Road trip!

Saturday we headed out to the Florida Horse Park for some cross country schooling.  We had a mixed group of 2 Training rides, 2 Novice rides, and me.  My goal was far different from everyone else, as it was simply to have a positive experience in a different place, probably just over the elementary level fences to keep it simple.  I was nervous, but kind of excited.

We chose the Florida Horse Park because 1) our cross country is closed the month of July and 2) there was a schooling show scheduled the next day, and the fences were marked, so we could follow the course.

In order to avoid the heat, we planned to be out of our farm by seven.  So that meant I had to head down on Friday night.  Saturday we were up early, got the barn chores done and the trailer loaded up and were on the road by 7.  We checked in, tacked up, and were heading out to the field by 8:32. Being as early as we were, we beat most others, but not by too much.

We started with a quick warm up in the field.  Violet being so worried about being left behind is easier to kind of do this alone, but not.  By that, I mean I warmed her up in the middle of the area, where no one else was, but where Vi could keep her eye on everyone.  I am very aware of her desire to chase, so I work very hard at not following anyone else.  When we stop by fences to school, I keep her separate from everyone else so she doesn't fight me when we leave the group.  We have worked hard on coming up with a workable solution for this, and it's not hard.  She was better than she has been in the past, so apparently it worked.

That's me in the middle

We started at a line of little houses.  Everyone else started at the elementary and circled around to BN, then around to Novice.  Then it was my turn.  We headed to the fence, planning on just doing the elementary, and Violet asked about 5 strides out if I was serious, and I said Yes?  With the question mark, she said, three strides out, yeah, I don't think so and stopped.  I took a breath, walked her up to the fence calmly and let her sniff it, turned away and popped her twice on the shoulder with the crop.

Note:  In the hunter world, I was taught you don't ever use the crop in front of the saddle.  However, Violet takes exception to what she considers a spanking.  If you want her to stop at a fence 10 strides out and refuse to go forward, pop her on the butt.  However, she takes the shoulder pop as a wake up and doesn't take it personally.  I know, strange pony.

We turned back to the fence, picked up a better canter, touched her with the crop on the shoulder to say "YES ma'am, I mean it now" and over she went.  We did it another couple of times to make sure she had the idea, and didn't have another issue.  I have to get that ride to the very first fence.

We moved on to a coop that lead to a bowl.  Lots to look at, no issue for the pony.

While the other riders worked on much more advanced tasks (fence to drop to skinny, etc.  One rider did the one handed drop ride, to which trainer says "you know she rides ponies, right?"), I walked in circles around my little fences.  I started to think, well hey, maybe I should just keep going from my one and do two in a row.  Not that we did, but the fact that my brain said "wouldn't that be fun!" is an improvement.

We headed to the bowl, where we walked up and down a few times.  Then I picked out my two elementary fences on the outside and stood and watched the other school their questions.  This took a while, as they were complex and required more than one ride through.  One horse required a different rider to get him through the question.  I have to say there is nothing more fun to watch than a pony rider get on a horse that is having an issue and negotiate through a question.  These two young women that we have riding our horses are fantastic and always a joy to watch.

Anyway, we got to me.  I took the little tiny house, rode around a right curve to the coop.  There may have been a whoop from me.  I'm pretty sure there was a whoop from those with me, since they all know where I'm coming from.  There is a video.  I, however, am not able to copy it to YouTube or here, because I fail at technology.  If you are industrious enough, you can find it on my Facebook page.

Then we worked on one that was in a shadow.  As Marcy warned, Violet stuttered up to it.  We did it a few times, and by the end it was better, but she always stuttered to it.  I can see we will have to continue to work on those light to dark questions.

There was one other fence, and then we headed to the water at the end.  This was really fun.  The water was murky, as it was not their normal water, but basically a swamp.  We walked through first, then everyone went through.  I was last.  We trotted through the water, picked up a canter as we came out and four strides later jumped another little house.  It was the best fence of the day and a great way to end a successful trip.  Next time, we'll start on the BN fences.

This weekend I'll head out for a lesson on Saturday and then on to my annual vacation at the beach. Since it's actually closer to the barn, I'll probably head over for a mid-week lesson as well.  Give my mom the opportunity to see her grand-pony, if she wants to.  It will be strange to be without both boy and dog until Thursday when he will join me for the last weekend, but it will be nice to settle down in my chair with my toes in the sand and the sound of the ocean in my ears with nothing else to worry about.

