ball so hard university

Can we talk for a moment about that ridiculous feeling when you ask your trainer to grab the measuring stick to confirm that, Yes Indeed, the 17hh horse has conquered 2'!! lolol.....

Ahhh foolish pride. It's one hell of a drug!!

who cares that the jump barely reaches his knees. we celebrate all milestones, large and small, here at 'fraidy cat eventing!!!

In all seriousness tho, It feels so good to be back in weekly lessons at OF. And Charlie's certainly benefiting from the routine! We've been very lucky with the weather around here lately (as in, trees are budding and spring flowers are blooming... in the first week of February.... crazy) so even with the occasional night below freezing, the outdoor arena at OF has stayed rideable.

plus they laid down new footing on the path up to the ring! no more mud!!

The routine is doing me good too bc it's helping me be better about my expectations for Charlie. That whole thing about staying disciplined and continuing to ask him for more and better. It's not enough any more to just shuffle around at trot while we wait our turn to jump. And I must not let myself be satisfied with 'quiet and easy going' bc I think Charlie would resist being asked for more. No sense waiting to have that conversation if that's the case anyway, right?

i make charlie watch the other horses go so that maybe he'll learn a thing or two from them haha

Charlie's been doing better about the whole 'resisting being driven forward' thing, mostly bc I'm forcing myself to be as consistent as possible. When my leg goes on, he either spurts forward (and gets rewarded) or I ask again stronger. By being really purposeful here, we're getting to that crossroads of resistance sooner in the ride - with Charlie testing whether or not I'm really serious.

casual about the blue panels

On one hand, it's annoying that he keeps testing me on this, and that the behavior continues to crop up throughout a ride. I don't think I'm deluding myself that it's getting better, tho. Yes, he puts his head way up in the air and does his "dinosaur stuck in tar pit" impression more often, and sooner, in our rides lately. But it no longer feels like we're crashing into a solid wall of resistance that I can't break through.

so much fun to canter around!!! even if my suggestions re: lead often go unheeded

And, in fact, he's not even breaking stride any more, really (compared to earlier days when we would sometimes grind all the way down to a halt and get completely stuck). We're managing to work through the stickiness a little faster. Plus it's like a switch flips once he decides to go - everything is suddenly simple smooth sailing and we just cruise around like nbd.

charlie's patented 'dinosaur stuck in tar pit' impression. i won't be sad when we're past this!!

This gives me hope that these little conversations about "Yes I Mean It" will eventually recede into the past.... fingers crossed haha! And in the meantime I just keep reminding Charlie that the beatings will continue until morale improves lol. (kidding! sorta!) 

go baby, GO!!

Once Charlie gets going tho, ahhhh he is just SO FUN. And it really truly feels like he knows where his legs are now. I think all the trail riding has really helped in that department. His body awareness is just light years ahead of where we started!

wheeeee!!!

We started with the same approach as last week - just kinda trotting and cantering around, catching little jumps here and there, while everyone else warmed up over bigger stuff. Charlie definitely remembered the game and jumped well!!

"big jumps" require a very serious effort haha (and an apparently surprised rider!)

Mostly tho, after that, we stuck to working over a simple outside line again and again. First figuring out the striding (a balanced 5, Emma) and then bumping the jumps up a hole!! Charlie was super gung ho too - often breaking into canter three strides before the first fence and marching right on down the line.

Eventually I'd prefer that he trots all the way to the base... but so far he has shown zero inclination to race at the fences, and my guess is that he's actually working on his own eye since he figured out the early canter strides pretty well. So. Ya know. I'm cool with it haha!

figuring it out, slowly but surely!!

Maybe the coolest feeling, tho, was in recognizing that Charlie's become so consistent now that the next big step is actually shifting focus back to me as a rider. What are my hands doing? How is my balance? Am I staying out of his way? Are my legs slipping? Am I guiding him straight down our track or allowing him to drift?

Obviously there's always room for rider improvement (especially a rider like yours truly, who hasn't jumped regularly since.... gosh, July? August? And not on my own horse since June...), but often with such a green horse we end up focusing entirely on them and whatever they're doing, and just sorta riding in a defensive or very neutral position.

video here

I've mostly just stayed sitting chilly for everything, bc Charlie wasn't really actually jumping in our earliest lessons anyway. Plus there was a high likelihood that he might eat shit and face plant on landing haha so.... leaning forward was a BAD idea!

But I think we're officially to the point now where I need to pay more attention to my own self and be a little more responsible as a rider. Obvi tho, that doesn't mean that I should start micromanaging his every move (plz no, Emma!) - he's figuring it out well enough on his own haha.

gotta love the longer and longer days too!

In time, tho. It's kinda weird to be excited by the prospect of working on my own weaknesses again. But ya know, it's been a while haha. There was a brief period in my riding life where I just felt so strong in my position and balance. It sure would be nice to get back there!!

We're gettin there, tho. One jump at a time. And I'm ridiculously pleased that the big guy has started the "move up" from elementary to intro haha. Surely I'm not the only one who gets excited by even the smallest (literally lol) signs of progress???