Andrea and Pro (Sat)

Work has been crazy lately for both me and Kate, but Pro was more-or-less getting ridden regularly. In Kate's lesson on Friday Gayle had her using small circles off the outside aids while on a 20m circle to get him connected on the outside in an effort to get him to stretch forward and get less stuck behind the bridle (at least I think that's what they were doing, I missed the first 5-10 min). So I started off doing the same thing, just asking him to move forward and off his hindquarters. Whenever he started to get strung out/disconnected I'd ask with my outside hand and leg for him to do a smaller 10m circle then we'd go back out to the 20m circle. He was doing this really well, which was excellent, because Kate and her friend who was visiting surprised us after about 10 minutes. We showed off for Mommy, then she coached me through what she and Gayle had been working on while her friend snapped 800 pictures in the rain. Pro was great through it all. We did some changes of direction and canter in two-point with a babying open rein to try to get him to bend some and called it a day.

Skate starts lateral work!

Finally! So excited to be moving past forward and that boring stuff I've been doing for most of my life. I had a lesson on Saturday and my instructor said Skate will never use his little butt until we get him really moving off my leg and bending...so we started lateral work. Teaching a horse how to do a turn on the forehand makes you realize how difficult it is to coordinate all of your aids at once. We didn't get it until I finally started using my whip to reinforce the 'move it!'.

We did spiral in at the walk until the center of the spiral where it turned into TOF and he really stepped under himself...then I immediately made him trot off energetically (this was nearly impossible). He had a tendency to get really stuck after the TOF, so the trot was to get him moving forward again. It really made a huge difference in his trot...which was much more springy and engaged.

She also had me work on riding like his hind end was in front of me, since he's on his forehand and I have a tendency to lean forward in huntery fashion. Trying to mentally ride what's behind you will really make you sit back...at least it did for me.

That evening was the barn Halloween Party...Skate went as Scooby, I was Daphne, and Matt was Shaggy. Really, it was the easiest costume I could think of : ) We also ran barrels...in 19 seconds! I think real barrel racers do it in 5. I did, however, win the adult division...as I was the only adult. I got schooled by the kids on ponies! So cute!

Skate's back in action...

Man, I hate posting such boring stuff after that exciting cross-country post from Hannah...but oh well!

I finally got to ride Skate after nearly two weeks off due to his fence-post leg. I expected the worst and happily got pretty darn good. He was a little fussy overall...but he's always like that. Actually, his trot was great most of the time, rhythmic and forward. I worked on the canter...which was dreadful at first but I asked from the walk next time and got a wonderful uphill collected canter. Good pony.

My annoying bit: I decided to put him on Reitsport by Horsetech...great product, covers pretty much everything I wanted in a supplement - vitamins/minerals/probiotics/joint care. So, like a complete friggin idiot, I ordered the 20 lb bucket, since its cheaper in the long run. Well, guess what? Skate won't eat it. He doesn't just boycott the supplement, he boycotts the entire bottom half of his feed. I'm holding out the hope that he's just off his feed in general due to the antibiotics, so I'm not paying to return 20lbs just yet. If he still won't eat it after stopping the meds, then we'll see. What a hassle...

Cross Country with Jimmy W. - or how we started schooling Prelim

Radnor was, eh. Stadium was not so hot. Trainer and I got the big E's. Oh well...always next time.

We've been doing our homework big time for the last 2 weeks -- culminating with a cross-country lesson with Jimmy Wofford yesterday! It was incredibly windy...and our xc course is up on a BIG hill...so the horses were more than a little bit wound up! It was a beautiful sunny day though - a perfect day to be out on XC! Here's the view you get when you climb up the hill to our XC course

Now, I'd signed Surfie up for the training group lesson...and we've completed exactly 1 Training HT...but little did I know there were 2 training group lessons. Just moved up to Training, but still really Novice...and been-there, done-that, definitely ready to move up to Prelim (3'7"!!!!!) and already jumping that height. Guess which group we ended up in...yep, that would be group #2. We didn't know that until we'd finished warmup and Jimmy pointed out the first set of jumps. After having a good gallop around XC, we lined up to warm up over a vertical -- trotting and cantering both directions, and jumping up and down hills, then jumping the little vertical to a post and rail fence. Next jimmy said -- "ok, see that little palisade, jump that, track right, prelim table, novice table, prelim bench -- good set to get us thinking forward." 

What?!?! Prelim table? Prelim bench? ACK! I turn to Julia (who's also surprised, as the horse she's riding in this group is still new to the level) who says that Jimmy knows me, knows the horse, and wouldn't let us do it if he didn't think we could -- and that I knew what I needed to do to get the job done...so just get it done. So off we went...to the palisade

The prelim table! Yikes

The novice table (the white fence to the right) and back around to the prelim bench (in the foreground) -- and yes, that is a full size round bale for size comparison!

Surfie had a little trouble getting his engine going away from the group, and bonked his hind hoof on the edge of the table, but jumped the last 2 fences beautifully. Then it was off to play with jumping on hills. We walked over to a small log on a steep hill and practiced galloping it uphill -- where you need to be right over the middle of the horse, very in synch, and jump with the horse over the fence. Galloping downhill, we worked on staying back, a bit behind the motion, and letting the horse jump forward, out from underneath us, so that we'd land over the horse on the downhill landing rather than jumping with the horse and landing with our weight leaning forward, pushing them onto the forehand. This uphill/downhill log was our prep work for the sunken road (downhill jump = drop bank, uphill jump = up bank) -- which for anyone who's never seen one is a bank complex set into the ground, so you're galloping along, drop down into the sunken road, take some strides (in this case 2 strides), then jump a bank out back onto level ground. First we cantered at an angle into the sunken road from the side (so you didn't drop in) and jumped one bank out, then reversed to jump the other bank out, then put the 2 together in both directions. Apparently my bank exposure therapy is working, as it wasn't as bad as banks usually are for me :) Next we put the sunken road together with a few other fences -- we jumped the sunken road, did a roll-back to the right to a roll-top, a training bench, and skinny prelim table all on a bending line. I'd found Surfie's "engine" by then - Piece of cake!

Next we did a combination of fences that I'd jump-judged at a horse trial earlier this year (the MCTA HT borrows our xc jumps, so these exact fences had been set up for the prelim division). The question was 2 coops, 2 strides apart, offset so that you have to jump through at an angle, jumping both fences on an angle. 

