Lost in Excellence

When I got out to the barn on Friday, it was muggy and gross. I thought that was kind of ridiculous because at my house across the little valley, it was actually nice. But apparently the less-than-5-minute drive took me into an odd pocket of nasty weather. We actually heard thunder a few times! Back at home it was nice again. Weird.

Because the weather was so odd and he had been so good on Wednesday, I opted to do another "jumping" ride with him. I put out our three poles in the same place as last time and we got to warming up.

Love the pony even if he is rather brown these days

Enjoy some really random pictures from this week.
First = baby cow!!

He was super super good in the contact. I'm finding that the longer the time I take to warm him up at the walk on the bit, the better he is going into trot. I mean, it's almost as if they are related. Once we trotted, he was right there for me the whole time and I kind of regretted dragging out the poles because I kind of wanted to just play with this. But then we trotted through the poles and he utterly failed at them. He kept drifting and tripping over them.

It was not made better by cantering them either. He was overconfident and leapt the first one, then the others backed him off and he ended up basically halting over the last one. I got him through eventually but I was SO not in the mood to train a horse to jump that day. I gave up and we just trotted through the poles while we worked on dressage, which he was pretty enthused about doing anyway.

TC longeing at the show! That chambon is doing NOTHING.

Siblings who refuse to pose together

He was excellent the whole ride- super in the connection and much better forward than he's been in the home arena for a long time. The combination of energy and connection on this horse is so magical. He was very accessible. I felt like I could put him absolutely anywhere, though did not test this theory in fear of being incredibly wrong.

The canter was amazing. Both directions we had moments where I felt like I really got him connected and over his back. He's never felt over his back at the canter. I was able to be so soft and steady with my hand and I could actually follow his neck oscillation pretty easily at times.

After the canter I had this moment of oh my god he's being so good what do I even work on when he's like this, since most of my rides are all working to achieve this.

Neighbor cows up close and personal

Not sure if curious or scared

I decided it was a good day to do some leg yielding and some halting, because both of those back him off and he was so forward anyway. The leg yield is actually getting to be something resembling a leg yield now. He does it pretty well at the walk and gets a little over his shoulder at the trot, but it's something I'm okay with for now, especially as both sides are even, which I never thought would happen. I feel like he's getting more responsive to my seat in the leg yield and is happy to move over the second I think about it.

The halts were pretty good too. I'm working on sitting into them, which is hard because he pulls so much into the halt and my back is still iffy. I'm 100% sure it isn't me that is pulling, since he halts completely off the seat and leg. He just starts reaching forward to find something to brace on. I tried moving the inside bit ring right as he did it and it got better.

We also played with rein backs, which are basically the ugliest things ever. It feels like I'm some psycho wrestling a dolphin into a small van so I can steal it for my private aquarium. I would ask him for a step and he'd flail a bit, take a step back, then I'd have to stop and put him back on the bit. Then ask for another step, flailing, then back on the bit. I think I'm going to school them in hand, maybe in the chambon, to help him understand. I think it's strength that he's lacking, since he is willing.

Love cider- at one of my brothers' events

Then we put together an exercise! It was very basic- we'd go down quarterline and leg yield to the rail (short court and inflexible baby horse, so no centerline leg yields),then we'd go down the next long side and halt, possibly rein back depending on whether he was balanced or not, immediately trot, and go down quarterline again.

When I wanted to switch directions, we even played with a baby lengthening across the short diagonal. He wasn't sure what to do. Whenever he isn't sure what to do, he tilts his face to one side and stares at me. So he would basically zip across the arena with one eye on me and get more and more hollow. Um. We'll work on that.

Overall, I was super pleased. Especially because he gave me his best free walk during our breaks, but mostly because he's really stepping up and trying to be good. Unlike some horses I used to ride.

Rico got a running braid, muahaha

I love her eyes

This week (Monday/Tuesday for me) is USPC Champs so I'm coaching a ridiculous number of kids again. My reward for that is a clinic next weekend with a local-ish S judge. Fingers crossed it goes well, she's known for being tough so it will be up to me to stand up for TC if he needs it. I'm going to emphasize our greenness so he isn't pushed too hard. I mostly want to talk to her about him and see if she sees any holes in his training so far. Plus get some good ideas on what needs to happen before he goes Training.

The next weekend (Aug 13-14) is another clinic that I want to audit in Watsonville with one of my favorite clinicians who I may try to ride with in October if I'm still nearby.

I SENT THIS SHIT IN ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON. Halfway
done with this damn thesis.