bank over by itself looked like it was a good medium sized one, so we headed over there. She went up it just fine. And then hesitated on the down. She didn't panic but she wasn't ready to go down it. So we circled around and came up it again. And then tried down. And she sat for a minute, but then she went. GOOD GIRL!! So then we came back again and she was brave and walked off and then we tried a third time and she picked up the trot on her own and dropped off. GOOD GIRL!!!
So then we headed over to the ditches and she walked over them very non-chalantly. Almost too non-chalantly as she pracically tripped in it. Ha ha. So then the group schooling XC had finished in the water so we went through the water at a trot twice and then walked up and down the two baby banks. And she was super brave and didn't even hesitate. And she was wanting to trot. So then we turned and did the bigger one with the lip (not the big log, but the lip) without going up it first, and she just trotted happily right off it. GOOD GIRL!!
So then we trotted around the field once and then cantered down to the water. And then we trotted across the dam and cantered a tiny bit more. Then I decided to trot the hay fields/gallop track and then walk home via the school house trails. But then I remembered the fallen tree! Oooooh, let's go see if it's still there. And it was!! So I couldn't resist. It was a single log without any debris or branches.. good footing before and after. And I didn't know if anyone was going to tell Lucy or Adam and how quickly they would cut it down... so I picked up the canter and we went for it. In the dressage saddle. She was sooo good! She took a flyer the first time so we had to do it again. We "had" to. Ha ha. She jumped it gorgeously the second time. Yay! Good girl. Then we walked the rest of the way home. When we got to the "Down Under" trail part I decided to take that so we went down the steep hill and she got squirrely and started to trot and just as I was saying "you're gonna make me fall off" as we were on the steep downhill when she picked up the trot, she spooked sideways at something. See!!! Except it was mild and I stayed on. Something caught my eye and it was a coyote! We had scared it and it jumped up and ran a ways off and then just watched us. Funny wasn't scared and we just looked back at it. And then we carried on. Neat!
No comments:
Post a Comment