Our instructions were to trot down the hill, find our line, jump through, pick up "a real gallop, Prelim pace" across the field to jump the "flyer-fence" -- a timber racing fence. Now I have no idea how fast prelim pace should feel (it's 550 meters per minue...about 20mph), so I watched the first horse go and Jimmy said it was a tick too slow, then the second horse was a tick too fast...so we jumped through the coops and gave it our best guess. I boxed Surf with both legs on landing, and he took off like a rocket. Surf has the most amazing half-halt cross-country -- all you have to do is put your but in the tack and sit up and he balances himself (I wish it was that easy in Dressage!), and took the fence like it was nothing

We went back up the hill to wait with Julia, and the first thing she said, with a big grin, was "I want that one back. Maybe he can go Intermediate after all." She said she watched us haul butt across the field and was wondering if we were going to rebalance, then said she was very proud when she saw me sit up and ride the fence. I have to admit that I had a huge goofy grin on my face. Next we moved onto the trakhaners. Now, my goal since I came to the farm was to someday jump the BIG trakhanker...and today was the day :) First we jumped the open ditch

then came back around to the small trakhaner, jumping it to the left side so that you could put a forward 2 strides in to the angled stone wall

Surf jumped it in 2 with no problems (though previously we've jumped it by jumping the trakhaner right of center, with 3 strides on a bending line to the wall). Then it was time for the BIG one. 

We jumped the open ditch going away then circled around and found our line for the approach. About 4 strides out I was getting a little nervous and surf started to shorten his stride -- the last thing I'd want going into this fence is a little chippy stride...so I went to my stick and he jumped it beautifully :) Goal accomplished! From the trakhaners, we went on to jump 2 angled lines of logs -- a 2 stride to a skinny bounce and a bounce to a one stride

Then we moved on to the water. I need to get pictures of the crazy water jump! We started just cantering through to get everyone's feet wet. Next we cantered through the water and jumped a log out. Next we cantered a small log, 1 stride, then through the water to jump a log in the water off a tight bending turn. Surfie put on the breaks here, not sure why as we've done it a dozen times before. Jumped in fine the second time and went neatly over the out. The final exercise was a downhill run to a drop bank, 2 strides to a rolltop on the edge of a drop into water. Our first try down the hill Surfie wiggled out as I wasn't steering...very embarrasing. The second time was textbook perfect :) We held our own with the big kids today!

He get's today off, we'll do flat work tomorrow, stadium lesson friday, then show at Waredaca on Saturday :)

Pepsi- What a GOOD Little Morgan!!

Last night I went out to groom Pepsi (didn't have time to ride) and he ground tied the WHOLE time! (At least 30 minutes! Woo-hoo!) He still will try to occasionally move a bit, but I've been consistent enough now that usually all I have to say is 'eeeent!' when he's about to move and he'll stop. And if he DOES still move a foot or two, now I can usually just say OVER and he'll go back to where he was. (If I REALLY need his attention, I can give a finger tap on the shoulder, but for the most part that's not necessary now.)

Considering several months ago I was basically beating him in the wash stall to keep him from running over me, I consider this HUGE progress. Needless to say, we're BOTH happier now! :D

Also, I HAVE been riding, just not posting. But, after my mini-lesson last week, I realized that I've been letting my expectations drop SO low that they were barely non-existent. That's stopped. Now when we walk we WALK, and when we halt we HALT and we don't do anything until I ask him to. And I'm riding with the dressage whip again at the walk a) to increase my coordination with it so when we go back to trot work I won't be whomping him inadvertently and b) so that when I ask for something at the walk and he doesn't respond I have an IMMEDIATE comeback. He's gotten MUCH more responsive to my leg because of it, and I keep checking myself to make sure I'm not asking for more than he can handle. (He can only go about 4-5 strides at the walk right now while REALLY using his back and stepping under himself, so I make sure to ask for him to engage, use the whip if he doesn't, then praise when he DOES use that hind end and really steps under himself, and then I leave him alone for that 4-5 strides AND continue to leave him alone for the next 4-5 strides while he goes back to his 'normal' walk. This way I'm not CONSTANTLY pushing him and asking him for things that he's not physically capable of doing and hereby making him sour about the work. After his normal 4-5 strides though I ask again for engagement and the cycle continues. ;) )

Generally speaking, I just have to up my expectations, and make sure that he meets them. He's smart enough that he can as long as I make it clear what I want and be consistent about it.

Kate & Pro - Sunday & Monday

I think Andrea's right - he's definitely a cranky boy now that we keep adding tricks to our giant "anti-misbehavior" arsenal. He's started to get really mad and try a bunch of evasion tactics all at once. During our last lesson Gayle observed that he would try rhythm evasion, then head evasion, then back to rhythm, then head...and look consistently floored that I kept right up with him in blocking each of his attempts. Actually, while in Kroger tonight I had a large revelation. In terms of trainability, I've become very low in MY trainability factor!!! When Pro makes a request he expects me to have high trainability and say, "Oh is this what you want? For me to drop my hands? Collapse my midsection?" Now I'm finally saying "No...no...no...no." to all of his requests. And man, does it make him MAD! Though it did give me a little laugh, and it was quite humbling to realize that I've just now regained my status as the more cognitively advanced species in this duo. ;)

Anyway, he was quite mad last night. Angry when I touched him with the whip, angry when I boxed him with my inside leg, just mad that I was making him doing anything he didn't want to do. Clearly all he wanted to do was walk around sideways like a giraffe. I did manage to get him to a good stopping point after about 30min, though we only stayed at the walk. We also had a solid 10min of 10m circles by the bunny tree since he refused to relax. Well, Mommy refused to give in. I mentally "canceled" my evening plans (it helps me not get tense about realizing how much time I'm "wasting" by having to deal with his tantrums) and we walked and walked by it. Eventually he settled.

Tonight was better. Even though it was dark by the time I got to the ring (and with daylight savings coming up, this will be a sadly regular thing...) he only took about five minutes to settle down. After that he was still a bit resistant, but at least he was giving me his full attention. Always a good thing!!! I'm happy to deal with unwillingness as long as the focus is on ME. Gayle says to act like a total diva when I ride...it's all about me! ALL about ME ME ME! No one else, not Pro, not the tree, not the distractions, not anyone else. ME! :)

He was moving his shoulders QUITE well tonight. I'm still amazed at what a difference it makes to put my outside leg back a bit as I ask. Brilliant. I still have to make sure I catch him with my inside leg so he doesn't attempt to turn it into a Western spin, but he's getting better. We practiced our walking squares with quarter-pirouettes as corners and he was very good. Ended with some lovely trot. :) For about two 20m circles he was acting humorously odd - he huffed himself up as he trotted and acted like he wanted to canter or buck. I let him stretch a bit by lengthening my outside rein and he settled down. Good pony!

