While I want to write about every ride like magic is happening, it's really not. In an effort to not be too boring, here's how my rides have been so far this week:
Saturday AM:
I got to the barn early on Saturday, and retrieved Bailey out of the pasture probably quite soon after she was turned out. While she was in good spirits and I tossed a quarter sheet over her rump while I was tacking her up, she was stiff and up walking from the barn to the outdoor arena, and while on our way, spooked at a horse turned out in the grass paddock out there. We started out walking, and I tried to push her forward into work, but she was still very tense and wasn't willing to come through. We defaulted back to some figure-8's and I tried to make sure that I was really riding with contact (vs. throwing my outside rein away like I tend to do) and she did slowly soften up. I was relatively happy with her canter after some work- her first few canters were very show-jump esque, with her head up and not a whole lot of connection between us.
We did some walk-canter transitions and canter-halt transitions, which helped, and while I had to move to a smaller circle to get her to bend through her body, she stayed quite uphill in her canter work, and was pretty obedient. I moved her from the jump ring to the upper ring we rode in last week (swingset, road, etc) and she put in some more decent trot and canter work.
I tried to tie up the ride neatly with some square halts on the center line, but our halts were not particularly square. We definitely need to do more dressage, but it's so hard to resist the XC fences!
Tuesday:
I meant to ride Monday afternoon, but the husband and dog kind of threw off the schedule. The schedule will only get worse since the Hubby goes in for surgery tomorrow and won't be mobile for a while, but I'll take what I can get at this point.
It was gorgeous last night; just a bit breezy so I was still wearing a long sleeve shirt, but I got a bit too warm with armor ontop of it. Why was I wearing armor? Oh yeah, because I went and played on XC again. YAY! We started our ride in the jump arena, and while Bailey was looky (big tractor/manure spreader/skid loader parade) she seemed to just translate that into being very forward vs having a melt down. This is definitely progress on her usual reaction to life, so I was thrilled. We did a little warm up, popped a cavaletti, and loped out to the XC.
Bailey was definitely up and definitely knew we were out to jump, so she was jigging as I tried to walk her over to start on some small stuff. We headed to the ditch first, and had a few stall-then-jump moments before she started to flow over it more smoothly - even when she was being spooky, she was still thrilled and wanted to keep cantering off shaking her head and doing her badass dance. We built up to the full coffin going back and forth over the ditch / log / skinny log combo and went to play on the banks. She was good on the mini and mid sized banks, but was a bit awkward going up the big bank, and had to tap dance around dramatically before hopping back down it. She was still really not happy to be stopping and walking, and was pulling my arms off - apparently the best way to have a forward, over eager, pulls-you-to-the-fences horse is to forget your gloves.
On the big up bank I kept kind of losing my lower leg despite my best attempts to keep it at the girth and right after popping over a little log set between two coops as a warm up for the BN looking coop, I realized that I had lost a rear velcro block in the grass. I'm not sure how that happened- it's never happened before! But I was impressed that I was able to dismount, re-attach the block and mount from the mid-size down bank without any problems; B wanted to graze, but once I pulled her head up, she was willing and stood quietly for me to mount.
She popped over the red hay feeder question next to the little log with no questions, happily hopped the half coffin and (begrudgingly) halted before the little bridge. We did our bent line through the unfilled water complex again and then I headed back to see if Bailey had retained anything about the BN picnic table. She was still sticky going away (it took three tries to get one I was happy with) but going home? She flew. No questions asked, yes, ma'am. With that note, I decided to be done and hack the long way around the galloping track home. Bailey spotted a very quiet car pulling down the driveway between the paddocks and the track area, and spooked pretty hard, but I only lost a stirrup and was able to get her reorganized and on her way. It took a bit to work that tension out - we did shoulder in while walking and I tried to keep her marching forward into the bridle. The second half of the walk, we ended up doing walk-halt, trot-halt and canter-halt transitions, because my hands were so sore from her hanging on me and dragging me around. She did improve after a few transitions, but I am still wondering if a waterford is in her future.
All in all? A great, positive ride. I feel like BB is really starting to absorb some of this XC stuff. Once we're a bit more confident, I'm going to start looking for more off-property schooling opportunities.
