2 Lessons for Surf...and Huey's trotting now!

I'm behind updating again...but my defense is the 92 hours on my timesheet between last sunday and midnight tonight :-P I'm on call again today...but snuck in an early ride again! So, this is a combination of a Huey update and Surf's 2 lessons this week!

Huey trotted for the first time under saddle yesterday...he's been trying to sneak in a few steps of trot when I'm not paying attention, but yesterday was our first intentional trotting :) The old man was so cute...I asked for the trot and his ears perked up as if he was thinking "Really? I can trot? Hooray!" We're going to add in the trot work slowly, starting with 1 minute of trotting out of every 10 minutes of work. The old man feels a bit stiff behind, but it's been a year since he had his hocks done...and being out of work for several months isn't good for the creaky old joints!

Surf has had a busy week in some regards...but more days off than his usual schedule. Surf, like Huey get's pretty creaky and stiff if he doesn't stay in consistent work, so he get's ridden 5 out of every 6 days (I'm on call every 6th day, so that's his day off). This week was jumper show saturday, sunday off, monday dressage lesson, tuesday flatwork, wednesday off, thursday jumping lesson, friday conditioning, saturday off -- and tomorrow will be a long ride, hopefully with a combination of a nice long hack and practicing some of our homework from this week's dressage lesson.

Tuesday's Dressage lesson started with a treat -- Julia (trainer/Surf & Huey owner) asked if I wanted her to get on Surf so she could see what I'd been talking to her about in terms of his stiffness since his time off for the swollen leg. I love watching Julia ride, as she's very elegant and effective -- and she's great about narrating while riding about what she's doing and why. I also love to have the opportunity to stand on the ground and watch my horse go -- to really see what I'm feeling from the saddle looks like from the ground. Watching Surf, it always amazes me how LONG he is -- long legs, long neck, and VERY long back -- which contributes to how hard he is to put together. We spent a lot of the lesson working on getting Surf to be more attentive and responsive to my aids and directions. I have a real tendency to give up my outside rein and to lose his outside shoulder, which then lets him be the giant counter-bend wiggle-worm that he's so very good at being when left to his own devices. I also have a problem keeping him straight and properly bent through the corners...without him leaning on my inside leg. We worked on trotting 10m circles in each corner, then 10m circles at each letter, then coming down centerline alternating 10m circles to the left and right off centerline -- followed by a discussion of how a 10m circle sets you up to come down centerline straight, so to think of coming out of the final turn before centerline as riding that 10m circle. We did some canter work too, but the 10m circle concept was the big take-home point...so Tuesday was spent practicing our 10m circles, because Julia is going to ask us to show her our progress at our next flat lesson.

Thursday was a great jumping lesson...although it was interrupted in the middle by a thunderstorm/hailstorm which sent us scrambling into the nearest pasture and hanging out in the run-in with the other horses until it passed. Granted, we didn't run for cover until the hail started...as I quickly learned with Julia, rain is no excuse to cancel a lesson, as long as the footing is good (her motto is: If I can stand out in it and teach you, you can get out here and ride in it...). Surf was very well behaved standing around in his tack in the shed :) My difficulty with keeping Surf's shoulder from popping out while keeping him from leaning on my leg affects our jumping as well as our dressage ( I know I know, jumping is just dressage with speed bumps!) -- and I tend to lose his engine coming around turns, which leaves us with not enough canter coming to the fences at times...which translates into geting in tight and taking a shorter spot...which I hate and makes me want to throw my upper body at the fence and lean lean lean :P I also have an issue with wide fences...as in oxers with spread, not as in skinnies (I love skinny fences!). So what does our lesson consist of? Jumping spread fences off turns (Julia is Evil, but oh-so-good at targeting our weaknesses!). She set up all kinds of spread fences - oxers, oxers with brick walls under them, not 1 but 2 swedish oxers with liverpools, and a triple bar/fan. Surf was a superstar, and I'm slowly but surely making progress in SITTING UP coming to the fence, giving more with my hands in the last stride (but not giving with my upper body...giving some rein does not equal leaning forward!), and making my self sit up and put my leg on when he gets in close. Julia has told me a hundred times if she's told me once that Surf is honest and athletic enough to get himself over the fence from a tight spot...I just need to let him be able to do it by relaxing, supporting with my leg, and giving him the rein he needs to use his head and neck over the fence -- and darn if he doesn't jump like an A/O hunter when I do all that :P This lesson was probably the best/most consistent I've been with Surf, so it was a very positive experience. We usually end our lessons with a little course, and this was the one from this week:

Pick up a left-lead canter to an oxer/brick wall combo, land going left (and around another fence) hang out on the turn to a vertical with no ground line, then 4 strides to a swedish over a liverpool, roll back to another swedish over a liver pool, go right around another fence to a tall x one stride to some planks, turn left (crossing your line...so we'd never do this in a real course, but there was no other way to get back to our next fence) back to swedish with liverpool #2, keep going right to a triple combination of vertical - 1 stride - oxer - long 2 strides - rolltop/oxer, then done :)

Friday we went out and did trot/canter sets out in the fields and some hill work...mentally relaxing but physically taxing :)

What I've taken away from this week is that in dressage, I need to think for Surf and myself, and Surf has to be willing to listen to me and accept what I'm asking in a disagreement. However, when jumping, I need to be willing to be there for Surf and listen to him (while sitting up, supporting with my leg, and giving with my reins!) when we disagree -- especially about finding our spot to a jump. Surf has much more experience with this whole eventing thing than I do...and he was trained in the "old school" way of creating a horse that could think for himself and get himself and his rider out of a jam...so when it comes to arguing about a spot, go with his decision. If he thinks he needs to get in close, just be there, be supportive, and go with him.

I guess that's why this whole riding thing is a partnership, eh?!?!