Kate & Pro - lunging + whip

Okay, this is from Wednesday night...Andrea beat me to the blog posting today. ;)

I decided to extend our whip/groundwork session into a longer lunging session. No sidereins or anything, just bridle and lunge line, plus the whip. I started off at the walk as usual, just like we do before our rides. Pro's getting a LOT better about accepting the feel of the whip on his side. Once he ceased with the tail swishing, I let the lunge out to about a 20m circle and let him stretch out at the trot. He actually "gets" the use of the lunge as an inside rein. I can taaaaake, and then gently release and he'll drop his neck down and stretch. It's pretty neat! He is smart, sometimes.

After that, I gradually reduced the side of the circle and gently touched the whip to his side again, just like I did at the walk. He seemed a bit shocked that I would dare try this at the trot (someone doesn't like change) but eventually settled down. He even let me gently tap it on his side and it seemed to really help him step up and underneath himself at the trot. He's getting it! :) Starting to realize that it's not a "BAD PONY" aid or a "GO FASTER" aid, but a "step under yourself, lift your back" aid. Woohoo!

I let the line out, had him canter for awhile and practiced trot-canter transitions, then repeated the whole thing to the other direction. Such good pony. :)

Pro the Goober

So I guess Kate and I have both been really busy lately I guess judging by our lack of updates ;).

To recap my week with Pro: Tuesday he was a snot at the beginning, just very angry and determined to make sure I knew it. He decided to do that by going sideways around the circle while making giraffe faces. I boxed him forward (slapping him with my legs) and kept my outside rein connected and asked him to soften with the inside and after about 10 minutes we were going forward and straight. He went pretty well after that, good enough that I even cantered him under the lights. We made it about 4 times around before he jumped sideways at the bunny tree. When you're riding at the canter in 2-point, jumping sideways is much worse. I stayed on, but we went back to the walk and trot after that.

Tonight he started off just as angry, doing exactly the same thing. I started to get him to soften and relax for a bit, but to start with when I got my outside rein connected and tried to soften with the inside rein he freaked out when I'd take any contact. I think he's angry that right now we've pretty much got his number and is making sure we know it. So got him through that and then decided to ask for some quarter-pirouettes. Kate mentioned that she'd gotten much better results by putting her outside leg further back so I did that and he was turning amazing, each step was nice and distinct but very free and relaxed and he'd walk off immediately so he was keeping him impulsion. However, after about 4 or 5 he started flipping out everytime I'd ask for one. He'd stop. He'd back. He'd sidepass. He'd do his giraffe impression. I could boot him forward but he'd toss his head and stomp his front feet and generally act like a moron. I thought it was because he was being spooky about the pasture behind the bunny tree being all shadowy and the gate looked sort of evil, so I took him in the pasture and rode him around in there. He wasn't spooky or looky at all so I have no idea what his problem was. I went back into the ring and it was still there though. We spent the rest of the ride fighting about that and I never really got him to just shut up and listen. We did get to the point where he wasn't being insanely stupid and I kept him there for awhile, but I just didn't have any really good idea of how to fix the issue. I think Pro just doesn't approve of the new routine of "clean stalls, get Pro, ride, then Pro eats" especially since he has to get tacked up and go out right as dinner's being served to the rest of the horses. That's just how the timing works out though, unless I want to stand around waiting for him to eat.

Pepsi....A Perfect Ending to A Perfect Day!

Ok, so my day didn't exactly START OUT so perfect. I was actually stressed nearly to the point of an anxiety attack over the Anatomy & Physiology test I had at 2:00. But, after I got to school at 10:30, sat down with some friends from class and studied with them, I felt MUCH more comfortable with the material. A friend and I had lunch together right before the test too, and quizzed each other while eating. That helped a TON!

So anyway, I took the test (which went MUCH better than I thought it would this morning!) and left for an interview. The interview went FABULOUSLY well and I'm REALLY excited to get hired and work for this guy. (It's a barter system- I'd give him admin help and he'd give me 2 personal training sessions a week! Totally awesome and JUST what I need!!)

So, after the interview I met up with Billie to pick up all of her great stuff that she is just giving away (thanks Billie!!!) and then went and grabbed supper. (Btw, billie is super nice in real life and the amount of stuff she gave me was just incredible!)

So, on to the best part of all....I drive out to the barn, and on the way the moon is full and low in the sky. It also happens to be BRIGHT orange (making me think of the fall harvest and Halloween!) and is just absolutely beautiful. I mean gorgeous. So I get to the barn and walk up to the pasture. And it's pitch dark. Sure, I have the nice bright moon...but have YOU ever tried to find a bay horse in a 3 acre pasture at 8:30 at night with nothing but moonlight lighting your way? It's impossible.

So I start calling to Pepsi, hoping I'll at least see movement so I'll know where the herd is . And then, about 30 seconds later I hear hoofbeats coming form waaaaaay back in the field. I listen some more and they start getting faster and are coming STRAIGHT AT ME. I can't see Pepsi until he's about 20 feet away, but he ran ALL THE WAY up to me from the very back of the field just to see me! It was just adorable. And then he sniffed me (no nibbling, just sniffing Alex!) and stood perfectly still while I scratched all his itchy places he likes so much, and THEN went to sleep with his head on my shoulders and in my arms.

Really and truly, I LOVE this horse. Just love him.

(And I love that he loves me too!!)

Insert all your 'awwwwwws' here. ;)

Kate & Pro's Marathon Lesson

So Friday's lesson nearly shattered my pelvis. I rode for just about 2 1/2 hours. Paaaaain! Which of course now makes it difficult to remember everything that Gayle said, what we did, etc. I'll try to get the highlights. He was being such a twit when we started that he was lateral-walking and giraffe-facing. Gayle pointed out that he likes to hit me with multiple forms of evasion. So he was trying rhythm evasion (lateral walk) and bit evasion (giraffe face). To combat the rhythm, she had me focus on making his rhythm very correct and distinct. I move him and I dictate the rhythm, not him!! Then for the giraffe face, pick up my hands. And not just up out of my lap. UP. Even up to my chest. To wherever the bit stays in the same place and I have a straight bit line. And hold it there. Pro was, of course, infuriated by this. He eventually put his head down, I lowered my hands to their correct spot, and praised him.