Oh, and I have a check, so I'll soon be all signed up to ride with Dom Schramm in June! WHOO!
Saturday PM:
Andrew's surgery went well on Thursday, and by Saturday PM I was itching for a few hours away to get a ride in. So I did.
I got to the barn pretty late; after 7, I tried to not be in a hurry to get a ride in before the sun went down. I got Bailey tacked up in the usual dress (including the loose ring magic snaffle, again) and we cruised out to the big outdoor jumping ring (which was empty due to the open house that had happened earlier in the day). Bailey seemed pretty low key and relaxed, like I had woken her from a nap and she was still a little sleepy. I had on my 1/4" spurs for the first time in approximately forever, and I wasn't sure how that was going to go for us.
It was actually, totally, clandestinely awesome.
I'm taking it as an early mother's day present for putting up with her for a whole year. Her walk was forward and compliant, her trot work was settled and quite adjustable for a horse who isn't being ridden consistently and probably lost those muscles a few weeks ago. Her canter was a shock; after a whole winter of canter troubles (again), B remained soft and through the bridle. I was shocked because her mouth was actually soft. Her poll was pliable. I mean, it wasn't Valegro amazing, but I was just so happily surprised by the softness she offered me. The canter was rideable and light, and I felt like I was not only super secure in the tack without having to clamp my legs, but like I could actually influence her gait rather than just sit there and know it's 70% awful.
It's definitely something I need to work on - I feel like lately I've become too complacent in the dressage saddle; not as bad as when I was convinced I can't move, but more that the horse is such a shitshow that I just have to kind of sit there and stay balanced and let it happen. Not only do I want to work on continuing this magical trend (who knows why it happened?) but I really want to stop feeling like a passenger, especially when the shit hits the fan. It doesn't do either of us any good for me to sit and brace through the tough moments, and if I can stay soft, maybe I can keep Bailey ride-able so I can start to fix the messes.
I can't wait to get back into a schedule and see what 6 going on 7 Bailey can give me - it feels like she's grown up and changed lately, and I really, really want to hop on that train all the way to the show ring.
Saturday AM:
I got to the barn early on Saturday, and retrieved Bailey out of the pasture probably quite soon after she was turned out. While she was in good spirits and I tossed a quarter sheet over her rump while I was tacking her up, she was stiff and up walking from the barn to the outdoor arena, and while on our way, spooked at a horse turned out in the grass paddock out there. We started out walking, and I tried to push her forward into work, but she was still very tense and wasn't willing to come through. We defaulted back to some figure-8's and I tried to make sure that I was really riding with contact (vs. throwing my outside rein away like I tend to do) and she did slowly soften up. I was relatively happy with her canter after some work- her first few canters were very show-jump esque, with her head up and not a whole lot of connection between us.
 |
| Much like at the halt, Bailey feels cantering should involve looking up and around for things to spook at. |
We did some walk-canter transitions and canter-halt transitions, which helped, and while I had to move to a smaller circle to get her to bend through her body, she stayed quite uphill in her canter work, and was pretty obedient. I moved her from the jump ring to the upper ring we rode in last week (swingset, road, etc) and she put in some more decent trot and canter work.
I tried to tie up the ride neatly with some square halts on the center line, but our halts were not particularly square. We definitely need to do more dressage, but it's so hard to resist the XC fences!
Tuesday:
I meant to ride Monday afternoon, but the husband and dog kind of threw off the schedule. The schedule will only get worse since the Hubby goes in for surgery tomorrow and won't be mobile for a while, but I'll take what I can get at this point.
It was gorgeous last night; just a bit breezy so I was still wearing a long sleeve shirt, but I got a bit too warm with armor ontop of it. Why was I wearing armor? Oh yeah, because I went and played on XC again. YAY! We started our ride in the jump arena, and while Bailey was looky (big tractor/manure spreader/skid loader parade) she seemed to just translate that into being very forward vs having a melt down. This is definitely progress on her usual reaction to life, so I was thrilled. We did a little warm up, popped a cavaletti, and loped out to the XC.