Jumping lesson

So Sunday dawned hot.  Surprise.  The high was officially 97, but I tell you, you hit the white sand of a ring, and it's about 10 degrees hotter than that.  Violet was not too excited about being removed from her fan.

We headed out to the ring, where we warmed up lightly, counting the rhythm of her strides in all the gates, bending in and out.  Funny thing about hot horses.  They tend to be hot and cheeky when it's cool outside, and turn into deadheads when it's hot.  She was pretty lackadaisical on the flat.  And she was not happy with the footing, which was a bit hard after some rain that dried up.

Then we got right to it, starting on a grid with cross rails.  Three fences, 3 stride to a 4 stride.  She needed pretty good support to the first fence, as she wanted to slow down to that one, but once in the line, she carried me right through.  I worked on keeping my eye up.  After a few times, the last fence went up to an oxer.

After this, the middle fence was put up to a vertical, and then the first was put up to an oxer.  The technicality here was in my ride.  Violet was still sticky to the first fence, so I had to send her over that oxer and try to keep from breaking my position open as early as usual and then ride to the vertical, where I could break earlier to steady for the final oxer, where I could hold position a bit longer and then get the balanced canter after the fence.  It was tricky, but pony was game.

After that, we went on to working on some lines.  The first was an oxer to oxer line in six strides. Then a right turn to a left bending vertical to vertical line.

We had a little difficulty with this.  The oxer to oxer line rode pretty well, and Violet is getting really good at getting her simple changes.  The issue was with the bending line.  I was not getting back into position and getting her organized early enough, nor riding out far enough in the turn, and it made the out sticky.  Not bad.  She didn't really chip, but it wasn't fluid.

Then we tried to put it all together.

Yeah, that didn't get better.  So we went back and did just the two lines one more time.

This time I got the forward stride, and had the balance in front of me to the last fence.  On that, we called it a day.  We were working on technicality, not endurance, what with it being so damned hot.  Lesson time was little more than 30 minutes, but well worth it.

Thanks to Ginny for being videographer extra-ordinaire.

This weekend we head to somewhere that I have never been to cross country school; the Forida Horse Park.  Should be interesting, as I'm just getting comfortable jumping the jumps in our own field.  And again it is supposed to be hot, so we are rolling out of the barn at 7am to be done by noon.

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?

Hot walks

This was one of those weekends that I can honestly answer "it was nice" when people ask how the weekend was.

The boy had to close Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and was off on Monday.  So the days kind of lined up for what we could do.

I came home from work on Friday and took Luke out for a long walk.  We hadn't gone for one in a while because it has been hot.  But it had rained and cooled off, and was cloudy, so I figured it was good.  We went across to another part of the neighborhood that is nice and shady.  When we were almost home, Luke decided he needed a break, so he laid down in the grass.  Curse of a black dog, I guess.  He was cute, I took a picture.  Little did I know, the picture would invite comments from people who have no idea.

Does this look like a puppy that is being tortured?

After posting the pic to FB, I got one comment from a cousin's boyfriend (who I have never met). Unfortunately, they are PETA types and he went off about how he doesn't have the ability to take off his coat, and how could I take him out in the heat with that on.  How would I like it?  This from a man who has no pets and doesn't know me.  Anyway, I deleted his comment, but not before some people saw it.

Now it is truly too hot to take the dog for a walk, other than a short walk before I go to work, and an even shorter one right before we go to bed.  When it is 100 during the day, and 85 degrees at 11:00 at night, it's too hot for black dogs to go for 2 mile walks.  But I will get his pool out this evening and see if he wants to play in that.

He does love his pool!

Saturday I headed to the farm and took lessons on Saturday and Sunday.  Market Street Equestrian had their party on Saturday night, which was really fun.  I headed home Sunday and hung out with the puppy.  More on this part later.

Happy 4th, from my house to yours!

