cold wet day = first lesson indoors!

Lesson day dawned rainy gray and COLD. Brrrrr. Nothing worse than being freezing and wet. 

I saddled Isabel at her barn to avoid standing around in the rain at OF (there isn't really any indoor space for us to tack). My chiro recently vetoed the shims I was using for Isabel's saddle because they were independent pieces (held together by a strap) that distributed weight differently. 

But that still leaves us with some saddle fit issues. My bio-mechanics trainer recommended a rolled up towel under the pommel. This is a decent interim solution (bc it works), but the look is definitely a little odd lol. 

some judicious trimming will fix this up in the meantime

I've heard of others using those big quilted standing wraps. And my OF trainer suggested foam anti-bow bandages. I'll probably try those options out (or just trim the towel so it's hidden...), but figured I'd see if any of you have other ideas??

'it's eeeeting me!!!' - isabel

Then it was off to the lesson. Naturally, since I'd had such an easy time working with Special on and off the trailer, Isabel decided that she suddenly forgot what was up. Sigh. I suspect that she didn't like feeling the too-long cooler around her knees when stepping onto the trailer... But she's gonna need to get over that pronto. 

'ooh let's go talk to that pretty mare!' - isabel

Meanwhile, I recently watched a recorded lecture by bio-mechanics pro and anatomist Dr. Deb Bennett from the George Morris 2013 Horsemastership clinic on USEF Network, at the recommendation of Jen from Cob Jockey. The big gist of her talk was raising the base of the neck to improve overall balance for optimal conditioning and training.  

So I tried to keep this in mind while flatting. If the horse is lifting from the base of its neck, it will stretch or push its neck out - thus getting the long round look - with break over at the poll (and the vertical head set is just a byproduct of gravity). 

I've been thinking about drawing her nose *in* and compressing the neck, when I should be thinking of asking her to lengthen it - but from the base. Interesting food for thought. And I think we got a few moments of a more correct way of going - where Isabel reached out to the contact, rather than getting stuffed into it. 

Then it was on to jumping. The exercises were kind of simple, given the size of the arena. Simple - but still important. Exercise one had verticals along the KXM and HXF lines, and we were instructed to mind our corners. Isabel and I pretty much nailed them (including landing on all our leads!!!!!). But then they were raised and my eye left the building. Oops. At least Isabel still jumped 'em. 

Exercise two was an 18' one-stride line up the center line. My eye rejoined the party and we were fine to finish on this. I think the earlier distance problem was from picking too much at the pace - running forward then holding at the last second.... One day I'll learn to just leave her alone. 

In the meantime - looking forward to drier weather!