Word-Lite Wednesday

 I'm taking Emma's lead and doing a word-lite Wednesday instead of a wordless Wednesday. 

The past month's been rough but there's light at the end of the tunnel. The weather in February was cold, cold, and more cold, with a couple days of snow and then a shit ton of rain. It is warm now, thankfully. The horses stayed in for the two days of snow mainly because we got a thin layer of ice before the snow and walking outside was a slip and fall waiting to happen. Cinder was so wound up we spent an hour lunging and doing ground work before I could get on. We then trotted two circles before some snow slid off the roof and I elected to dismount before I was rocket launched into the rafters. 

Assistant Trainer I has been setting courses/exercises for us and draws them out on a little whiteboard next to the tack room. I appreciate that she puts what the strides are supposed to be. We did this course the week before the snow and except for coming in too quietly the first time and getting 6s across the diagonals, it was a lot of fun. 

Last Saturday Cinder felt much more like her normal self and we were able to do more than just trot a few circles, including a grid that was a bounce to a one to a one. We were the only ones in our lesson doing the grid, so we had warmed up over some other fences then waited while everyone else jumped. When we went to the grid the first time, Cinder thought she was done and was no where near in front of my leg which caused us to do a two in the first one, and then she had to superman launch out over the last fence. 

God bless her, she thought about bailing out to the inside but I put my leg on and did my best eventer impersonation and she got us out of it.

We were able to successfully go through the grid the way it was intended to be jumped. 

Spooky Season

Autumn has arrived in the past few weeks with a drop in temps and the start of rainy season. Cinder loves the colder weather and now that's she feeling much better after her abscess we have a very spicy, spooky mare on our hands. 

Halloween jump decoration is perfectly fine with her

She had an absolute meltdown in the outdoor arena a few weeks ago, when jumps that had been used at the horse show returned home for the winter and were stacked in the corner of the outdoor. She's jumped all these poles and the coop multiple times, but god forbid they hang out on the pole rack in the corner. Cinder is fine going past the spooky corner when we're jumping, but as soon as you're walking and not doing anything, she's trying to spin and rear. She got so bad during one of my lessons that Trainer M got on her and had a little discussion. 

Said scary poles and coop

She has thankfully gained all the weight back that she lost over summer so we cut her grain back and M has been making it a point to work her more outside, weather permitting. I haven't been able to ride outside since her big meltdown because by the time I get off work and get to the barn it's dark or and when I've ridden on the weekend its been raining. 

The mounting block was strategically placed there for a certain red mare

But we've also had our share of spooky things in the indoor. M has been setting a lot of gymnastic exercises with the poles/cavaletti/brush boxes and Cinder took a lot of offense at being asked to trot into the exercise above. She thought it would be much easier to go around the boxes than over them. How dare we ask her to use her body and sit on her hind end over two little bounces. I foresee a winter of skinnies and gymnastics in our future. 

Bouncy

 The theme of my last two lessons has been bouncy. Both in the sense of keeping Cinder more packaged and bouncy in her gaits, and in that we jumped our first actual bounces. 

The big h/j program at the barn uses their jumps in the arena, while most of A's are out in the XC field. So pretty much whatever the h/j trainer sets is what we jump inside. They get pissy if we move the jumps, or even change fence heights without resetting them sometimes. While I am allowed to jump outside of lessons, I usually don't because of this. If there's trot or canter poles set up I'll do those.

bounce bounce

Last week they had reset the course and had a line of five bounces set up on one long side. They also had three sets of raised trot poles, a couple cavalleti and a couple single fences set up. I told A the bounces looked like fun, but Cinder had never done a bounce before. She's done one and two strides, and bounce poles, but not bounce jumps. A started taking the bounces down while I warmed up on the flat, having me incorporate the trot poles. The poles were set slightly short, and the goal was to keep Cinder more packaged then normal to make the poles work. Tracking left was pretty easy, but I had a much harder time tracking right. It doesn't help that Cinder doesn't care about hitting the poles so pretty much every time through she ticked a rail. 