Monday, the boy and I slept in a bit, and then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  We went to Home Depot and bought furniture for the front porch.  We unloaded that, sat at the house to cool off a bit, then went back out to see if there were any antique stores that were open.  On July 4th?  Not so much. Then we went to the store for watermelon, because what is July 4th without watermelon, and headed back home for an evening of Shameless (new on Netflix!), leftover ribs and green beans, and this non-cooked berry pie thing I made.  We spent a bunch of time keeping the puppy calm when the neighbors put on an impressive fireworks display.  He was good, but definitely wanted to be touching his people when the boomers started.  He's really turning into a sweet puppy.

Anyway, that was the weekend.  Nothing major, but it was a pleasant weekend.

So has anyone out there been accosted for stupid things like walking their dogs in the summer, and how did you handle it?

Weekend update

Well, unfortunately, there is still no media.

This weekend was interesting.  Saturday, I took the day off.

And when I say took the day off, I mean took the day off.  It was 98+ degrees, humid, and I just couldn't.  The dog didn't even get a walk.

It got so hot inside the house that I had to retreat from the regular living room, which used to be the porch and is basically one big window, to the den, which is a cave with no windows.  Even with the AC running, it was 83 in the house.

I worked on Christmas ornaments, and mopped the kitchen floor, and worked on catching up with 12 Monkeys on Demand.  I talked to no one other than the dog, and it was fantastic.  Once the boy got home, we ate left-over chicken cacciatori made by my brother/roommate and watched some Mad Men before heading to bed.

Sunday, I woke at 6:30, dressed, took the dog for a short walk in the rain, and headed to the barn for a lesson at 10.

We have decided the routine will be cross country schooling every other week, and this was that week.  Especially since there was a schooling show on Saturday and the fences were still set up and numbered.

So I tacked up, borrowing Ginny's cross country saddle (thanks Ginny!) and walked a bit waiting for Marcy to get done with a lesson.  She met us in the field with our friends the draw reins.

I trotted behind the golf cart for warm up, to the start box in the adjacent field.  There, we warmed up trotting over the elementary log back and forth, just once to get our feet wet.

Today's lesson was about the three main things you need to remember on course.  Line, balance and pace.  Line I'm pretty good at.  Balance and pace are works in progress.

So we started off over a BN house, right 180 degree turn to the elementary roll top.  That was the first time we cantered, and of course, Violet was great.  She locked onto the roll top after the turn and took me to it.  Then we circled back to the BN roll top that was between some trees and the new mound complex.  Marcy warned that she may try to lock onto any of the other fences she could see, but there was no problem.  I did drop her a little, but only with one hand, and because we had the pace we needed, it was no problem, and I was able to go with her when she took the fence just a little longer than she would have in the past.

We then headed down to fences 3 (feeder) and 4 (coop), which were set as a long combo on a bending line that involved riding a bit through the woods.  Marcy suggested taking the feeder on the left side of the fence in order to square out the left turn to the coop, about 9 strides away.  The whole thing rode well.

Fence 5 was the half roll top that we ended on last time, set on a slight uphill.  We took it out of stride, with no problems.

Then we had a bit of a ride through the woods along the fence line to the white bench.  Marcy said to be careful going through the woods and stand up, as you never know what might move that takes your horse by surprise.  Squirrels are scary, you know.  So I circled by the woods and rode up to the bench.  This is the one fence that we did twice, because Violet slowed down to it slightly and I looked down to see what she was looking at, and dropped her.  She made it over with a chip, so we did that one again, fully supporting her all the way to it.  Marcy said truthfully, this was the hardest fence on the course, because it was white and everything else was dark.  It will cause the horses to look a bit.

Next is a pretty tall mound, just up, over and down.  I was instructed to walk up and down, leaning a bit forward on the up and being aware she would try to trot down because it's easier, and just use a little left/right on the reins to keep her with me.  She took a couple trot steps up it, and started to walk down, but trotted the last few.  No big deal.

Next was the "water".  And yes, I put it in quotes because it's not our usual water complex.  It was basically a depression that they put water in, so it was more like a swampy/muddy area.  Or at least, that's the way it looks.  It's not really muddy, and has decent footing under the water, but isn't really clear.  We walked through that first, then circled back to trot through it and pick up the canter for the 4-bar fence that was about seven or eight (can't remember the count) strides behind it.  I was to concentrate on picking her up into the canter as we came out of the water, since it was such a short distance and we needed to get the pace built quickly.