We worked a lot on moving his shoulders over. Somehow, I had a magically huge revelation with this. I wasn't putting my outside leg back enough when I asked him to move his shoulders over on a turn, or a quarter-pirouette. So he'd been moving his HQs as well, subtly so I wouldn't notice. No western spins, says Gayle! Once I put my leg back as I asked, WHOOSH, his shoulders moved right over freely! It was so neat. We played around with that a lot as well with the submission.

Then the inside rein, my crack habit. We discussed purposeful use - ie, when I use it, I *USE* it, and then return it to neutral. No tweaking, no gently using it. Pull it ALL the way out, then release to neutral. She did get after me once because I used it and let it go too quickly, she said his head ricocheted like whiplash! ;) but I eventually figured it out.

We also talked about how bent his neck should be at all times. She integrated a little physical therapy into our lesson by working on his neck, getting his poll to flex in her hands, working on his jaw, etc. He loved it, of course. His nuchal ligament, she thinks, may prevent him from ever correctly being poll-high. When he's lazy, he breaks at the nuchal ligament area, not his poll. Thank you western pleasure Arab trainers who cranked his neck in draw reins at age 2-3... We also talked about only being able to see his inside eyelashes when he's bent. No more bend than that! True bend is body only. However, he does use wiggly-ness to evade so I need to watch that.

At about the 2 hour mark, something magical happened - he submitted!!! He started to come truly through and step under himself and relax over his topline. Of course, Gayle said I couldn't get off yet. If we were teaching him a new skill and he finally mastered it, you praise and get off. But if it's something basic (going round), you can't. Then they win. So I pushed through it. We worked at the trot, applying the same moving-shoulders turning, keeping the correct bend, getting him to step under himself. I also spent time playing with inside rein neutrality. When I give as a reward, I can't just fling it out there and leave it be. I have to GIVE the reward, then take back to neutral. Hmm, interesting.

Anyway...he finally got his post-lesson carrot. :) Last night's ride was pretty good, only took us about 10-20min to get submission and then he relaxed into a decent trot. We're still using the whip in groundwork before every ride, I think it's making him less freakish about it. :)

Update on Deuce, and a possibility...Magic

This post is long past due! I have just been SO bummed for the past several weeks that I didn't feel like writing this. Deuce had all summer off after his weird parking out incident in June, and I was hoping that it had helped and that whatever problem he had been experiencing had corrected itself after his shoes were pulled and he got a good trim to put his feet back at the correct angles. My farrier came out September 22nd to trim Deuce, and I was really hoping, and planning, to put front shoes back on him and bring him back into work. Well, that didn't happen. It was painful for Deuce whenever the farrier pulled either front leg forward. I palpated Deuce's back, and it was still very sore. There was no way Deuce could be put on a hoof stand to shoe him, and no sense in shoeing him just to stand in the pasture, unless there was a valid therapeutic reason.

I took Deuce back to the vet, and when we got him on a flat, level surface and viewed his back from above and behind, he is not symmetrical from his left side to his right side. The right side of his back looks atrophied. He also is resistant to flexing his head around to the right. Five days of stall rest with 2 grams of Bute twice a day did help some. He was able to tolerate flexing his head around to the right more, and his back was less painful. From there, he was turned back out and kept on 1 gram of Bute twice a day. He became more painful again. Next, he was put on stall rest without Bute. He remained painful. He has been back on turnout without Bute since the middle of last week. Sunday, his back was still painful, but I could pull his legs forward further, especially the right front, without him pulling back.

My vet had been in contact with both Va Tech and NCSU-CVM. Deuce will need to go to one of the vet schools for x-rays of his neck and withers. We are wondering if Deuce had a wreck as a baby that is just now showing up. Do any of you have any ideas? Whatever the problem is, Deuce is in pain continuously. He is not really showing any neurological problems, either. That is placing something like EPM further down the list of possibilities. Also, does anyone have an opinion of VA Tech versus NCSU? My only experience is, of course, with NCSU. I was thinking about trying to wait until a clinician I know is on clinics there.

This could very well be a career ending problem for Deuce, which is why I have been so bummed! This is my favorite time of year to ride, too. So I have been keeping my eyes open for something to ride. Early last week I went to check out a mule that I could free lease. She was very pleasant to ride, and would be something that I could trail ride.

Then I saw a horse posted in the "Giveaways" forum on COTH the middle of last week. She is a 16.2 hand 7yo OTTB mare, and she has done some eventing. I went to look at her Sunday. Another family came to look at her as well, though, so I was doing a really good job of not getting my hopes up...until I rode her! I REALLY liked her. She was willing to come into a nice frame for me, and was very nice to ride. It was evident how much I need to get back in shape, but she was responsive and soft. After cantering some, I was able to get a really nice forward trot with her pushing deep from behind and coming nicely onto the bit. I just couldn't sustain it for very long right now!


The owner went to check out the facility of the other people that afternoon, and I was expecting to be told that they would be getting Magic, as they have a lot going for them. The girl is in regular lessons with a big name trainer, too, and had been able to come out and look at Magic once or twice before. However, she told me that she would still like to come look at where I would be keeping Magic, and wants to see me ride her again. So I am still be in the running. The owner is coming to look at the place where I would board Magic on Saturday, and I am going to look at her again Sunday. Comments and conformation critiques are welcome!

Lame Skate

Dangit, I went out to the pasture (the farthest corner, of course) to grab Skate to go for a ride and was really annoyed to find him lame on his right hind. It's hugely swollen from below the hock to above the fetlock. He has two obvious injuries in that area, but both of them have been there for a week or more. I am praying its not something major. Two other horses recently developed cellulitis in the barn this weekend - odd, I've never actually seen multiple cases of cellulitis at once!

I did the usual cold-hosing and poultice with wrapping and he got some banamine for pain...now he's stall-bound until the swelling goes down. I'm hoping the barn owner will call me today and say it looks better. I hate keeping him inside, but if its a soft-tissue injury, he certainly doesn't need to be running around on it. If he doesn't seem better today, we'll have the vet out.

He is terrible about getting beat-up in the pasture, although I suspect he does it to himself! The BO said she saw him out there one morning standing outside the run-in just kicking away. Moron. Why would he be kicking the run-in??

