Today was a darn good day. The weather was just about perfect! A bit chilly this morning but the sun was shining and warmed you up nicely. There was a lovely breeze for most of the first half of the day. And while it did get a hair toasty this early evening, it still was quite nice! And.. it's Tuesday, so... pony day! Lesson day!!
We had Liz this morning and I got on Funny first. She's got two nails that are basically loose and hanging by a thread on her left front but her shoe is still on pretty tight. But I figured I would ride her first in case she walked out of her shoe. (Fun fact, she still had her shoe on this evening, even though she lost the two nails)
We had a fabulous lesson!!! She was so good! Of course she loves Liz and Grace and their energy. But she was pretty flat footed when we started and our walk at the beginning was quite lovely. As we thought about trotting, it got a bit more tense, but it still was better than typical. Liz liked her in this bit too!
We did our usual ride pattern. Walk, rest, walk the other way, rest, process. Then walk nicely and trot, then rest, then walk nicely again before we trot the other way, then process. Then canter one way and process and then the other way and process. We try to get a good walk and trot first but we're a little more accepting of sass. And she was sassy! She was good until we talked about cantering and then when I picked her back up she was FULL of sass... slinging that head around, pinning her ears and snaking her head at Liz! She was giving Liz a piece of her mind! ha ha. Liz just laughed at her. I told LIz my feelings would be hurt! ha ha. But she settled fairly quickly and we were able to continue to the canter.
She felt sooooo good today. Overall, so much softer and quieter and more balanced. I had to make sure i was posting up and down and not front to back. I had to ride a bit of a leg yield into the outside rein to keep her bent and soft. And use the leg yield to create bend. Step into the outside stirrup to help balance her underneath me. Make sure I let go of the inside rein. But she is liking the outside rein contact. Sitting with my outside seat bone also helped. And make sure to ride with my elbows! Soft, following elbows. And slow my post... and sit the trot to help rebalance her. Or cheat and "pretend sit trot" as an aid to rebalance. It's like a body half halt, since I have to be so gentle on the reins.
But she was soooooo good. It was some of our best work and she was bouncy and soft and correct and bent and energetic and lofty!! YAY!!!
I'm so proud of her.. and me. For getting to where we're not fighting... I'm just patiently waiting and re-asking. And she's getting so much quicker about giving in. Good girl!
Then, later tonight, we headed to Barbara's for a lesson with Jacel. She was still sassy! It was a little bit hot when we started, but it cooled off decently shortly into our lesson. We started with some trot and she was quick and sassy but settled into a nice trot. Definitely not our dressage trot, but... she knew! We started with a grid and she and I got into a fight. So then I went back to riding her barrel. Which is hard when she's literally bouncing in place, because I assume that when I close one leg to ask for a yielding of her ribcage she will use it as an excuse to canter. And she did. But then she stopped using it as an excuse and started to soften her barrel, which made her much more ridable. Jacel kept saying that if I try to control her front and back, she fights me. And she wants to go front and back. So if I instead ride her side to side.. it breaks up the fight and she softens. And she's right. I was giggling because we were leg yielding two steps right, then two steps left, then two steps right, coming into a grid. I feel like people will think I'm drunk. But it works and she's so much happier and softer. But I do have to remember to be soft with my hands and not hold, even if she gets a little squirty after the leg yields.
We moved onto some grids with a bigger fence as the final jump and then had to turn around and trot the cavaletti, then back to the trot grid, then back to the other cavaletti. It took a hot minute, but by the end of the ride, she was softening to a lovely trot and even trotted the cavaletti and ground pole!! Even after jumping the 3'6" oxer!!
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