Next was just a nice coop between some other fences.  We got good pace coming to it on a long stretch, working on the gallop and then balance strides before the fence.

Next is what we are calling the wishing well.  It's really like an introductory trakehner, as it's a hanging log over an open box.  We did this one the last time with no issues.  I was warned, however, that she may naturally slow a little, as the bottom of it, again, was lighter than the other fences, so she may look at it.  That lead directly to the last fence, which was a little table in a line with all the other final fences.  I was to ride the last two as if I was in the class.  It was a pretty decent haul up a slight hill to get to the last.

She took the wishing well with no issues, and we continued to the last fence, which was about 35 strides away (yes, I count.  It makes me breath and relax a little).  Violet was quite literally pulling me to that last fence.  I didn't rate her speed too much on the way up, but put in a pretty good (I thought) balancing stride before the last fence.  Maybe I wasn't as successful in that as I thought, as she rapped the fence as we went over, which I suspect means she was a little flat to it, since we were being speedy.  Then I cantered through the finish flags.

OK, so for most of you out there, this is no big deal.  For me, this was HUGE!  I just successfully schooled the entire BN course, from start to finish!  I wish there had been someone there taking pics or videoing, because there were some great efforts, and I know there was a hell of a lot of grinning. And Marcy was so proud!

She actually posted something on FB about it being a proud trainer moment, because when I came to her, I was afraid to jump a crossrail in the ring, and look at me now.  And this was why she does what she does.

I myself was reminded by FB when I got home of a post I had made 5 years ago about how happy I was that Violet and I successfully completed a walk-trot division at our local hunter/jumper show.  This was back at a time when there were days we chose not to trot in lessons, and canter was not a consideration because I was convinced she was trying to run off with me.

Now I am galloping on purpose, coming at fences with more pace than I ever would have thought, because it's easier, and grinning the whole time.  And I am finally really thinking maybe we can do this beginner novice thing.  I know Violet can.  Now I'm thinking I can too.

Oh, and eating chicken cacciatori, heavy on the garlic, the night before cross country schooling, is not a good idea, especially when you have nervous stomach, lol.

Pony progress

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while.  I'm finding life difficult right now.

I can say I had two fantastic rides this past weekend.  The first was dressage.  It's been a while since we did a true dressage lesson, but Violet was fantastic.  I lengthened my stirrups longer than I have in the past, and it seems to help my balance problem some.  We worked on getting the "basketball bounce" kind of canter in the circle, and worked on getting the counterbend into the corners at the canter.  It's cool to think we can get to that now, bending at the canter.  I'm getting better with the timing of inside and outside legs.  Nice to see we are still carrying forward in progress without drilling dressage all the time.

Slowly working our way back to this.

 The second day we did jumping.  We started just cantering a cloverleaf over poles, working on carrying the "triangle" over the poles and not dropping my contact.  The triangle is a visual reference to me for the shape my hands make when they are together above her neck.  The cloverleaf also helped me with keeping my eye ahead of me, looking to the next pole instead of looking down.  Then we started jumping two long lines of about 7-8 strides.  We started with a vertical to vertical line, working on being able to recognize when the steady stride between the fences should happen.  Since a vertical will end with her landing further away from the fence, the steady stride, which for me is almost always simply sitting up straight rather than a pull, should happen sooner in a line.  We did this a few times, then moved to another oxer to oxer line where the balance stride happens a little bit later in the line, but that I also needed to keep moving forward.  This was hard for me in the beginning when the fences were smaller.  Even if I was looking to the next fence, it was so low that I was still looking down, which pitches my balance forward.  I was also told that I have gotten better with not jumping ahead with my body, but that I am still jumping ahead with my hands.  I prepare for the jump a stride or two out by putting my hands forward, which is actually still dropping Violet, putting her onto her forehand so she chips.  So the last couple of times we did the vertical to vertical line around to the oxer to oxer, I had to work with getting the balance strides where they should be, then supporting all the way to the fence and not prepping (propping) with my hands a stride out.  By this time the fences had crept up to a true BN height, and the last time we did it, it all came together and we got the forward strides in both lines!  It was a lot of fun.  Now this weekend we will go back out in the field to cross country school.