Gate Sourness Sunday

I may be the strange one of the crowd but I LOVE riding alone. I got to the barn yesterday and there wasn't anyone around at all. I got Desi out and after getting her all pretty I took saddle fit pictures. I am pretty good with english saddles but much better with western. Go figure that my really nice expensive saddle doesn't fit her at ALL. So I rode in my cheapy.

Since there was nobody around after we warmed up and went over our previous lessons: standing, turning off leg, stopping with my seat and NOT when I say "Good girl", and moving those pesky shoulders over.

I held the buckle and let her trot and trot and trot. At first she stayed on the rail and was very unsure about her speed. If I took a bigger breath she would slow down she wouldn't just move out. So I would push her if she lagged or felt like she was going to walk. After about a mile or so she settled into a very nice rythmic trot. Then decided that was boring and did what I wanted her to do.......headed for the gate. The nice thing about her is she is SUPER sensative. So when she would head at it directly I would just my voice and click to her, when she would go past it I got quiet. I only used my legs to keep her trotting. After 2-3 times she avoided the gate like the plague! If we were tracking left she would go towards the middle of the arena about 15' before the gate and go back on the rail 15' after the gate. LOL I have a SMART mare!

We probably trotted a good 4 miles yesterday. Tonight we will go back to bareback and hopefully start alternating. I want both of us in killer shape! I took some conformation shots of her tonight to hopefully compare in a few months to see if muscle has improved some of her weaker areas.

Anyone want to buy a County Stabilizer?? LOL I listed it on Ebay. Ideally I will get enough to get a nice CC that fits her(under $700) and then take the rest and my western saddle and get the Wade saddle of my dreams.(western)

Look how smart I am! I found the EDIT button! Ok, here are her confo shots. Feel free to pick her apart.

What I see:
Roachy
Weak Pasterns
her front cannon bones attach to the ouside of her knees
cow hocked

Pro and his Attitude

Ok, so I've been super busy the past couple weeks so I've been missing my updates. I rode Tues and Sat though (not today, my schedule didn't let me).

Tues started out decent which I was happy about because I was all set to try out my new lesson tricks, but then the dog from across the pond showed up and made me nervous which then got Pro antsy and well, it didn't get better really.

Saturday was basically the complete opposite. Pro started out in full "FU" mode. He wanted to ignore me right from the get-go. He was fine with me connecting my outside rein, but he really didn't want to yield his head/neck/poll when I asked with the inside rein. So we had several long bonding moments with the inside rein where I kept steady pressure on the outside rein and pulled his head around to the inside with an opening inside rein. After a couple of those he started to listen more so I did the shoulder softening trick (me softening/tugging with my inside shoulder, not particularly trying to soften his shoulder) he really relaxed into it and lifted his back and started mouthing the bit. We were on a 10m circle but I couldn't see us in the mirror so I asked him to stay soft and move the 10m circle over. He freaked out when I asked him to move off his comfortable circle and his head went up (this was at the trot). So we spent awhile trotting 10m circles in various places, staying on the circle until he did a full circle soft and mouthing then moving it. He got pretty good at that but then I had to drop to a walk because of the bunny tree. Got the soft chewing back by the bunny tree and so I started doing serpentines at the walk. He didn't try to come up even once and kept moving his mouth the entire time. So I dropped my reins from the 2nd rein stop to the 3rd. He stayed right out at the end of them and kept his head on the vertical even on the looser rein so I did that a couple times up and down the arena and then sent him out to the 4th stop, which worked for awhile but after 2 or 3 loops he'd start looking to come up. Doing the shoulder trick would send him right back and out though, so I came back up to the 3rd stop and worked some more there for a few minutes and then called it a day.

Question for the audience: Despite mouthing/chewing the bit for the last 20 min or so of the ride, there was no foam when I was done. His lips were wet, but not foaming. Does that mean he was only sort of relaxing his jaw or is it a non-sign? He was mouthing it sort of hard but he was so relaxed I don't think it was angry chewing, it was more like how babies will chew their bits trying to figure out what's going on.

Bareback Bonding LONG

Friday:
I decided that if I am going to have the same bond with Desi as I do with Apple that I need to do the same things that I did with him. So no saddle tonight and I will primarily ride her bareback. I need to know how she feels and how she moves. I know Apple better than I know myself. When we are in a tough situation with a rank horse I have confidence that my seat KNOWS him and that won't be a weak place. I now need that with Desi.

I was expecting her to be more squirrelly but she was MUCH more confident. She was super in tune with my seat and aides. We had a GREAT ride. We worked on those pesky shoulders some more and did lots of trotting. She has the BEST trot! She really reaches underneath herself. I am not used to a horse with longer pasterns and such a long neck.

We really had to work on standing still today. She is a little passive aggressive. She doesn't fight but if she doesn't understand or wants to do something different she is sneaky instead of blatantly rude. I asked her to stand and it was the creeping step away. Everytime she would step away from where I asked her to stand we would hindquarter until she wanted to stand. It only took a few times before she was happy standing.
We didn't work on too much. I didn't want to push it for our first ride.

I can't wait to start getting her to use her back and shoulders more. It is strange that she travels so downhill but when she stands she is very uphill.


Saturday:
Today was MUCH better. I still rode bareback but felt more comfortable pushing her a little more.

We did lots more trotting and transitions. I have learned that saying "Good girl" means WHOA and she will launch you right into her whithers. Ha Ha

She really remembered her standing lesson. She willingly stood quietly when asked each time today. Wouldn't it be nice if ALL horses remembered their lessons like this??

We worked a little on moving her shoulders at the trot, she is still pretty resistant but seemed to like it when we worked on the shoulder opening exercises.

I also wanted to work on leg cues a lot more. So we weaved around all the ring obstacles. This is where she shows her gate sourness the most. I cue the turn with my leg and only back it up with the rein if I don't get a response. She was GREAT turning towards the gate but I would have to use the rein a little to get her to turn the other way.

After we finished in the arena I rode out and up the driveway some. She took it ok, you could tell she wasn't scared but wasn't used to leading or going out alone. Then we rode around the barn and back into the isle. It is about time she gets used to the fact that her mom is a little.........outside the "box". :)



I plan on riding her again on Sunday with an english saddle this time.

Hey Kate......I can post without the saddle too. ;)

Pepsi vs. Fred vs. Pepsi

I know, I know...I haven't posted in like forever. But hey, I'm posting now!

Poor Pepsi's been having an identity crisis over the last few weeks. He can't figure out if he wants to be a Fred or a Pepsi. He'll be Fred for a few days, and then he'll be Pepsi for the rest of the week. Poor guy.

