(that's the sound of a huge sigh of relief, if you were wondering)
Isabel and I had a downright pleasant schooling ride. Finally. The kind that prompts onlookers to say 'Ooh that looks FUN!'
Yessssss. Ms. Princess is getting her groove back! This was her 4th consecutive day of work: dressage lesson, then light but meh schooling, then Dan lesson, then this ride. Each ride got progressively better and now things are clicking again. For this ride, she was just right there. Ya know? That place where you can just go straight to work and enjoy it?
does she look happy? i think so! |
and gifs are gifs :D |
And I just stuck to the same guns:
- get Isabel moving forward
- keep her shoulders square in front of me (and her spinous processes upright!)
- stabilize my hands: outside elbow at my side, inside hand up and open
- no riding backward!!! I repeat: hands do NOT move back!
- wrap legs down around, no curling. feel my big toe in the stirrup
- squeeeeeeeze and hold with legs!
sorry these stills are all so blurry |
but i kinda love them anyway |
- transitions within the gait (specifically in trot)
- collected walk to collected sitting trot to walk to trot again and again - just using seat
- repeated trot canter transitions
- walk to canter; halt to canter (Isabel DEFINITELY remembered this exercise haha)
- just a couple jumps - but Isabel must be solidly in front of my leg with lifted shoulders
And it was all just so perfect. This is my horse guys. She's perfect.
she was just feeling so good! |
I backed off too much, forgetting the very first lesson I ever learned from Isabel, that she thrives on routine and consistency.
I stopped asking for much at all - and when she gave even less than that, I just stopped riding altogether outside of lessons or trail rides (maybe I thought I'd screw her up even worse? that I was somehow incapable and shouldn't push for more without professional supervision?). There was literally ZERO schooling happening, and that's just not how you build a sport horse.
flying over the tiny coop |
Phew. Nothing quite like an abysmal event (yes I am happy with our experience at Waredaca, but you can't deny that it was a shit outing on paper) to send you into a minor tailspin reevaluating everything... Has that ever happened to you?
YAYYY! So happy you stuck with it and worked through this rough patch. :) Now go win some ribbons!!
ReplyDeletelol seriously!! ribbons would be some pretty sweet icing on the cake :) i'll be happy with just some quality dressage and jumping!
DeleteAwesome ride! It's SO HARD to get everything in place and clicking!
ReplyDeleteright? and then nothing ever stays where you put it lol. grrr... at least it's fun :)
DeleteI am queen of videos taken from a fence post. i feel your pain. she looks so much fun though! very light on her feet!
ReplyDeletevideos from the fence post > no videos imo :) (even when the standard takes up almost half the frame!)
DeleteMy mare is more blatant in reminding me when she's not getting enough work. Think dragon snorting and bucking and running and pulling my arms off. It's our deal: I don't hear about it when she's in heat, so, she reasons, I have zero excuses for slacking off on the attention.
ReplyDeletesee that's more along what i'm used to - that makes more sense to me. like when i first started riding isabel, if she had a week off there was no guarantee i'd even be able to get back on without fireworks. now, it's the opposite - she just gets duller and blah-er, which leads to a vicious cycle of me thinking she needs more and more time off... so weird
DeleteI've been in a cave and missed some stuff. But you ladies look great!!! Really impressed
ReplyDeletethanks! isabel has been doing super well :D
DeleteShe looks so much more "boing-ier" in her jumping. Like she has springs in her hind legs!
ReplyDeleteShe's definitely got hops! And everything is so much easier when she's up in front of my legs - I must not forget that!!
DeleteI keep staring at the gif =)
ReplyDeleteMeee tooooo lol
DeleteI'm loving you and your pony.
ReplyDeleteThanks - I'm pretty much nuts about this pony too :D
DeleteLove the gif's, very entertaining! You look fab of course.
ReplyDeletethank you :D the gifs are maybe my favorite form of media lol
Delete