Rainy day lessons

I got to ride this weekend, YAY!  Sorry, no media, other than the weekly pony pictures I torture you all with.

The pony-girl actually seemed happy to see me for once.  She was turned out by herself.  We've had to consolidate turnout because there are so many horses on the property, and she is one you can trust to be out without her buddies and be OK, so she gets to be odd man out sometimes.  And I know she was out a bit during the day instead of at night due to Marcy wanting to watch her feet.

Hey, Mom, s'up?

She seems to be good, though.  I got a video of her doing the grid with one of the young ladies that works with Marcy, and she looks fabulous.  If I could figure out how to get the damned thing off my text and onto the computer, I would upload it.  She did the horse strides and everything.  I was told she rode it like a bad-ass.  Here's to pony power!

Anyway, as I tacked up for my lesson, it started to rain.  Fortunately, it was not overly cold.  60 maybe? No real wind either, so not horrible.  Unfortunately, I do not own a proper raincoat.  I wore my "barn coat" but it's not waterproof, so I was pretty well soaked through by the time I was done.

Overall, it was a great lesson, though.  Violet appeared to be in a better head space this time.  She still wanted to know who was doing what up in the jump ring, but when I told her she needed to pay attention, she pretty much did.

And I didn't short out the headphones this time!  So I got the whole lesson with Marcy's voice in my head.

We worked on using the leg yield step to push into the outside rein.  We exaggerated this in the corners and on circles, and carried the feeling of it down the long walls, which resulted in her being straighter.  We pushed the trot a bit more, since she was being very willing to work.  We also used that slight yield step to go up and down through the transitions, which was very interesting.

We used a lot of what I imagined were more like 10 meter half circles to go from the rail to the centerline, change bend and go the other direction through another 10 meter half circle.  This gave me a bit of time on the center line to concentrate on getting the yield step and bend to the new direction.

No media, so here's a pic of a slightly wet pony looking for an apple.

By pushing into the outside rein using that step when going up to the trot, I didn't hold down on the rein. Violet came up into my hand as she stepped up into the next gait.  Going from walk to trot, I could feel how the canter step would be right there.  Violet would have done it gladly, but waited pretty patiently while we worked through the slower transitions.

We even leg yielded into the halt, which actually put her back legs up under her.  I have to remember that when it comes to halting on the centerline.  I believe our halt was actually straighter and more square by using the feel of the yield step to get it.

Then came canter.  This time, we trotted our 15 meter circle, exaggerated the yield on the circle and then asked with the outside leg for the canter.  My issue is that I over think, so if I do it quickly, I run less risk of doing this and getting all tense about it.  Asking off the yield step puts her legs under her so she can step UP into the canter instead of dragging down on me to it.

And this time, we went around the full ring.  Now, we were not working in the little dressage ring, but the big one.  I know it's nothing to a lot of people to go 3 times around a standard dressage ring, but that is twelve corners and a lot of steps in the middle.  For the longest time, I had trouble just keeping Violet going in a balanced canter along half of one long wall, partially because of her strength, and partially because of my own.  I can't say I wasn't winded after the third go around, and I can't say she didn't break at that time because I lost all control of my legs due to oxygen deprivation, but it was still a huge deal for me.

Anyway, so at the canter, we worked on the corners a bit.  I was told to step into the outside stirrup and turn my chest toward her outside ear.  We started to the left, as this has traditionally been the harder direction, so that would mean step into the right stirrup and turn slightly to the right as we went around the corner to the left.  As Marcy said "this will probably feel wild, but you will be set up for a straight canter on the long wall" and of course she was right!  And of course I had to concentrate on not perching at the canter. I don't know that I will ever be able to break that in a jump saddle.  I'm just not used to sitting all the way on my butt, so I find myself getting more and more forward.  Unfortunately, being on the little one, this puts my center of balance too far forward and she ends up on her forehand trying to keep up with my chest.  So, concentrate on sitting up straight at the canter.  But I didn't really hear anything about my hands, so that's good.

Is this my better side?

We did this again (yes, a total of 4 times around) and repeated on the other side (total of 8 circuits!)  The right is still hard.  In the past, it was her more comfortable canter for me, but she bulges to the inside to the right and keeping that shoulder up where it belongs is harder for me, so it's no longer as comfy.  And for some reason I must ask too hard to the right, because she likes to porpoise into the right lead canter, which means we have to do twice as many transitions that way to get her to calm the F down.

And we still have the occasional "but you aren't right and I don't like the way you ask, so I'm going to hop up and down with my head in the air like a giraffe" moments.  This time only once on the long wall.  The good thing is, as long as I am quiet and then push her forward, she goes "oh, OK, I guess you are right" and goes back into the bridle and back to work.  Marcy says that even when I'm wrong, I have to tell her I'm right, because she has to learn to not overreact to everything I do.  We're getting better at it.  Not so much because she doesn't overreact, but because I don't.  I think she will always overreact if you let her.  But if you just say "Nope, not doing that today" she gives in.

Marcy says she is very confident right now, and she's always had an opinion.  Now, she's just figuring out how to voice it.

Anyway, I was grinning like a fool through the whole thing, even though I was soaked at the end.

A huge thanks to the whole team that takes such good care of my girl, especially Marcy, who sits in the cold and wet with a head cold to teach me.  I hope you are feeling better soon.

Do I have something on my face?