The mare!

Good girl!

Better; more relaxation :)

Defensive position, but soft reins.  You can see she kind of barrels through.

Longer stirrups, quiet hands, SHOULDERS BACK!  Go me ;)

2 more rides on Ms. Jade to report on.  Last week, I took her up in the jumping ring again, and she was good!  She's getting much more consistent up there since I've basically told her to get over herself, she's GOING to go up top.  All was well.  Since riding w/ trainer, I have become much more aware of what a horse SHOULD feel like, so I've been riding Jade very correctly lately, and she responds!  Before, I wasn't worried about where her head was, I'd let my arms get stiff, and upon looking at my pics, I see I'm sitting really far forward.  It doesn't feel like it, but pics don't lie, right?

I get on, sit BACK, and put my leg on.  She's gotten SO good about accepting the leg and becoming more steady through the contact.  First time or 2 I rode her, she curled up and got behind the bit, which is why I wasn't worried about her head.  At eventing barn though, ALL the horses go correctly.  Heads down, backs lifted, inside leg to outside rein.  I haven't accepted "no" as an answer from Jade, I put my leg on and ask her to stretch into my hand.  She's a fiesty little mare, so sometimes she will pitch a little fit, but for the most part she's been responsive to what I'm asking of her.  I jumped her a LITTLE bigger last week; over a 2'6ish crossrail (where the poles are set at 2'6 then crossed).  Before, it was the SMALLEST crossrail I could possibly set.  The 'plain' poles jump was fine, but the one with panels caused her to land and buck the first 3 times I did it.

As a result, I'm coming into the jumps a little defensive.  She WILL get you off if you let your guard down, whether it's via a spook, or a sudden hop in the air combined with a flip of the head.  That's why the martingale goes on EVERY time, and I've been asking her to round and come into the contact so she doesnt' spook so much.  She's developed a habit of landing randomly, then DRAGGING me to the rail, pulling right.  She only does it every now and then, but it's a pretty hardcore drag.  When she did that consistently the other day, I dropped it to a pole and made her walk it, staying straight.  Last week was mostly just coming in over jumps.  She hasn't been as good as she was that one time several weeks ago, when I could actually trot in/canter out a line, but she's not been too bad, either.

Today, I kind of kicked her butt a little bit.  She's been off about 10 days due to actual rain (YAY!), so I let her run around in the roundpen.  She bucked and played for a good 10 minutes before I got on.  Rode her in the lower ring due to really wet footing up top, but I'd had no plans to jump anyway today.  She was very heavy; I've been riding her in the waterford and she definitely likes it, but the brakes aren't great in it.  Wish I still had Tiki's little wonder bit, b/c it would probably be good to slap that on her once in awhile to tune her up.  I did a TON of canter transitions today.  She sucks at those, lol.  As soon as she canters, she tries to basically bulldoze you and run off or run you into the fence.  I worked on cantering a few steps, back to walk or trot.  I cantered a LOT today, and right now it's just a fight for every single step.  She gets so heavy and stiff, and she WILL try to DRAG to the rail tracking left.

As I tend to do, I had an epiphany after coming around the corner, and YANK to the right.  Trainer counter bends her horses a LOT.  I've been counteracting Jade's dive to the right by actually turning her into the rail and circling right.  Today, I just counter bent her!  Lol, it made the mare pretty peeved that she couldn't use that method of evasion any more.  I even bent her out at the canter on the correct lead, and she didn't try to drag me once after that.:)    Tracking left she dove to the rail again, so I yanked her little butt up and circled her pretty hard core.  She shaped up after that.  When I walked and she rooted, I used both legs and KICKED her.  The rooting improved.  I finished up by doing about 20 small figure 8's around the poles at the trot, just keeping my shoulders back, posting steady, and constantly asking for her to bend and carry herself.

I wore her out, but when she gets tired, she just gets heavier and heavier.  It was tough!  She wasn't great today, which S and I expected, but I didn't give her the opportunity to be bad, so overall an ok day today.  Probably riding on Saturday, so hopefully she'll remember what we worked on and just improve!

Visions of Rolex ...

I <3 ponies="" td="">

I sure wish I could FINALLY go to the Rolex 3 Day Event this year.  How ironic would that be?  Never could make it when it was a 5 hour drive, yet could FLY there.  Haha.  Not this year!  Hopefully my awesome new trainer will qualify again next year and I can be part of the crew then.  This year I will be sitting here at my kitchen table watching the live feed via my laptop.  Anyway!  As I sit here typing, I feel the familiar burn in my lower back that says I rode today:)  I rode 2 VERY different horses, but both were great!