We started jumping by trotting the cavalleti, which were place on a short diagonal heading towards/away from the line of bounces on a bending line. We then picked up the line separately, which A had made just one bounce to start with. Cinder was pretty confused about what to do in the bounce and pretty much just trotted through it. The more times we went through the line, and I rode her a little more forward and confidently, she figured it out. A kept them small (see above) but added in the third cross rail. It was a fun lesson and I was glad I had the nerve to tackle the bounces. 

Went to a tack sale at a VERY FANCY BARN on Saturday and Ca-Pow was very friendly, even though he doesn't look like it this pic

The jumps hadn't moved by my Monday lesson, so we started again with the trot poles for our flat warm up and then A had me start figure eighting some of the single fences and cavalleti. Cinder looked hard at some ground rails before one of the fences and I accidentally caught her in the mouth, but god bless her she didn't care. I get worried that my mistakes are going to piss her off, or ruin her, but honestly this horse doesn't give a shit and doesn't know how to hold a grudge. I need to keep reminding myself of that. 

one of the stallions WT Leapfrog is so handsome

We then moved onto the line five bounces, which A had set tiny again. Coming in Cinder backed way off and seemed worried about all the poles. I didn't push her forward and we kinda stalled out over the third cross rail. A had me pull her out of the line and try again. This time I actually rode and kept my leg on, and while still a little nervous Cinder went through all five bounces. She then figured it out and the third time through was easy. We went through the line a couple time each way before calling it quits.

Bringing Fun Back

 I fully admit that I'm the type of rider who doesn't jump or jump anything of height for a while and I get nervous. I KNOW that I've jumped higher, and that both my horse and I are capable of doing what's in front of us, but I still get worried. And lately, Peebs has been super charged when we've jumped and we've only been doing cross rails.

I had set up some trot and canter poles last week after the arena was dragged because I was too lazy to set jumps.  Peebs was good warming up over the trot poles and single poles I had set out, but when we went to school the canter poles (a one to a one) he lost his little brain. Going left was fine, but going right he threw his head up and bolted down the line. We did a lot of transitions before attempting the line again. He was still strong, but listened. Not exactly a great confidence booster, but I was happy we ended on a good note.

 

His little face 😍

 

So imagine my surprise when scrolling through Instagram on Sunday I saw a gymnastic exercise and immediately wanted to do it. My horse had just lost his mind doing poles, and here I am wanting to do a gymnastic? I set it up Sunday telling myself I could always break it back down and just do the trot poles to the first cross rail when I jumped on Monday. Which is what I did. He got a little excited the first time, but biffed the trot poles and seemed to realize his mistake. All the other times through the grid he was foot perfect. 

I gradually built it up to trot poles, cross rail, one stride to a vertical, one stride to an oxer. Obviously nothing got big but as soon as I made the third fence an oxer I got super nervous. We had just done cross rail, vertical, vertical and it was perfect and I know making an oxer changes nothing but I still had a pit in my stomach. But Peebs does what he does best and took care of everything. He was quiet and calm coming in, hit each stride perfectly and was soft in my hand. It was the easiest thing. And best of all, it was fun! I hadn't realized how much I missed having a fun jump school till this ride. It was exactly what we needed! Now I just have to remember this feeling going forward. And probably set gymnastics more often.

A Tale of Two Lessons: Lesson the First

I had a lesson last Friday on Peebs and then an unexpected lesson on Monday on Scottie. I can't remember the last time I had lessons three days apart.  I wish I could do that all the time!

#goodboypeebers

We've been doing lots of trot poles and canter poles with Peebs in the past few weeks.  I had the chiro out to check him two weeks ago and she recommended the trot poles to help strengthen his stifles and hind end.  All the pole work had me feeling like doing gymnastics so I asked my trainer if I could set one up for my lesson. We ended up doing a bounce to a one stride to a one stride and it was so fun!

My trainer had us start with the last one stride and built it back to front.  We nailed the one the first time out so she added the other one stride before it. Again we came in perfectly and the one to one was super easy. Trainer then put up the bounce and told me to do exactly the same thing and not to over think it. I just turned and started at her, asking her "Why would you tell me that?!?" Because of course I then had to over think it and screw up our pace coming in. Peebs earned his cookies because I found a half stride to the bounce and he had to do some fancy footwork to get us out of it. We did come back and fix it and my trainer raised the final vertical every other time we went through.

