lesson on canter pace and rhythm

I felt oddly excited when we arrived to our OF lesson to see canter poles set up, and proudly told P all about how we'd been doing this exact thing at home - ground poles and foot work and all that jazz. And I fully expected to demonstrate Isabel's badassery at canter poles. 

Haha... oops. We kinda failed, naturally. It wasn't horrible, just couldn't quite get the rhythm nailed down. Ah well. She trotted very nicely through them tho!

we apparently can't do this two days in a row

It was actually kind of a weird day. Temps at a BALMY 60ish degrees had the horses huffing and puffing. And even tho the arena at OF is light years better than at Isabel's home barn, it was still a bit wet - making it a bit of a slog for the horses given the temperature. 

Anyways, the lesson was pretty good, all things considered. Isabel flatted really REALLY nicely - probably the steadiest she's been in the contact ever, including nice canters in both directions. This is kinda a big deal for us - even if it's really basic boring stuff. So I was pleased. 

turns out arabians DO get sweaty - just takes unseasonably warm weather

The jumping exercises were pretty basic too - but I feel ok about polishing the little details over the winter so that we are prepared for more challenges come spring time. 

We started with trot and canter poles, then worked over two lines that started small and grew during the course of the lesson. The outside line was measured as a short four. It was initially a triple combination of a one stride to a two stride. But the middle obstacle was removed and it really could have ridden in three. But P wanted me to fit in four strides given the low height and my tales of Isabel's recent rushing. 

Same went for the diagonal line - measured at 33'. Technically, we could make that in two, but again P wanted to see a balanced three strides. 

Isabel conspires with the ponies at OF

After riding both lines and WHOA-ing the whole way through (with 3.75 and 2.75 strides, respectively... oops!), it was pretty clear I needed to fix my canter a little earlier. Izzy figured out the outside line in 4, but then kinda clunked into the diagonal (despite finding a really nice distance!) and got a bit upset bc she doesn't like touching the fences.

The last time through was very tidy and even (yay for picking your feet UP mare!) and we quit on that.

So the lesson ended up being highly focused on our canter and pace - with my big takeaway being to SIT DOWN, for the love of all things holy. Lol. Maybe I'll learn one day...