And very glad the grass is tall enough that salad can be obtained without reaching, lol

I haven't mentioned it, maybe because I wanted to see how it was all going to work out, but Marcy had her surgery a couple of weeks ago, and worked out a deal with our two girls extraordinaire for care and riding of the ponies to keep them all going while she spends the next 4 to 6 months recouping.  Yep, they say if she wants it to heal properly with full strength and range of motion that is needed for riding, it will take that long.  In the meantime, the horses will stay in full training.  They will be ridden by the girls who will be taught daily by Marcy in order to keep the horse's training on track.  I think this is a win-win for a difficult situation.  The girls are getting experience that they never would have had and are doing a fantastic job taking care of the horses, Marcy gets to see how they are going and that they are on track to where she wants them to be, and we get the benefit of the horses remaining in full training.  We as riders have been pitching in on the weekends to do care so the girls get some time off.  Of course, this means more whole weekends at the barn, as Saturday lunch, dinner, Sunday breakfast and lunch all have to be covered, but so far it's working well.

Hopefully next week I'll have some media to go with my diatribe.

Using my words

I do apologize about the post earlier this week with no words.  This week has been an absolute whirwind and I really wanted to get the media up because I was so proud of myself.

First, it was hot.  OMG, it was so hot.  Like the fiery depths of hell hot.  And of course if there is any kind of anxiety, then you have that and you have adrenaline.  So, yeah, very proud that I didn't throw up or faint.  Although I may have sounded like a freight train.  Until I started counting, which actually means breathing in a normal way.

Anyway, yes, I did successfully school cross country.

And by successful, I mean the above mentioned not throwing up, fainting or falling off.  And, much more importantly, it was fun!   Still nerve inducing, but fun!  We had pony club testing in the jump rings, so cross country it was.  And there were horses everywhere.  We went out to the field with Marcy and the boy leading in the golf cart and me trotting behind.  Quick warm up, since it was so hot, of trot and canter, and then we walked and trotted through the water and over a little tiny cut log pile.  From there we went to a tiny coop (elementary).

If you read this blog at all, you will have heard of the 18" coop of death.  This was not that one, but I still have nerves regarding coops, since V seemed to take exception to them.

I had to go into this whole endeavor acknowledging that this was not the same horse that I last schooled cross country with such difficulty.

That horse started counting from the first flub and held it against me.  You don't keep leg on all the way to the fence?  That's #1.  You drop her in front of the fence?  That's #2.  You get ahead of her?  That's #3 and she was done.  She wasn't sure what this cross country crap was about, but was pretty cure that since I wasn't sure, she shouldn't have to figure it out.

This horse, though?  She has figured out what it is and what it's about.  6 months of weekly cross country schooling sessions, and she has figured out how to let go after a boo-boo.  She has learned to forgive me in order to get to the next fence, so that's very cool.

So, back to the coop, we got over that with no problem, then moved to a couple of rolltops, one elementary, one BN.  The goal was to do right lead to and over the small one, pick up left and circle back to the bigger one.

First try was a bit of an oops.  The boy said after "Even I could see what Marcy was talking about.  You totally looked down at the fence."  So we tried it again, this time with me looking up and not down at the fence.

Much better that time.  

Then we did an elementary bench, and then came a log and the wishing well.  The wishing well was the one time I actually felt Violet ask "are you sure?"  I simply used a little leg to say yes and she replied with a "yes ma'am" and hopped right over.

Then we went to the little bendy log to the half rolltop.  At the rolltop, I got left behind.  We went around and did the log again to restore confidence and then did the rolltop again, and this time it was perfect.  Marcy let out a whoop, which I could listen to over and over.  

Because it was such a great effort, we stopped at that.  We are trying to break this down into workable pieces for me to get my brain around it.

In looking at the video, and thinking about how it all went, it was obvious the ones I had issues with were the ones that I personally was intimidated by.  I have to ride those ones better.  Instead of getting nervous and hoping the pony will go over them, I have to ride her to and over them.  I was proud of the wishing well, because it's the first time I've ever been over it, and I rode it well.  Well enough that we only did it once.  

So I ended the whole experience with a smile on my face.  Big thanks to Marcy and the boy, for being my cheering crew and biggest supporters, and understanding how big of a thing it is for me to jump these little fences.