View this post on Instagram

Super fun lesson tonight with my best boy #goodboypeebers #gymnastics #fridayfun

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:01pm PDT

We ended up doing 2'9" the last time through and while it looked big, it didn't look scary big or like we couldn't get over it. We haven't jumped that big in a while and I was actually tempted to ask if it could go up to 3' but Peebs was getting tired and I didn't want to push it. I'm sure cantering down to a single at 2'9" might look bigger than the final fence in a grid, but I was proud of myself for not freaking out about the fences going up a few holes.

Worth His Weight

The past few weeks have been pretty good in terms of ponies.  Peebs' has been awesome over fences, minus one day when we attempted bounces, and I've feel like we've really figured each other out and have become a pretty good team. 

Hoping this week goes as smooth as this line #mcm #easysix #aslongasiholdwithleg #alwaysaddleg #canyousayrightdrift

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Oct 30, 2017 at 10:36am PDT

Over the summer I had set up a couple gymnastics for Peebs, all one strides.  He was a champ going through them so when I set up one with a bounce to a one I didn't think anything of it. We started cross rail bounce to a pole and he seemed ok with it.  I made the pole a cross rail and while it rode a bit long he seemed to get the idea.  I shortened the bounce and it went fine.  I then put the second cross rail up to a vertical and all hell brook loose.  The bounce suddenly seemed super long and Peebs knocked the vertical with his hind end.  So I shortened it again.  Then he tried to put a one in the bounce, a few times.  My life might have flashed before my eyes when the one stride put us almost on top of the vertical.  But God bless him, Peebs never once felt like he was going to stop, or run out.  Every time he somehow managed to get over the vertical without pulling the rail or killing us. We finally managed to bounce the bounce and I quit with that.  I'm hoping to work on bounces in lessons over the winter to see if we can figure them out.

Absolutely no problem with the spooky Halloween jump

That ride over the bounce really cemented that Peebs is a trier, and will do his best to take care of me.  Phoenix would have stopped, and Buddy probably would have just gone through the vertical, if they were in that situation.  But even with some truly awful distances and take off spots, Peebs was rock solid and I felt completely safe with him.  The old me would have been in tears and would have given up. But with Peebs I was laughing and making jokes about it.  We had a lesson the week after and while we didn't have any bounces, we did have some bad distances.  And again, I felt 100% ok with it and Peebs took everything in stride..haha! Bend the bending line too much and end up at 4.75 strides?  Ok.  Don't hold enough in the outside line and get 5.5 instead of 6?  Whatever.  Seriously, this horse is worth his weight in gold!

A couple months ago my farrier (whose work I like, but as a person, not so much) made a comment about how much I paid for Peebs.  Basically he thought I got robbed and paid way too much for him.  And maybe in other people's minds I did over pay.  But to me, Peebs is priceless.  These past couple of weeks have only cemented that fact. I will happily pay more for a horse with a great brain who tries his heart out.  And as my trainer said in my last lesson, put a flying change on him and some 2'6" show miles, and I could list him at double what I paid.  But I'm pretty sure Peebs is with me to stay, forever.  

Just Do It

Just do it's been my theme for the past month. That and "long, active legs". I don't know what it's coming from but I've been more motivated (for the most part), more confident, and more committed to getting baby McKenna trained.

Bam!

We had a dessage lesson with TS and that's where the long, active leg came from. McKenna loves to hang on my right rein and blow off my right leg. I got dinged in the lesson for holding too much with the right rein (hence why she loves to lean on it, funny how that works) and being too nice with my right leg. I wasn't supposed to completely drop my right rein, just give and release every few strides. Once I got the more right leg thing into my head McKenna seemed to really respond just need to make sure my heel is down when I'm getting after her. Still working on the whole holding too much with that rein though. 

We've only had one jump lesson lately, and while it poured rain and we were forced inside, it actually was a pretty damn nice lesson. I had set up a baby grid a few days before the lesson, a cross rail one stride to a pole one stride to another pole and taken McKenna thru it. While she got a big rushy she handled it well. 

For the lesson trainer set a one stride starting with two cross rails. McKenna decided that the baby grid was super exciting and we didn't have brakes coming out. She got run into the wall a time or two to remember how to stop after the fence but as soon as trainer raised the second fence to a vertical she was much more calm and relaxed coming out. 

