and the rails fly!

Despite not getting as much saddle time as I would have liked in preparation for our weekly lesson (especially considering Isabel's brief vacation while I was in Nola), things actually went pretty well! It was wretched hot out, but Kaitlyn (from Something to Talk About Eventing) and I were determined to make the best of it.

izzy got some air!

We warmed ourselves up while Dan set fences. I wasn't totally thrilled with our trot work to be honest - Isabel felt a little resistant and I was sort of taking my time trying to work through it. Isabel repaid these efforts by giving me a *very* lovely left lead canter transition (our easier side right now) exactly when Dan glanced over. Score! 

she claimed the bugs were eating her alive. i was not particularly sympathetic haha

After circling at the canter briefly, he told us that was probably a good enough warm up given how hot it was. Part of me would have liked to give the right lead a go too... but yea it was pretty hot out and we wanted to JUMP!

yes, this - i like doing this!

We warmed up over a coop that was just off the center line a few times - and Dan wanted us feeling for whichever lead the horse landed on and turning that direction. But he specifically did NOT want us influencing the lead - just feeling for it. Meaning Isabel and I predominantly circled right haha. 

some of the turns were wicked, but this exercise actually rode REALLY nicely
(i don't know the exact measurements, but the striding was set pretty easy)

Then we moved on to the exercise: an odd triangle of jumps set up more or less in the middle of the arena. The line from blue coop to brown natural rode in a very easy 6, tho that didn't stop me from adding the first time, and nearly leaving a stride out the second... Dan said he likes 6 stride lines for that exact reason: there's enough space to show you whether you've got it right or not, compared to a 4 stride line that might be harder to mess up. 

we like little coops too

Next we added the diagonals - slicing the orange/yellow single to ride a straight line to either the natural or the coop, depending on which direction you were going. This required jumping both fences on a fairly severe angle, and Isabel definitely questioned it the first time - but really it rode much better than I expected in an easy 3. The key for us was the whole 'turning off the outside aids' thing that we very recently figured out. Exciting haha.

tho isabel does NOT like it when i cut my corners with no supporting leg... nope nope not good

The wheels kinda started falling off when we turned the diagonals around - starting from either the coop or natural and going to the orange/yellow. In particular, that left lead turn from natural to orange/yellow was WICKED. 

My first time through I *knew* we weren't on our line yet, but I was already having to look back over my shoulder so I turned anyway. It clearly didn't work haha, sorry Isabel!! You'll see in the video how much deeper I went into the corner before turning in later (more successful) efforts.

you can sorta get a sense of the angle here

Part of the problem was that I settled a bit too much. We continued the same process from my last lesson of establishing a nice walk, then nice trot, THEN nice canter - and so far that seems to be working for us. But simultaneously I forgot the other part of that same lesson: we need leg leg leg around the turns so I can see my distance out of the corner and settle to the fence, rather than dying in the corners then trying to gun it to the fence. Oops. 

dan doesn't like gappy distances for a reason! (note the flying rail)

It was kind of unfortunate bc really the lesson had been going smoothly up to this point, and then I started running Isabel into the fences and we were both already a little tired so it took me a hot minute to sort it back out again.

isabel slices and dices (when i give her the room she needs... and also don't throw myself up her neck...)

She's a forgiving mare tho, and when I corrected myself she easily followed suit. Throughout the lesson I was thinking about being softer with my hands and arms - keeping them more consistently forward (no pulling to the base!) - and keeping that 'bounce' in my heels that trainer P talked about last week. The whole point is to quiet my upper body a little bit and avoid leaning so far up Isabel's neck all the time. 

i like leaning, what else can i say?

But while there were definitely moments when I felt quieter, they typically coincided with the moments when I took off my leg and we flubbed the fences. Per my usual wavering-between-extremes self, I need to find the balance. 

Right now adding a lot of leg creates a busy upper body (which you will see in our final effort on the video) - but that leg is critical as the fences go up. So for now I'm just gonna have to start there, keep that leg on, and hopefully quiet down the upper body in time. 

video here

It's kind of funny really - the video makes the lesson look a little rougher than it actually was. And nearly has me wondering if I should add this to my ever-growing category of 'fail' posts. But I'm not gonna. You know why? Because this was actually a pretty great ride. Sure we made mistakes but they were always pretty obvious and were easily fixed. 

Right now it's really easy for me to tell when we've got it right. It's less easy to see when our canter *isn't* where it needs to be -- until we get to the fence at a craptastic distance. Eventually I'll be able to better assess our canter earlier on... one day haha. 

every lesson should end this way!

So yea, after taking care of our saintly horses, Kaitlyn and I were able to hang out with celebratory and oh-so-refreshing beers (post-hydrating, like ya do) and watch some other friends ride. Barn time at it's best, right?