For example, the other night he was an angel. I rode him bareback in a halter for about 20 minutes. Mostly walking with a bit of trotting thrown in for good measure. Oh, and did I mention that this was all one rein stuff? As in, I just threw the leadline over his neck and switched sides with it when I needed to. (What you had Charlie do with Bleu years back Alex.) He was completely laid back about the rope swinging back and forth over his face, and really listened to all my cues.

So a few nights later I take him out in the round pen and he goes nuts! And I mean nuts even for Pepsi, so you all can only imagine... Anyway, about 10 minutes into the session he decides he's had it with me and turns off the rail, comes about 2 strides in towards me, rears straight up, turns on his haunches and kicks straight out at me. (rolls eyes) I certainly wasn't in any danger, but he was giving me the horsey finger like never before! Needless to say, that session went well over an hour until he was walking around the pen like an angel. (sigh)

And then, I came out to ride a few days later after midterms, and he was a perfect gentleman! Forward, but not rushing, listening (ok, mostly listening!) and just generally being good. So now, my horse is not only ADHD, but he also has Multiple Personality Disorder. Greeeeeeat.

The good news is that I had a 20 minute lesson yesterday! The bad news is that once we asked him to REALLY work at the trot he came up off (not really lame, but definitely off), so we quit. Still, I figured out the best way to get him to track up, and now I have even more stuff I can do at the walk to help build up his back and stomach muscles.

We're going to try some trail rides this week since I'm off for fall break. Wish me luck!!!!

Kate & Pro - Sat, Mon, Wed

WHEW...updates.

So Saturday was quite good. What Andrea didn't write in her lesson post ;) is that Pro had a quick impromptu groundwork date with Gayle in the middle of her lesson. Gayle worked on getting him to accept the feel of the whip near his flank, sort of toward the underside of his belly. She explained that the whip isn't so much a forward aid as it is a "step up and lift your back"-aid, which is why we're using it there. At first Pro just whipped around her at 90mph and tried to use his bendy neck to his advantage but Gayle just stayed patient and kept the whip on his side. Eventually he slowed to a pretty good walk. But she kept it on. I was a bit confused so I asked her why she was persisting and she pointed out what I'd missed - he was swishing his tail. Not angrily, which I would've noticed. But just a swish...stride...swish...stride...swish. She said it was the equivalent of a subtle horsey middle finger. Not a scream of "I HATE YOU" but a very subtle thing. HMM!! This was a lightbulb moment for me. She suggested we start off each ride by doing this. I've posted pictures to help explain what she was doing, since it's tricky to describe. I wish I had video...I was frantically trying to get as many pictures as possible.

So I did! Saturday I started off by trying my best to imitate Gayle. And he was mad. Swish swish goes the tail!!! I kept it on until I saw him walk a few strides without swishing, immediately praised him verbally, and kept it on. Once I had his respect on one side, I switched sides and repeated. Once I got on, I think he was a little disappointed that I still had the whip, but he doesn't freak out AS much when I use it on his belly (under the saddle pad near the back) as he does when it's on his butt. So that's...good, I suppose. Overall it was a great ride once I got him focused. We ended up trotting in figure-eights for quite a long time...I was just wholly enjoying the feeling of a soft, fluid horse. He's getting much better about accepting my hands in the proper place. And once he softens with my hands IN that place, I can totally feel the difference from what it felt like to have him soften and drag my hands down into my lap. There's a stronger "bridge" feeling, like he's working to carry his whole front end rather than drag me down and dive. I didn't understand what diving felt like until I felt him NOT dive. Weird, huh?

Monday I was exhausted from school, so I just hooked him up to the lunge and worked on alternating between lunging and accepting the whip on his side/belly. I think the variety helped him, he was pretty good. It took awhile for the swishing to subside.

Last night I started the same way, with the whip groundwork. When I got on he was fairly resistant, as usual. He always feels like total crap for a good 15min, sometimes 20. But he was starting to throw a fit over the bench. Not acceptable, Pro! Usually when we get into bench fights, he gets hindquarter-angry. He tries to fling his HQs every which way he can and gets FURIOUS when I bring them back to normal. Last night was no exception - I booted him with my outside leg when he flung himself to the outside and he let out a huge buck and tried to bounce up on his forehand. Nope, sorry sir! I made him stand quietly, and then walk on. Sometimes with Pro, addressing the tantrum is worse than ignoring it. It depends on his mood - if he's in the mood to fight (like last night), addressing it just starts a spiral of ugly. I made him walk-halt-walk a bunch and just made him chilllllllllll. Eventually he realized that a nice walk was more comfortable than huffing himself into a tightly-wound ball and freaking out. From there, I was able to get a very decent trot. Working on gently getting the bend to the left also helped refocus his attention. After several good figure eights we called it a night. :)

*****I'm adding lesson pictures to Andrea's entry right now so be sure to go check them out! :) *******

More Jumping Craziness!

Monday was a good dressage lesson...more boxing and butt-kicking for surf. However, yesterday was a CRAZY jumping lesson! So crazy, I made you all a map!


I can't label right...so fence B was actually the first fence. Julia made it a smaller x-rail to start, then raised the ends to the top of the standards, to make a taller but narrower X. This was to get us (Surf and I shared our lesson with our buddy Piper and her beautiful gelding Paris) to work on jumping the very center of the jump...hard for my giant wiggle worm! Next we worked on jumping from fence B to fence C -- which rode in a forward 5 or a waiting 6 -- to work on hanging out in the turn and using all available space. Afterwards, we reversed it, jumping from fence C to B, just to do things off the other lead. Then we reversed again to jump from B to C to E -- all on the right lead. With E being a looky fence on a short turn, it's a very visual fence for the horse and tends to back them off...so much much leg needed. After jumping all 3 on the right lead, we added another fence -- A -- the evil oxer with no ground line -- to make us work on anticipating our turn, jumping E on a bit of an angle and weighting that L stirrup to land on the L lead. I still hate fences with out ground lines!

Our next bit of torture involved combining fence A with the 3 fences in the middle. Off the R lead we jumped A to E to A to F to A to D -- again working on staying out on your turn to be able to get to a perpendicular fence. Next we moved on to playing with the vertical plank and the liverpool. We jumped the G off a left lead canter, circling outside H but inside A and G to come back around and jump H, working on balance and tight turns. After that, we put a little course together : A to G to H to D to B to C to E -- whew! lots of turning!