Trainer kept raising the second fence and then made it an oxer (McKenna's first under saddle!) and then raised it more. We ended up with a solid 2'9" oxer coming out. McKenna did rub it, but considering it was at the end of the lesson and she's never jumped that high or an oxer under saddle before I was super thrilled with her. She never once hesitated thru the grid, jumped everything easily, and once the fence went up she was quiet and manageable on the off side. Almost makes me want to rethink selling her.

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.

Back to Basics

I didn't ride Tia in over a week so when I pulled her out on Tuesday I thought it would be good to revisit some of our issues from our last ride, our horrible trot pole lesson. I set up an easy one stride, x-rail to ground pole with the intent to turn it into an x-rail. I've never taken Tia through a grid, and I seem to remember one of her past lesson girls trying and it not going well.  I'm of the feeling that because she is such a natural hunter that whoever started her just went right to course work, didn't do some (to me) basics. Luckily I really like grids so Tia will have many of them in her future.

Doing baby basic grids is hard work

When we first approached the mini-gird I could feel Tia question it.  It was the same "I have no idea what to do" feeling she had during the lesson.  Like she couldn't figure where to put her feet or how to jump.  She backed way off and almost jumped the x-rail from a standstill.  She did what I call the splits over it; front feet on the off side while the back feet were still on the takeoff side. She did a tiny little canter step then realized she didn't have enough room to fit a second one it and supermaned it over the pole.  She's a horse that can't split her stride over a ground pole, she'll either chip in or leave long.   I just tried to stay out of her way and support with my hand and leg to keep her going.  I did laugh a bit though.

Scary stuff man

It took about four times through the "grid" for her to really get it and to smooth things out.  The one stride became easy and she was relaxing so I put the ground pole up to an x-rail.  Coming to it she wanted to back off, but didn't feel as confused as when we first started.  She looked at the grid but went right through pretty well.  I only did the x-rail to x-rail another couple times since she was getting it.  It wasn't hard physically, but it was a big mental challenge to her.  I was just about done when my BO (Tia's owner) came out and I was able to get her to video us. I have no idea what my outside hand is doing, kindly ignore it.

The Week in Review

Not much has happened since the show two weeks ago.  It's been raining and cold until today and I've lacked motivation to do too much.  Buddy's gotten some needed down time, with both Amy and I doing light hacks during the past week. 

I did have a lesson today and we worked on gymnastics.  We started by cantering some single fences, getting warmed up, then moved on to a canter in bounce.  Jen had us start with a conservative 9ft bounce but then moved it out.  We kept adding fences as we went so by the end we had four fences in a row, with a bounce in between each.

 They weren't high, maybe 2ft, but we were working on nailing the first fence then just supporting him down the line.  It was fairly easy to find a nice rhythm coming in, but I had trouble doing nothing as the line approached.  You would think that it would be so easy to sit there and let them go, but nope, hardest thing ever!  I screwed him up royally once, but slipped him the reins and legged him through it.  We only did about 45mins as it was hard for Bud to stay packaged through the line.  I think we are going to start making gymnastics a bigger part of our lessons, especially if we want to show in the jumpers and do combinations.

On Wednesday Jen and I set up a mini jump chute in the indoor for Zoe and Leo to work through.  We want to see how high each could do without a rider and how they handled the fences.  Surprisingly Leo was better about his pace and rhythm through the chute and did 3' without too much problem.


He was very proud of himself

Zoe was being very lazy and would canter up to the fence then loose steam about a stride away.  She'd pop over them from almost a stand still, but made it over every time.  She's adorable and way more huntery than Leo was.  I think we got her up to 3'3"ish.  I'm having dreams of making her my 3' hunter again.  I rode her today after Buddy since her two leases are both busy and couldn't get out for a couple days.  She was great.  The jumps had been reset from my lesson and were 2'-2'6".  She was game for everything and even got the correct strides in the line instead of the pony strides!  

Little Miss Diva only wanted to do it off the right, even though it was set to go off the left.

Back to Work

I had this whole post all ready on my phone,  but apparently it didn't post.  Grrr!  Buddy went back to work this week after his after show break.  He was cranky on Monday, it was windy and that always fires him up.  We worked in the draw reins and while he threw a major tantrum going left we ended on a good note.

