short practice is still practice

Our weekly Tuesday afternoon outings are drawing to a close - as the arena at home is rapidly improving and my request for weekly half days only lasts through March. It's been really nice while it lasted! 

Especially bc I generally get to the barn about an hour before B. It only takes 15 minutes to pack the trailer (woo hoo routine!), and I don't want to torment poor Isabel by bringing her in any earlier than necessary, so I usually have 30-45min to amuse myself around the barn.

This is a welcome change of pace from the usual rushing, and I savor it. This week I used the time to nail twine to Wick's stall so B can start hanging her ribbons. Then I hiked into the woods below the arena to rescue the big green ball that somehow escaped into the wilderness down there. I also checked out the arena itself to gauge the drainage progress. Verdict? Doing good!! 

drying out!

We probably could have ridden at home, and may end up skipping out on going to FV for the last two Tuesdays of March... but this week we definitely wanted to go bc FV is hosting a schooling show this weekend and we entered! B & Wick are doing the baby greens, and Isabel and I will be doing 2'3" equitation (try not to laugh too hard haha).

There weren't a ton of jumps set up at FV - but more than enough to make sure we each had a few options at appropriate heights. Lots of bendy lines too, which are obviously nbd after riding in the super tiny indoor at OF all winter long haha. 

Our warm up was SUPER short and sweet so we could finish before lessons started. We trotted for about 10 minutes - asking for forward and not much else. After a quick canter in each direction we started warming up over fences. Isabel was on fire and ready to GO. I still really struggle to capitalize on this energy and package it into the 'right' canter. Instead, I kinda try to balance in the corners, then start building as we approach the fence, but then pull to the base. Not a happy recipe!

pictured: moderately painful oopsie moment

Isabel is used to it tho and can save my ass more often than not. Like when we started putting courses together and I totally botched the approach to the vertical above. She made it work -- but I paid the price of having half a finger nail ripped off on my left hand. OW. 

B was kind enough to lend me a glove to cover the still-barely-attached bloody nail so we could go back and fix the line... But I was pretty much done after that. Le sigh. 

notice black glove on left hand...

I had been working on little combinations with the plan to put it all together into a bigger course... but Isabel was jumping just fine and all the mistakes were my own. And the 2'3" verticals were a walk in the park - even when I rode them terribly. So quitting early, even tho unplanned, didn't seem like much of a sacrifice for our show preparation.

video here

It meant that, given the rapid-fire warm up, our ride time was just under 40min. Kinda weak considering the driving time and arena fees... but whatever. I feel like Isabel is in a good place and I mostly just need to hang on (and WEAR MY DAMN GLOVES). 

sad panda :(