Surf was very good throughout the lesson, and once again we worked on my big flaws -- leaning forward, being too soft with my leg and too hard with my hand. The 3 things I have to rember this weekend are:

1) SIT UP!
2) GIVE FORWARD WITH MY REINS!
3) KICK!

After finishing up in the arena, I got hauled off to the XC field to jump some banks :P Trakhaner to the single up bank, 2 strides to the single drop, circle R and gallop up the double up bank, circle left, gallop down the double bank, bending line to a skinny log. Surfie was a superstar!

I've seen the course maps for Radnor this weekend -- no double bank -- and no bank out of water (we drop in instead! YAY!). I'll post a report when we get back, but keep your fingers crossed for us doing Training this weekend!

FINALLY getting to ride! YAY!!

I am SO excited. I am finally getting to ride Desi. I threw my english tack on her tonight. Please excuse my hideous shirt, it was cooler than I planned on and that was the only shirt I had in my truck. The pictures are dark but hopefully you'll get the idea.

We mostly walked. I had the farrier look at her and he said that her shoe don't fit quite right. He is going to have to make her special shoes. So she is sound for the most part. She get sore if trotted on the harder ground for more than a lap.

I wanted to work on her moving off of my leg and getting softer in the bridle. Now if she doesn't want to respond to your polite request, she throws her head up and the opposite way that you are cuing. We got a really good handle on that and she was much softer.


She is very herd/gate/barn sour. She was resistant to walking the other direction of the horses in the arena. She wasn't violent or anything but we are going to have to work on it.

I can't wait to put the hours on her. I got to trot her a little bit, I stayed in the deeper part of the arena. She is SOOOOO smooth!! She really pushes with her motor and reaches up underneath herself. I can't wait until she can REALLY be put to some hard work.

Andrea and Pro - Lesson writeup!

I was bad and didn't do this immediately, so we'll see if I remember all the details. Hopefully Kate can fill me in on whatever ones I'm missing. Pro didn't start off bad (well, it didn't feel like he was being bad) but Gayle seemed to immediately tune into Pro's hidden attitude. She had me work on using my hands properly. I knew that wiggling the bit with my wrists was bad, but I never really had anyone explain why other than "it's cheating." Gayle is great about explaining why stuff works/doesn't work, that's one of the things I really like about her. She explained that when you use your hands to work the bit and you let go, you basically drop the bit in their mouth so it hits the bars of their jaw. Doesn't take much imagination to figure out that it's not comfortable for them. So she said that Pro didn't want to go forward into contact and round up because he didn't trust my inside rein. I didn't really blame him after her explanation. She said I should imagine that my reins were connected to my elbow instead of my hands. That didn't really make sense to me though, in terms of how to adjust what I was doing. She tried to show me by holding my hands and being my hands for me, but I just wasn't getting it. Finally the light bulb came on though and I realized that instead of moving my elbow forward back I needed to actually move my entire shoulder. I'm not sure that really makes sense reading it, so lemme see if I can explain.

First I had to connect him with my outside rein, so there I was just looking for an elastic connection. He didn't really seem to have issues with accepting that, probably because Kate's worked on it a lot with him. Then if I didn't have a good tempo I would force myself to put my inside hand forward, box him with the inside leg, and then keep my outside shoulder steady and sort of stretch my inside shoulder back. As soon as he thought about giving with his head/neck I'd relax and immediately stretch back again until I had him actual straight instead of counter-bent. Combine that with taking my legs off from the hip and not wrapping my legs around him he poofed up and felt great. I cheated and did a couple circles at the trot just to figure out what to do at the trot, and we called it a day. My 12yo self never would have thought I could get my money's worth out of an entire lesson spent on a 10m circle at the walk, but I did.
***EDIT BY KATE - I added the pictures!!!! :) I made them small since there were so many to include...Andrea, feel free to add explanations and/or rearrange the photos. :)

Speedy Slows Down

Thank goodness! Skate was back to his usual greatness last night. His extended trot was back to a nice cadenced working trot (which still feels fast, but my instructor tells me its fine, its just that he's got such a short back he seems to be working overtime).

I've been bad and decided I have to canter. My justification is that he's finally getting the contact thing so I might as well move on to keep things interesting...sounds good, hmm? Anyhoo, I asked him to canter from a nice working trot and got the godawful outta control trot. So I rethought my strategy. I decided to do loads of trot, walk, then immediately back to trot - this is my theory: he hates leg aids and the canter cue especially seems to piss him off (I do have a tendency to combine the dreaded leaning with a too strong canter cue, so that doesn't help!). If I can get him quietly accepting my go forward aids, he'll quietly accept my go canter aid, too. Magically, it worked! I got a couple of quiet working trot to balanced canter with NO godawful outta control trotting, so I praised lavishly and let him walk. He seemed pleased with himself.

I did get a wild hair and decide to take him over a little jump as we trotted around. My "adult amateur hunter" plowed through it! After setting it back up, we did it again, and left it standing. I'm glad he's so blase' about jumping...but come on...at least attempt to pick those hooves up!

Kate & Pro - Mon & Wed

Catch-up time...

Monday, after a rough weekend, I pretty much begged Pro to give me a good ride. And for once, he gave in to my request! Maybe he could really tell that I needed it. That's not to say he was an angel...he was pretty adamant about resisting for the first 10 minutes. But I insisted on compliance and after awhile he was doing great. It was a ride that I'm always pleased to have - where he's focused on me and at least considers what I'm asking. I really felt like he was focusing on me, especially since we did most of our work by the bunny tree and he was fairly relaxed. I practiced keeping my hands up where they're supposed to be as well as keeping my lower legs off his sides in order to get him poof up. I like that term now, Andrea. :) Anyway, we finished up with a great loose canter in two point, which I really think he's starting to enjoy. And it gives me a chance to stretch out at the end of our rides.

On Wednesday the ring was too soggy so I rode in his pasture. Of course he freaked. He grazes all around that pasture with no problem but as soon as we went through the gate, every muscle in his Arab body tensed up to maximum tense-ness and his little brain fried. I gave up his head for a few minutes and just made him GO forward and turn off of my outside aids. That seemed to help, especially after I began shortening up my reins and asking for some give in his mouth. To be fair it was getting dark at this point but...the loser LIVES in the pasture at night. ;) He's on night turnout!!! Anyway, he was pretty good after awhile. Lots of halt-walk transitions and quarter-turns at the walk off the outside aids to get him to listen and soften. It was still a bit soggy in the pasture so I didn't trot much, but I did let him trot up the slope in the pasture and it was adorable to feel his little butt engage and push us up the hill. He got a nice carrot when he was finished. :)

Everybody Jump! Jump!

