pocket coach (with media!)

I virtually always low-key wish my rides were being recorded. I'm just that obsessed with studying riding media, ya know? Since moving barns, tho, most of my serious schooling is done alone, where the best bet for video is a camera set up on the wall. Which works... but means far away, unfocused shots that may or may not be framed super nicely. 

With all the recent trial saddles, tho, I got more desperate determined and hauled out ye olde helmet cam, and was actually pleasantly surprised with how decently it worked! It's very sensitive to sun spots in the indoor rings (as you can see from the over exposed blobs in all these screen shots), but otherwise is #BetterThanNothing!

media is media, guys LOL -- we'll take our blurry screenshots and we'll LIKE IT

So I brought it out for our ride yesterday --- and am so glad I did! I wanted to keep working on the postural details Trainer C focused on during our lesson the day prior, AND I wanted to play with jompies yay! 

look who can trot ground poles with only minimal disruptions to rhythm!!

I also fired up the ol' metronome app again! It's been a hot minute since we used it, for whatever reason, but guys --- it is such a valuable tool for us right now. 

One of my biggest weaknesses on the flat is that I get pretty easily baited into fiddle-fucking around with the horse's face. And Doozy is such a slippery noodle that it almost feels like I'm kinda chasing her around with my aids as she bounces and contorts every which way. 

turns out, she goes better when i stop fucking around so much LOL

But with the metronome, idk... It's like, there's just this steady drum beat (literally) that I'm either matching, or not matching. It's just one single thing to think about -- but in focusing on that tempo, everything else seems to click into place. To hold a steady tempo with my posting requires that I be very solid, stable, and deliberate in my position and balance. 

And the result is that.... Basically all my aids stay in one place, giving Doozy the stability she needs to settle onto them. 

very progressive set of exercises:
3 ground poles, spaced 9'
pole-X-pole, spaced 9'
3 big X's (far side), spaced 21'

The key for me is being more patient. Waiting it out. Giving Doozy time (and the actual peace and quiet from my noisy way of riding) to kinda ease into it. Rather than feeling like, "I need to make a difference," or "She needs to listen now." For Doozy, those feelings are direct nonstop tickets to Tension Land, and she's more than happy to go there at the least provocation. 

plus single jumps on the diagonals. everything can be jumped from both directions

So. Anyway. It's all in the video, if you want to see what I mean. 

ALSO in the video --- the jompies, yay! Our first jump school since the clinic with Sharon White last week! I swear I have all these good intentions of doing jumping style exercises twice a week... But it always ends up feeling like I'm lucky if it's once every 1.5wks. C'est la vie, I guess. 

look how good she's getting at grids!

There were already two nice singles set up on the diagonals, and I added a series of progressive gymnastic exercises. And Doozy was so good!

off both leads! actual video is higher resolution, i promise

I'm not sure Sharon would have totally agreed with ALL my choices lol... But I did trot into the singles just to keep reinforcing her lessons. 

i let her canter the singles to finish up too <3

Doozy was great, tho, jumped everything super well -- and only knocked one rail! The grid obvi rode a little short for her (bc duh it was set short at 21') but that's honestly the point. To help her get a little more patient and compressed. The one single going into the far corner kept riding a little funny for us, but eh I think it was a little 'bottom heavy' (with the lattice gate practically on the floor) and going into the corner tends to inspire the chip vs the gap anyway, so I didn't dwell. 

we are learning a lot from each other, i think

On one hand, these sessions can seem kinda basic or elementary... But on the other hand.... that's also entirely the point lol. It was only just this summer where even just cantering a ground pole was Very Exciting OMG lol. And now the mare is powering cleanly thru grids on short distances. We'll take it!

link to video here

The video is less edited than normal -- and is almost our entire ride. I cut the first 4ish minutes of trot, where we were just warming up and settling in, and the walk breaks. So it's basically the full meat of our session. But for those of you who maybe don't want to watch 10min of wide-angle footage taken from a fixed position on the wall.... here are the key moments:

- First ~3min are our proper trot work, including passing through the ground poles

- Around 3:30 we start canter work, including passing through ground poles

- At 6:00 we start jumping, which lasts the remainder of the video

cookies and face scritches for a job well done <3

And idk about you guys, but for me? Rides like this are the stuff. It is so satisfying to just have a simple, pleasant school. Especially compared to some of our recent rides in the trial saddles -- where it felt like Doozy's tension only increased as the ride went on and nothing I did seemed to make a difference. 

I'm thinking the metronome is going to make more regular appearances in our rides again. Who cares if the lesson kids we ride with think it's weird LOL bc it clearly is working for us right now! 

Maybe that'll be my New Year resolution haha... Anyway. Happy almost 2025, y'all!