Ponies, ponies, ponies ALL DAY!

I decided to go all out today with the ponies! It was HOT too but I sucked it up and did it. I got up early and took Danny to Ashland. See his blog for that fun adventures details :) Then I hauled Fleck to Beth's for a jump lesson. He was good. We were working on how to fix my abandonment issues. To start she had me work on his canter. Going up the hill I had to drive him forward and lengthen his hind legs and get him reaching but not let him lengthen his head and neck. Then going downhill I had to half halt him and get him collected and underneath himself. To accomplish this she wanted me to half halt with alternating rein... so left hand, right hand, left hand.. but only as necessary. I was to be soft when he was. In essence, it ended up being my canter to walk canter. :) It's funny.. my walk in my dressage test became my walk to canter walk... and now my canter is my canter to walk canter. BUT.. Beth explained that this would obviously need more power and oomph and even speed when doing courses. But I had to learn to get this canter first. So once I figured that out we moved on to jumping. We started with the grid and he was good and then after the grid I had to get the canter. I started to get a little too half halty without my leg and he started getting a little pogo-y. So then I mostly fixed it with adding leg. We did a few courses and when I rode properly.. he jumped great!!! It was great. By focusing on the alternating half halts... we couldn't hang on each other... I wasn't so fixated on the distance and when the distance wasn't right... I thought "it's cool.. I've got about four more half halts to be able to adjust him with" and because I was focusing on the half halts and whether we needed more or not I wasn't abandoning him and I knew I had to keep my leg on. And amazingly.. when I did that.. he happily jumped from the slightly long spot or the slightly deep spot and didn't have to heave himself over. There was no stopping! :) Yay!!!! It was such a happier feeling than just... not having any idea where we were or what to do. I think Fleck thought so too. ;) So now... until Beth says otherwise.. I need to start every course and finish every fence with THAT CANTER... and then adjust accordingly while on course. I did manage to get the bigger canter without abandoning the initial canter thought process, so yay!

After I got Fleck cooled off and iced, I got on Nike. He's awesome.. he's my second favorite horse (Dan is NOT a horse yet). He's like Fleck but less sneaky about things and more blatantly obvious, which makes him fun to ride because he really helps me learn. He really makes my faults obvious. So I warmed him up long and low and then we worked on the canter. He's tough... he can be so light and fluffy but you have to keep bumping him up and you really have to SIT up tall. If not, he pulls you down and forward and then it's hard to get yourself back up because he has so much neck! hee hee. So I was able to accomplish that and get him collected and then we moved on to flying changes. Well.. Nike did! I was attempting counter canter. Hee hee. But it was lovely. So we decided to just go straight to the flying changes and then he was giving me counter canter. Doh! ha! Finally I figured it out. I had to keep him up and fluffy, and very collected. We kept the right bend, crossed the diagonal, and went straight for a few strides. Then I scooped forward with both hips but slightly more with the new inside hip, put my new outside leg back (more so than I thought I needed) and my new inside leg forward/at the girth, and... change :) But immediately collect and keep him up and fluffy so he didn't run off with me. :) I managed to get two or three clean ones with me actually asking and not Nike just offering. It was great fun. I think it'll really help me with Fleck. Fleck does the exact same thing, but I just don't notice it because he's so sneaky about it. So yay!

And then I got Nike cooled off and linimented and put away and moved on to Atlas. He's an OTTB green bean 6 year old. He cracks me up. He's just so sweet and silly and "la da da". He was fun. We had a good time trotting and then oh my... his canter is LOVELY! Seriously lovely! So then we jumped the gymnastics. Beth told me that he is very green and unaware of his body so I needed to be very precise in telling him where to put it all and very supportive. We did pretty good through the grid. He's definitely wiggly but he was responsive to my leg attempts at keeping him straight. Then we moved on to jumping a course. So tough!! For me at least. He's super fun but wow.. hard! He's got a nice canter but I was trying to collect him a little to help him out and I ended up getting him behind my leg so then he'd have to make a bid for the jump and would just launch himself.. then I'd catch him in the mouth and he'd hollow and hit the jumps. Sigh.. I felt horrible. But it took me forever to fix it. I just couldn't get the hang of him. But... I finally did. Mostly. ;) Poor Atlas pony.. He's plenty game despite me screwing it up. But finally I was able to get a little bigger canter going and keep my leg on during my more subtle half halts and then he was still moving up a bit to the fences but he wasn't making that giant bid for them. And I was releasing over the fences, so yay. 

So yep.. TONS of fun and very good for me. Very educational! I'm sunburned, hotter than heck, and FILTHY, but I had a blast! I hope to do more boot camp days. Good thing these ponies owners are out of town a good bit this Summer. I really liked riding them both.