I just started a new schedule at work -- for the next month, I work nights (8pm-8am), so that frees up a little daylight for riding :) As I told my trainer, I'm scheduling my sleeping time around my riding time this month...maybe not my smartest idea ever, but we'll see how it goes (right now I'm on night #2...).

I kicked off this month of "daytime riding" with a mid-day jumping lesson on Surf yesterday. We started off with some flatwork, and working on getting surf to be more responsive off my leg aids. Surf gets very pissy when I nag at him with my spur...which has a tendency to happen as he is one L-A-Z-Y horse with a real aversion to going forward at times. We've been instead working what Lisa Wilcox calls "boxing" -- using the flat side of your entire leg rather than poking at the horse with a spur. When the horse does not respond to a subtle leg aid, you take your whole leg away from the saddle (from the hip), and clap the flat side of if against the horse. Can be done with one or both legs. This took a lot of practice for me, as I just was not that coordinated :) Plus, try doing this at the canter or gallop :P finally it seemed to click with me, and it got a much more effective...and less irritable...response from Surfie. Then it was on to jumping!

Jimmy W had come down to teach the day before...I couldn't get off work to get a lesson with him...but his gymnastics were still set up and my trainer had gone through the patterns with several horses, so we decided to spend some time on the patterns with her. The first exercise was similar to one we'd done last time with Jimmy: vertical - 1 stride - vertical - 1 stride - oxer - 2 strides oxer. However, to spice things up this time, we jumped some of the fences in the grid backwards...or without ground lines...to work on keeping my eye on the top of the fence, and not depending on the ground lines for security. Not having ground lines was very difficult for me, and led to some awkward jumping until I really kept my eyes on the top of the rail. Something that Jimmy and Julia (and Betsy, who I rode with in NC)are very big on is keeping your eye on the top rail of the jump -- different than what I was taught growing up that you pick a point somewhere in the distance (ie: arena fence, tree outside the arena, etc) to look at and you focused on that point rather than on the jump. J & J both are big on watching the top rail of the jump through your horse's ears...and once you can't see the fence anymore between their ears, you're looking for your next jump. It took me a long time to get over wanting to look down when you get to the point that you don't see your rail anymore :) Grids are good exercises to work on this method of looking at your jump, since when you no longer see the first jump, your eye goes to the next element in the gymnastic line...and it forces you to look at each element individually as you go down the line...which helps with the anxiety provoked by turning into a gymnastic line and seeing a sea of white poles stretching out in front of you! for the next exercise, we added to the first line by jumping through the line, then having to come out of the line, roll back, and canter single verticals...with no ground lines :( After that we popped through some bounces and moved out into the cross-country field!

I haven't jumped any xc fences in a month, and we're doing Training next week, so I wanted to get out and put a few things together...and to work on my fear of jumping up banks. Yes, I have a TERRIBLE fear of jumping up banks...especially banks out of water. Now, this is an irrational fear in some ways, as jumping a bank is no different than jumping a vertical...same concept. However, when riding Sprite, he chested a bank out of water and flipped over...luckily tossing me 25 feet through the air so he didn't land on me. Since then, I've had a fear of banks...especially out of water...and I tend to ride them like a backwards monkey. J's solution to this is for me to jump banks, lots of banks, every time we jump...nothing like a little exposure therapy. We worked on paring a varity of other fences with the single up bank -- jump the tires to the up bank, big ditch to the up bank, etc. then moved on to adding a fence after the bank to make me get myself back together after the anxiety of jumping up the bank. Finally we put a few little courses together that involved something even worse than the single up bank...the double up bank! Aaaaaah! I just need to remember that they jump FINE as long as I do the following:
1. keep my leg on
2. sit up
3. keep shoulders BACK! I cannot lean at the bank, or there's no way to get up it!
4. give with the reins, but not with my arms
5. BREATHE!
(and in the case of double banks)
6. half-halt, balance, then leg and send him forward to the 2nd bank
it's really not rocket science...and I'm getting more comfortable with them. We also spent some time talking about ditches...I don't have a problem with them, per say, but I've had some ditchy horses in the past. We talked about how ditches are a "rider fence" as they scare riders more than horses. To horses, a plain ditch is just another canter stride...and a ditch in combination with a fence (ditch and wall, trakhaner, etc) serves as a takeoff point for the horse. So, for those huge ditch and walls...the bigger the wall, the wider the ditch, as the horse needs to take off from far enough back to clear the wall :)

We've got 2 more lessons next week, so there should be more updates soon! Huey is doing well post-hock-injections...just slow work for a few days then back to work! We got a new coggins pulled, so here's hoping Huey is show-bound soon. Sprite has his "audition" as a therapeutic riding horse next week, so I need to put in a little elbow grease getting the little guy all spiffed up :)

Traffic Jam

Last night was a sort of crazy ride as there were 2 other horses in the ring with us. I did my best to dodge sharing the ring with Big Horse as he doesn't always share well, but eventually I gave up and tacked up. Pro didn't seem concerned by the other horses (I should hope not with his history) and in fact, I think they distracted him in a good way because he walked past both the bench and the bunny tree without even a mini-bulge the first time past them! Unfortunately I was distracted in a bad way by trying to keep track of who was where. In addition to Big Horse the new mare, was in the ring with her owner and 8yo daughter. The daughter was riding and I figured an 8yo on a 5yo mare who I'd never ridden with before required careful watching. I tried to work on the poofiness, but couldn't really focus internally enough to get my positioning right with the distractions.

Eventually we settled into splitting the ring and things went better. I managed to get some good rounded-back work and keep Pro soft in the bridle. We did some cantering and that went ok, then I went back to the trot and loosened my reins two notches to see if he'd follow the bit out. I was so proud of him when he did! :D He just lengthened his neck, stayed round, and his trot got huge and powerful. He felt like an A show hunter (not our final goal, but a good stepping stone). Took him up to the canter still with the reins long and relaxed and he stayed up against the bit and cantered politely around. We had a couple debates about speeding up heading towards the path to the barn but he slowed down as soon as I closed my thighs.

Overall pretty pleased with how the ride went :). Only 2 more rides and then the lesson so maybe Pro can keep his streak going. I'm sure I'll ride like crap in the lesson, but oh well, that's when I need help the most, right? ;)