The morning was chilly, but in the sun it was positively lovely.  Miss Jade came in from the pasture with a positive attitude and only had one "normal" poop in the washrack.  The barn was quiet, and the mare seemed happy.  Gave her a good grooming, then tacked her up in the same setup as Saturday; running martingale and a single joint Myler D-ring snaffle with no hooks or anything of that sort.  I decided today was going to be a low pressure kind of day, so I was pretty relaxed.  Took her to the roundpen, and she was trying to run off before I even had the reins secured, so I growled at her to knock it off.  Let her run it out until she told me she was done, and when I pulled the mounting block to her she didn't move a single muscle.  Yes!  Got on and walked to the 'scary' upper ring.  Kept as loose a rein as I felt comfortable with, and took a nice leisurely walk around that ring.  She spooked twice, all 4 legs splayed out like a statue, but no spin or anything, phew.  Took her out of the ring after that walk, and down to 'her' lower ring.  Just spent some time walking on a relatively loose rein until I felt her take a deep breath.  I then began to walk a figure 8 around the 2 jumps in the center of the ring, using my leg 95%, hand 5%.  I kept my reins pretty long, and just focused on pushing her into my outside rein.  After that, I went to trot around on the rail ... on a loose rein.  Ya know, I did the SAME thing with Tiki.  He would get SO fast at the trot, then he would freak himself out because he was so unbalanced.  With a horse like Jade, it's easy to hang on her face to keep her slow.  What she then does is balance off your hand, so then you feel like you're always in a pulling match.  You have to allow them to balance THEMSELVES.  She has to learn to regulate her pace without me getting in her face.  Enter the One Rein Stop.  Every time, and I do mean every time she sped up, I spun her.  Eventually, they get tired of that!  But it teaches them to have a little self control and balance.  So I did that both ways until I made it a FULL lap of the ring with no spin ... on a loose rein, yay!

After lots of pats and a short break, I put her on contact.  I went immediately to the trot figure 8 around the jumps (which was different).  I've been doing the figure 8's in the far end of the ring, this time I was smack in the middle of the ring.  Back and forth, gentle contact, and a nice outside rein half halt IF she sped up.  There were quite a few times when she came onto the contact and got SO light and lovely, I really felt the horse she has the potential to be!  I then decided to be brave, and picked up the canter and cantered the 8.  I did a simple change through the walk in between.  I did probably 20 8's, keeping my hands up and together, butt in saddle, outside leg keeping her from dragging me out of the circle.  Again, I was very glad to have the martingale because cantering does bring forth lots of head flinging.  I just kept rinsing and repeating until she took a breath and made a few very nice transitions.

After one more break, I trotted on the rail on contact again, then did a shallow serpentine, tiny circle into the rail, finish serpentine, then trot up over pole.  I did that both ways 3 times each then let her finish.  She just got better and better, again giving me moments of true contact and lightness.  I like her in this bit the best so far; she is behind the kimberwicke, she is WAY too mouthy in the loosering, and in this one she takes the contact and even gets a little heavy in it, which is fine.  Trotting on a loose rein will fix that ;)  With the figure 8, I never feel her get mouthy with the bit, the mouth stays shut (ahem, Tiki never figured that out.  He opened his mouth in a HALTER!).  S just got a waterford, excited to try that!  I will put her back in a regular cavessoon when I try it.  Just trying to get her wants all figured out; she isn't a complicated horse per se, she's just super sensitive.  I really enjoyed her today, what a good girl!

At the other barn, I got to ride a pony!  She is fat and furry and white :)  I loved her.  Her name is Kimi, and she's a connemara.  LAZY!  Good lord, I wore my spurs and carried a dressage whip and still I worked myself to exhaustion;)  Trainer came out and made me get her on the bit like a good little dressage horse.  Had some great moments there.  I had to work for every step, but still had a blast.  I would love to take her out and run her around the xc course, I bet she's super fun.  My position was better on the pony, but I'm still having issues keeping my shoulder blades pressed together.  When I was a dancer, NO trainer EVER had to tell me to open my shoulders, but after so many years of riding alone and riding greenies and spookies, I've developed a bit of a softness to my upper body.  The default position is shoulders open, elbows on top of hips, hands up.  Slightly different from the hunter hand position :)  I'm SO looking forward to integrating myself; right now I still only know a hand full of people, but I'm getting to recognize some of them.  Trainer is slowly beginning to throw some responsibility on me.  I think she's been feeling me out to see what I know, and is starting to understand I do know a lot, so is starting to treat me as one of the crew.

So, I appreciate the ache in my lower back.  It means I got to do what I love today.  It reminds me that anything worth having, is worth working hard for.  It gives me hope that some day I will again stand in the start box and hear that countdown.  Incredibly thankful for my life, and looking forward to what tomorrow brings! :)  Peace and love y'all.