missed lesson

Ugh... is today Monday?? It sure seems like it.

I cut my turn a little tight and hit the gate post with the trailer fender on my way out with both boys for our lessons. It smashed the gate so that I couldn't latch it shut. And smashed my fender into the wheel. Argh! So... I tried repeatedly to hammer it out and crowbar it out, but it wasn't working. So I called Mike and cried and told Cindy I wasn't sure I was going to make my lesson. I unloaded the boys and tried to fix it. Once the trailer was empty and I got my frustrations out, I was able to tweak it enough to make it usable. So Cindy said to come and ride one in my later lesson and then just ride the other while I was there. Apparently while I was fixing the trailer BOTH ponies decided to roll. In the mud. Ugh. They were filthy. But it's Monday remember?! ;) So of course they did.

Anyways, Dan was good for his lesson and then I got on Fleck. I took it super easy in the arena and sort of fluffed him around on the buckle. He felt pretty decent. After a quick little hack I took him around the pastures and let him trot out and took a bigger and heavier connection. And he felt great!

So then I found Peri and asked her opinion. I rode him deep, like Kelly Eaton wants me to, and he felt awesome! His canter was amazing!!!! Yay! I asked Peri if he was too deep, like rolkur.... and she laughed and said that he was in a training level, maybe first level frame. Doh! I must retrain my brain! But she said that in her opinion, I should ride him with a heavy connection and get him where he needs to be so that he muscles properly and goes there. So she gave me a quick little mini lesson and we played around. Despite calling for Dan, Fleck was lovely! He was slow and balanced and rocked back and really felt quite fancy. I'm sure it wasn't as good as it felt.. but we felt like we were in a third level frame. Hee hee. I swear I really thought he was nose to his chest and Peri kept having to tell me that he was just in a first level frame. Wow... My sense is so warped. But it was great. We got some really lovely trot and canters and Peri even agreed. :) So I only did like 8 minutes and then we quit. I didn't want to make him sore.

But so.... I'm thinking that I need to ride him deep and mega round (which is in reality... normal!) and encourage him to go there and stay there and build muscles there. That should also help keep him sound because he's using himself more properly.

So... a cruddy day actually turned out to be quite nice! Two great rides after all :)