Grid Work Round 2

On Wednesday I was way too motivated and rode both Tia and McKenna after work.  I did Tia first and let McKenna get her crazies out in one of the outdoor paddocks.  Before I got on I added another fence to the one stride from last time.  I had it set as a crossrail, one stride, crossrail, one stride pole to begin so I didn't overwhelm the big mare.

Switching the stirrups on Tia's new saddle really helped.  My ankles weren't dying, I was able to keep my leg quieter and underneath me better. When we first started over the grid I wasn't staying up in two point long enough after the fence, kept sitting down too soon but that got better as we went along.   We did the two crossrails a couple times to make sure she was good and I had the distances set right.



This is her staring at the photographer and trying to land and go sideways

I got off and put the last fence up to vertical.  Coming to it the first time I felt Tia look at it and hesitate and we lost our impulsion to the first fence. I legged her on and held mane.  One of the bet things about Tia is that she might not know what you're asking, but she'll try.  She'll look at something and hesitate if she's not sure, but as long as her rider is confident and supporting she'll go for it.  We had a bit of a leap to the last fence, but coming around to it a second time she figured it out and adjusted herself.  We did the whole thing probably 5 times and each go was better than before. 




She's just so darn cute!  I however need to fix my chicken wing elbow.

At least until I asked my friend to video.  She stood pretty much directly in front of the line, along the back rail of the ring and Tia looked at her hard coming into the line. She backed off, and ended up rubbing all three fences.  When we landed she took about a stride then ducked around the turn to make sure we didn't run over the photographer. I made her come back a second time and we ironed everything out.