Tuesday he got the day off as we were having a barn BBQ to celebrate my and one of the horse's birthdays.  Yesterday I set up a gymnastic, vertical bounce vertical one stride oxer, and had a blast.  He was rushy at first, just very excited to be jumping.  As long as I remembered to have a forward, active trot to the first fence it flowed very well.  My friend suggested cantering a large circle before coming back to the trot and going to the line and it helped a lot.  I can't let him sucker me into a slow trot; he then scrambles down the line and it gets a little dicey.

Our fire pit at the BBQ

Today he got lunged and I'll do a quick ride Friday in prep for a dressage clinic with Mary on Saturday.  I originally wasn't going to ride, but a spot opened up and I got some birthday money so we're doing it!  I hope we've improved since December when Mary saw us last.  I'm also going to do a ride on Connie's mare Wednesday, the one who was bucking people off.  She's had some time off as her back was pretty sore and we've been taking it slow trying to keep her relaxed under saddle. 

New Year, New Tradition!

I've decided to start a new tradition: New Year's Day Gymnastics!  Yesterday the sun was shining, the footing in the outdoor was awesome, and I only had a half day at work so I had all afternoon at the barn to play.  I set up a simple gymnastic; a bounce to a one stride.  I set it vertical, vertical, oxer with a trot pole in front.  I've decided that for gymnastics its easier to start with a vertical with Buddy since he doesn't try over crossrails.  A vertical going in sets us up better for the rest of the line.

I started with the just the bounce and only had to do it a few times before Buddy felt good.  I put the third fence as just another vertical at first, but after a couple times thru made into the oxer.  The distances were a little tight.  I'm hoping that Buddy will start to get the concept of really sitting back on his hind end and I think he's slowly getting it. 

I got one of the other girls to video one of our last time thru. 

 

I was able to get a couple good still shots from the video.  I really like how fierce and focused Buddy looks.                                                                                                                                                         

 

After I rode, Anna got on Phoenix, and I convinced her to start with just an cross rail then do just the bounce.  She was pretty nervous but Phoenix handled it like a champ. The first time thru he seemed a little confused that there was a second fence and trotted over both.  The next time he figured it out and jumped both nicely.

 





What's one more?

In addition to Buddy and Zoe, I've agreed to work another horse at the barn once or twice a week for his owner.  Leo is a late teen aged QH gelding, whose done a bit of everything.  Jake, his owner, mainly just trail rides him, but had him leased to a high school girl who was gaming on him.  The girl quit abruptly and Jake's wife just gave birth to their second son so poor Leo hasn't gotten worked in about a month.  Jake just wants him to get out and have a little tune up so it's shouldn't take too much of my time. And the best part of it is Jake owns a bar that a bunch of us from the barn frequent and I'll get a bar tab in exchange for riding!!


Leo and Buddy last summer.  Leo beat the stuffing out of Bud so they were separated.

 

I gave Bud Sunday and Monday off after the dressage ride and turned him out in the arena for a little play time.  I put him and Phoenix out together on Sunday and it was adorable.  They scratched each other's necks and nuzzled. 

Aren't they cute?!

Yesterday it was pouring so I set up an exercise in the indoor for us to work over.  It's a crossrail on the center line with two placing poles on each side diagonal to the jump (see wonderful illustration below.  Jen calls it the Diamond of Death.  The poles are 9ft from the x-rail and it's meant to be ridden on the diagonal.

 It really forces you to be straight and accurate on your line.  Unfortunately it didn't work so well for Buddy.  Going right to left was fine, but left to right he was pretty over bent and didn't really care if he hit the pole.  We did it decently a couple times then I called it quit. 

Today it was dry-ish and not raining when I got to the barn so we went outside and worked over a gymnastic one of the other girls had set over the weekend.  It was a trot in x-rail bounce to a vertical bounce to an oxer.  We started with just the first bounce and it took Buddy a couple times to get the concept that he had to jump the x-rail.  Once he got it we added the oxer.  It went pretty well, but he did drift to the right a bit.  Since he had jumped two days in a row I didn't do it too many times.



