Fleck's leg was slightly poofy after our lessons with Julie. I don't know if he smacked himself in the trailer, Dan got him, he hit a jump, or what, but I panicked. So I only rode Sunday enough to walk him to the lake and "cold hose" him and then back. He was sound... and not touchy, but I panicked. Then Monday evening I took him to Super Doc and we ultrasounded him. Everything checked out A-ok, but she suggested a few days of walking and rest, just to make sure. So... Monday and Tuesday we cancelled our dressage lessons and just walked on the trails. I cheated... I did a teeny bit of trotting to make sure he stayed sound. And he did. So then Wednesday I did another long trail ride and he got Thursday off. Come Friday, I couldn't take it anymore. I had a quiet night at work, so I opted to play hooky and go ride instead of sleep. We did some dressage work.... I really really wanted to gallop... The weather was cool and brisk and Fleck was feeling frisky. BUT.. I was a good girl. We did dressage. I figured I'd practice my test. UGH......... But it was still worth playing hooky and getting 3.5 hours of sleep instead of 6. :)
We started out pretty good... working on the things Julie had reminded me of. And I carried a whip... she did say he was a little sluggish off my leg and that I needed a whip for more lateral move over on the leg yield. So I did... maybe not such a good idea on the brisk windy day with the fresh pony who's only been allowed to walk for a few days! Hee hee... He was good actually. I think some the forward would have been good but I panicked and braced and held and... it escalated. And it's Fleck, so it's not like he was bad. Just heavy and a little runny. And of course... the stupid test aggravates ALL of our issues... So we warmed up and then ran through the test.
A: enter down centerline, track right.... no problem. Even got him bent around my right leg.
Okay... I'll be honest, I don't know the letters STILL so... then we turn right at B or E or whatever and do the 15 meter figure 8 at X. No problem... actually fairly nice... Slight loss of tempo but a nice change of bend. Then track left and we maintained a nice trot, even got a shoulder in and then asked for the canter. NICE transition and nice canter :) But of course.. it's the left lead. So we had a nice canter, a fairly decent canter lengthen, then it starts to go downhill. I can get an okay downhill to the walk... an okay walk, but then it's the short diagonal free walk. Okay, not much time to show and then get him back together.... Especially for Fleck... but argh.. So then we are back to medium walk. EEEEKKKS!!! I can't EVER get this... Even at home, only about every 5th time do I manage to get a normal walk without jigging or breaking. I try keeping my hips moving, bending him around the inside leg, shortening the outside rein first, shortening the inside leg first, leaving the reins long,....but I still can't manage a nice transition. Then of course I'm fussing at him, which ruins our trot transition... Then he's braced and jiggy and when I ask him to bend around my inside leg and do a shoulder in to get a good right lead canter... he breaks into the canter early. And then it's a very bouncy tense tight canter.. Argh.. and oh so haunches in. So then I fuss with him for that and we can't get a good lengthen. Then the downward is on the forhand... and then it's immediately to the stretchy trot... which is then on the forehand and runny. Sigh... I can manage to get him back before the lengthen across the diagonal but he's so weak behind that he's very uneven so our shot at a good score there (cause he used to have an awesome lengthen) is shot. Then down centerline and halt and salute. We used to nail that too, but.. not so much today.
Sigh... stupid friggin' test... I want Prelim A, B, or even C back!!!!! I tried to run through it a few times and it never really got any better. Argh.. so then we went on a trail/cool off ride and I decided we needed a little canter through the field. Wheeee!!! We both enjoyed it. Then we cold hosed his leg in the lake again, and headed back home.
So... that test frustrates me to no end, but still can't beat a beautiful day on the back of my beautiful horse!
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