Holiday lesson recap

Happy belated 4th!

So I headed down for a lesson on Saturday and stayed until Sunday.  Saturday was dressage, and we did a group jumping lesson with Ginny on Pearl on Sunday.

Saturday, we worked on many things we have been working on, but taking things a bit further. Instead of just working on getting the inside leg to outside rein, we worked on actually establishing a shoulder fore.  I can't really feel it, since Violet is so short, but Marcy said I got it some.  I do know that we did some of the best turns on the haunches that we've ever done.  In the past they have been rather stilted, but this time, she just kind of oozed around with the same four beat walk rhythm.

This all set up for work on canter transitions.  Push out into the outside rein, develop the shoulder fore around the circle, and then ask with the inside leg.  She goes UP into the canter, rather than falling into it.  It's very nice and controlled without being fast.

After this nice, fairly short, very hot lesson, Violet was cared for and put in front of her favorite thing, the fan.

This is where I found Violet.  In front of her fan, which is her favorite!

We picked stalls, made sure everyone had hay and water, and headed to Marcy's for the Market Street Equestrian Fireworks extravaganza.

Finn, Pearl and Charlie headed to turn out

Violet in her paddock

We got there, set out some snacks and worked on food prep, finally settling down for a few hands of rummy before having to head back to the barn for evening chores.  Ponies were fed and turned out, and stalls were cleaned before we headed back to the house.  There we tag teamed the showers before all the guests arrived.

Ginny and Peg observing setup

The food spread

The crew gathering on the porch before food

We had 15 people there, I think.  And 9 dogs, all under 45 pounds.  We had salad with blue cheese, green beans, mac n' cheese, coleslaw, ribs and cornbread for dinner, with brownies, key lime pie, and fresh berry tart for dessert.  There was goombay smash and sangria, and a few games of cornhole.  This was all followed by a fabulous fireworks display put on my Marcy's husband over the lake.  Unfortunately, the wind blew the best part of the show up behind the trees, but it was still really fun.
Sunday, Ginny and I teamed up for a group jump lesson, since it is getting really hot and raining in the afternoon.  This allows all the lessons to get done before the weather comes in.

Part of the Market Street team enjoying dinner.  Caroline, Allison, Peg, Marcea, Chris and Ginny

The only decent picture I got

This lesson was a good one, as well.  Violet was being very good.  We were working on getting the holy trinity of jumping, line, pace and balance.  As I've said before, I'm usually pretty good at line, but the others vacillate.  We started over a smallish vertical with a pole placed one stride out.  After a bit, Marcy added the V poles to create a chute of sorts.  This made the pony jump big.  Once we had that pretty good, we took that and continued to the right to another vertical with a pole placed two strides out.  The goal was to get the turn and develop the pace through a fairly short turn, using the placing pole as a place to know where to balance before the fence.  This was tricky.  I had a little difficulty getting the pace right and I got off my line a bit by turning late, which encouraged Violet to put in a third stride, instead of the two that were intended.  After this, we were to go down to the other end of the ring and come back over an oxer.

Pearl conserving energy

So as we did the first two fences, they got higher each time we came through.  By the time we got to adding the third fence, I came around that corner the first time and thought "holy crap, that looks big" and put my hands down to grab mane right before the fence.  Unfortunately, this was enough to mess up Violet's balance, and there wasn't enough room for her to add a stride.  We crashed through the fence like we have never done before.  Once we were through the fence, I was off balance and seriously thought I was going to end up on the ground.  I managed to pull myself upright, but then started hopping up and down.  I think she thought I would be mad, so I gave her a pat and told her she was a good girl, because she tried her hardest to keep me in my seat.

Marcy asked me was I did wrong, and I said "I don't fucking know!" because I was frustrated and trying to keep myself from shaking like a leaf from almost falling off.  Her answer to that was the best thing for me ever.  "Quit cussing about it and tell me what you did wrong!"  "I dropped her balance."  And she says, "yes, what else?"  "I didn't have pace."  Ok, so I lost two of the three of the trinity.

Marcy dropped the fence down to a smaller vertical and sent me to canter a pole for confidence, and then we went over the little vertical back to the first fence with the V on it.  This, too, was big, but we did that one pretty good.  The next time through, it wasn't as good over the V vertical.  I was talking to Ginny about it and telling her she seemed to be going fast enough so I just sat on her and didn't really balance her because she was going, but we had enough pace that she got us over it anyway.  I said that part loud enough so that Marcy could hear me, and she replied "Thank you for answering that question!"

We went through the pattern a few more times, and eventually went over it twice set back to full height and width. The last time was really nice.

Ginny and Pearl went on to complete the full course, adding in the two combinations.  Pearl can get to trucking on through, so she has to be balanced pretty good.  They did a really good job and Pearly was jumping great.

This was my "course" of four fences

When we were walking out on the cross country field going back to the barn, Ginny confirmed what I thought.  Those two fences in particular were pushing Novice height.  That's like 3'!  I always said if I could be confirmed at 2'6", I would be good with that, but this was fun and exillerating!

This was Ginny's much bigger course

This coming weekend is a one lesson weekend, and next weekend we are heading OFFSITE to cross country school!  We're heading over to the Florida Horse Park on Saturday, because our cross country field is closed for the month and all the fences have been pulled.  I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited.  I've never actually schooled there before.

Because, how can you not love this face?