Gymnastic Fun

A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon this site, Get My Fix.  Their 5-minute clinic section (while not having been updated recently) has some great articles.  I've bookmarked the one on grids.  Today I decided to set up Amy Millar (Captain Canada's Ian Millar's daughter) basic trot grid.

After warming Bud up on the flat, I started with a single x-rail trotting it back and forth trying to have a strong trot and make him canter away from it.  He was a bit behind my leg and lazy so I had to go to my crop a few times to help wake him up.  We started the grid with 3 ground poles to a vertical.  I tried to stay out of his way, but again Buddy was lazy.  I remembered what I learned all those months ago at the Kevin Freeman clinic about keeping my hands up and really making Buddy work to the base of the fence.  Worked like a charm! 

After a couple times thru I added the two stride to the oxer.  Let's just say I'm glad no one was around to see our first time thru.  Buddy was way backed off and had to take a flying leap over the oxer.  I just grabbed mane and tried to give him his head and not catch him in the mouth.  The second time thru I sat deep and pushed him thru the 2.  After that Bud seemed to get it and it rode well; I could concentrate on my position and not have to worry about the distances.

Adding the last vertical challenged us.  By this point Bud was getting tired, and not wanting to trot in well.  I had to go to my crop at the base of the first fence and push more thru the grid. We only did the full grid twice before I called it quits.  I didn't want to push him too hard, and I felt like one decent time thru was all we were going to get today.  Hopefully I can set up more of the grids before it starts to rain again and we can't use the fields.

Gymnastics and Dressage

I let Buddy have a couple easy days, after our jump school on Wednesday.  Yesterday one of the other girls at the barn and I set up a small gymnastic; a few trot poles, to a bounce, to a one stride.  We started with just the poles to an x-rail bounce to another x.  After we each did it a few times, we added the last one as a vertical.

Bud didn't have a problem with the gymnast, and I tried to work on holding my position and keeping my eyes up.  The other mare ran out at the one stride so we shortened the distance.  It made it fine for her, but then it was a little short for Bud.  Oh well.  At that point Buddy had gotten tired, and wasn't jumping the first fence, making it hard to work thru the gymnastic.  I smacked him behind my leg with my crop, and while he jumped the first fence, I wasn't able to grab the reins back so we did the line with only one hand.  It was fun!  I did feel my position slip forward though, so more work is needed!

Today I helped the 4H girls run through their dressage tests for fair. One of the girls is doing Training Test 3 and the other two are doing Intro A.  I ended up reading both tests a few times while the girls worked through them.  After I hopped on Bud bareback and did both tests.  The Intro test was our warm up, and it went well. 

We had a little trouble with the Training test.  The one loops confused Buddy at first, but after schooling them a few times I think we got 'em.  In the change of rein at the canter, Bud wanted to do flying change, instead of trotting at x.  He flipped his head when I got after him.  In our focus on our flying changes Buddy has really started to anticipate the change, so I'm going to have to work on schooling the simple changes/trot transitions on the diagonal.   I am happy that we were able to run the Training test bareback and have it be more than halfway decent!

Gymnastics

After three days off, Buddy was pretty lazy when I rode Saturday.  We just hacked around, didn't really work on much except getting him forward and off my leg.  He did start anticipating the upwards canter transitions, so we did some serpentines and figure 8s at the walk. Once he was quiet and walking forward into the contact we did some canter transitions.  They were really nice.  I need to remember to not let him rush into the transitions and make him wait.

Today I set up a little gymnastic; a bounce to one stride.  I started with an cross rail to a couple ground poles.  We did it a few times to warm up, then I dropped my stirrups and we did it a few more times.  I definitely need to keep doing that! 

I put up a vertical, so it was the x bounce to the vertical.  This was little tough for Bud.  He tend to get lazy after a few trot fences, so the first time he just trotted the x and kinda fell over the vertical.  I tried to stay neutral and let him figure it out.  The next time, I gave him a tap with my crop at the base of the x.  Worked much better!

Once I had the second vertical up, and Buddy was going forward, I tried to stay up with chest and stretch down thru my heels.  That's the thing I love about gymnastics; I just have to get Bud to the first fence and then just focus on me.  At the end, for fun I tied my reins in my knot and did it once with no hands.  SO MUCH FUN!!

Buddy says Hi!