happier times: a lesson with Bali

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts about the abrupt end to our season. My leg seems to be doing ok (will see a specialist today to get the full story), but the crutches are hell. Using them is more painful than the leg itself, which is crazy. Getting in and out of my 3rd floor apt is overwhelmingly difficult. So admittedly I'm wallowing in self pity. Ugh.

Luckily I have the perfect antidote for the depressed mind: pictures and video from a lesson at OF with Bali!

just add hay and bali is a happy pony

Obviously none of my well laid plans for the weekend ended up mattering, but the idea had been to save Isabel's legs for show day on Sunday and just focus on our flat work on Saturday. And since the OF lessons are fairly jump-centric, I figured I'd just take Bali instead to get the full benefit of the lesson, and then ride Isabel afterward at home.

he looked around a bit, but was very quiet at the trailer. dug right into the hay too. good boy!

Plus, as previously mentioned, I wanted to try a lesson with Bali to get help in making sure I'm on the right track with him. All too often I settle for 'good enough' when really I ought to push for a little more. So lessons are a good way for keeping me honest there.

wick was maybe a little surprised to be the 'adult' for once (he's only 7, i believe) but was a nice calm buddy for bali

And also I wanted trainer P's opinion of him, since I'm obviously totally smitten and as such, am blinded to his atrocious fetlocks, parrot mouth, and suspiciously weak hind end. P's general assessment? Yep he's pretty darn cute, and yep I actually fit on a horse WAY better than I do on Isabel (tho Izzy and I do well enough as a matched pair). She encouraged me to continue taking advantage of riding him while I can, but nothing really beyond that.

bali settled in to the lesson beautifully

Really tho he was a star. We walked around on a loose rein for maybe 10 minutes looking at everything while waiting for the lesson to begin. Bali eyeballed a couple areas but it only took a lap or two before we felt good enough to cut the cord between us and Wick and venture out for our own solo explorations.

short one stride grids are apparently quite easy for baby

Then once we actually went to work, I had a little bit more forward of a Bali than I'm used to. It was nice! The novelty of a new location made him much more responsive to my 'go' aids and he trotted and cantered around quite nicely. Still misfired into the left lead, and had a few moments of expressive leaping at the far end of the arena, but nothing major. He always comes right back from those moments anyway.

he don't care about no astro turf oxers

Trainer P had us start with a couple trot poles, then a small X, then a small vertical, just to get a sense for what we were working with here. And it was a very nice start - Bali was able to demonstrate both his talent and good honest nature, but also his greenness.

wheeee!!!!

So P's prescription became: one stride grids! Haha, I'm pretty sure that's her favorite prescription for all horses anyway lol, but they have been super educational for Izzy so why not let Bali have a try too? I was a little nervous about whether he'd figure out how to adjust his rolling, ground-covering stride, but he's a good thinker and made it happen. 

We trotted in to the grid and knocked everything down a couple times, but as the heights progressively grew he became more and more nonchalant about it. This is not a horse that likes to repeat the same mistake over and over. 

video 1 here

We trotted in to the grid then bent left to the oxer with the astro turf covered barrel underneath a couple times - a tricky line for Mr. Lands Right & Drifts Right Every Time (funny - he's the total opposite of Isabel) - but he always managed to make it work. Sadly that's not on the videos tho.

he says, 'lemme at it!!!'

Then we moved on to very basic course work - still starting with trotting through the one stride grid each time, then long straight approaches to a bunch of singles - three oxers and one vertical, all at varying heights.

never quite found a good distance to this fence, but he's a super honest guy and gave it a good effort anyway

And the horse was really just so good. I luv him. So hard. Lol. It was a perfect lesson for me too, bc P was able to help me identify how to help him better (like keeping an eye out for when he gets too low in his poll and heavy on the forehand when approaching a fence). And also, as he became more tired - remember he's not at all fit right now - it became more imperative for me to really ride the rhythm and help him find the fence.

#lovehim

So we got a couple clunkier distances than normal - but in a way that's kinda reassuring to me. The horse is so talented and easy that it is tempting to keep raising the bar and going higher and farther and faster. But he really is just a baby, and it would be awful to scare him or undermine his confidence.

video 2 here

Therefore having a ride where he kinda has to deal with less than perfect distances (a little tight here, a little gappy there) at heights all well within his comfort zone, and figure out how to make it happen anyway might be nicely educational for him. Obviously I would rather do my job a little better... but eh, I consider it part of developing a horse's sense of humor, and that's never a terrible thing for a lesson pony.

he has the sweetest softest expressions

After the lesson, B asked for permission to hack out to the cross country course to school the water a little bit in anticipation of her BN debut the following day at Olde Hope. Wick has gotten better and better about water - but can still be a little wiggly, and has previously given drops into water the hairy eyeball. So B wanted that little bit of reassurance.

all the pretty fall colors!

And of course I was more than happy to accompany her and Wick out there with Mr Balimurphy in tow. He's been schooling before at Tranquility and ran BN at a schooling HT at Plantation in May, so he's no stranger. But it had been a while, that's for sure.

hacking out to the xc field like nbd

He's just so quiet tho. Such a good boy. Looking around at everything, sure, and I was happy to stay close behind Wick on the way out. But he was also happy to strike out ahead while B handled gates and all too. Very bold!

water is apparently for playing

And he marched right into the water too, definitely nbd. I didn't do any actual schooling with him aside from walking up and down the lowest banks into water, and he did it all just fine. Balked slightly at the down banks, but it was only ever a moment's hesitation before he stepped down nice and quiet.

my camera doesn't do the fall foliage justice

And he didn't mind standing around or walking around while B did a little trotting and cantering through the water. Good boy!

good boy plowed through the hay super quickly, then stuck his head into the trailer to keep snacking on the bags in there

Then back to the trailer, where I promptly loved all over him, untacked him, and then broke my damn leg. Ughhhhh fml.

It's super frustrating to get so excited about this horse and then be immediately sidelined from doing more with him. However his lease rider has been back at it with a vengeance - and even rode him in a lesson with Dan last week. Plus he's been getting back into regular lessons. This is all good news. And I plan to be around while his leaser schools him to maybe help her out and keep the pony on track. Gotta get my fix somehow, right?