Less Derp, more "RAWR!" on XC, please, B
Bailey was definitely up and definitely knew we were out to jump, so she was jigging as I tried to walk her over to start on some small stuff. We headed to the ditch first, and had a few stall-then-jump moments before she started to flow over it more smoothly - even when she was being spooky, she was still thrilled and wanted to keep cantering off shaking her head and doing her badass dance. We built up to the full coffin going back and forth over the ditch / log / skinny log combo and went to play on the banks. She was good on the mini and mid sized banks, but was a bit awkward going up the big bank, and had to tap dance around dramatically before hopping back down it. She was still really not happy to be stopping and walking, and was pulling my arms off - apparently the best way to have a forward, over eager, pulls-you-to-the-fences horse is to forget your gloves.
On the big up bank I kept kind of losing my lower leg despite my best attempts to keep it at the girth and right after popping over a little log set between two coops as a warm up for the BN looking coop, I realized that I had lost a rear velcro block in the grass. I'm not sure how that happened- it's never happened before! But I was impressed that I was able to dismount, re-attach the block and mount from the mid-size down bank without any problems; B wanted to graze, but once I pulled her head up, she was willing and stood quietly for me to mount.
She popped over the red hay feeder question next to the little log with no questions, happily hopped the half coffin and (begrudgingly) halted before the little bridge. We did our bent line through the unfilled water complex again and then I headed back to see if Bailey had retained anything about the BN picnic table. She was still sticky going away (it took three tries to get one I was happy with) but going home? She flew. No questions asked, yes, ma'am. With that note, I decided to be done and hack the long way around the galloping track home. Bailey spotted a very quiet car pulling down the driveway between the paddocks and the track area, and spooked pretty hard, but I only lost a stirrup and was able to get her reorganized and on her way. It took a bit to work that tension out - we did shoulder in while walking and I tried to keep her marching forward into the bridle. The second half of the walk, we ended up doing walk-halt, trot-halt and canter-halt transitions, because my hands were so sore from her hanging on me and dragging me around. She did improve after a few transitions, but I am still wondering if a waterford is in her future.
All in all? A great, positive ride. I feel like BB is really starting to absorb some of this XC stuff. Once we're a bit more confident, I'm going to start looking for more off-property schooling opportunities.
 |
| Lets get back to this! |
Oh, and I have a check, so I'll soon be all signed up to ride with Dom Schramm in June! WHOO!
Saturday PM:
Andrew's surgery went well on Thursday, and by Saturday PM I was itching for a few hours away to get a ride in. So I did.
I got to the barn pretty late; after 7, I tried to not be in a hurry to get a ride in before the sun went down. I got Bailey tacked up in the usual dress (including the loose ring magic snaffle, again) and we cruised out to the big outdoor jumping ring (which was empty due to the open house that had happened earlier in the day). Bailey seemed pretty low key and relaxed, like I had woken her from a nap and she was still a little sleepy. I had on my 1/4" spurs for the first time in approximately forever, and I wasn't sure how that was going to go for us.
It was actually, totally, clandestinely awesome.
 |
| Like this awesome (I keep using this photo for everything #sorrynotsorry) |
I'm taking it as an early mother's day present for putting up with her for a whole year. Her walk was forward and compliant, her trot work was settled and quite adjustable for a horse who isn't being ridden consistently and probably lost those muscles a few weeks ago. Her canter was a shock; after a whole winter of canter troubles (again), B remained soft and through the bridle. I was shocked because her mouth was actually soft. Her poll was pliable. I mean, it wasn't Valegro amazing, but I was just so happily surprised by the softness she offered me. The canter was rideable and light, and I felt like I was not only super secure in the tack without having to clamp my legs, but like I could actually influence her gait rather than just sit there and know it's 70% awful.
It's definitely something I need to work on - I feel like lately I've become too complacent in the dressage saddle; not as bad as when I was convinced I can't move, but more that the horse is such a shitshow that I just have to kind of sit there and stay balanced and let it happen. Not only do I want to work on continuing this magical trend (who knows why it happened?) but I really want to stop feeling like a passenger, especially when the shit hits the fan. It doesn't do either of us any good for me to sit and brace through the tough moments, and if I can stay soft, maybe I can keep Bailey ride-able so I can start to fix the messes.
I can't wait to get back into a schedule and see what 6 going on 7 Bailey can give me - it feels like she's grown up and changed lately, and I really, really want to hop on that train all the way to the show ring.
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