Team Awesome

Fleck...always there for me

Today I said good-bye to Willow. The plan was to manage her pain and nausea, but it didn't work. She woke up ready to go this morning. She wasn't ready yesterday but today she was. I am lucky. Yesterday on our trail ride I prayed. I prayed that God would help me give her a peaceful ending and that I would know when she was ready. I prayed that she wouldn't crash and burn and go without me holding her and that when she went, it would be peaceful. And this morning, I knew. She was ready to go. I was able to love on her for awhile and then helped her pass peacefully, in my arms. It is awful and I'm going to miss that sweet smiling face forever.

I took Fleck out to help soothe my soul. The weather was odd. It had rained pretty hard the night before so the dressage arena's were pretty wet. I didn't have much time, so we ended up doing a quick dressage ride in the upper arena and then a super quick cool down at the edge of the XC field to cool off. The sun was out and it was hot, but the wind was brutal and there were serious storm clouds brewing. We had a good ride. I worked on what Sandy had showed us in our lesson. And I rode most of the ride with a driving rein on the left. I thought it might help retrain my body not to grab and hold that left rein. I think it helped! Fleck was really nice. And our leg yields were pretty decent. IF I made sure to keep him supple and round before we started. When he wasn't really "on the bit", our leg yields were sloppy and rushed. But if I made sure he was truly deep and round, they were lovely! So ... must remember that for this weekend.

We finished and the clouds were cool so I was trying to get a "Mighty Warrior" type photo. Fleck was clearly not in the mood and was going for "Super goober". But he made me giggle despite the morning, so... I love him!

My happy place

Today was a really sad day. I needed to gallop. Fleck always knows what to say and what to do to make me feel better.

I found out that my dog, Willow, has a splenic tumor with mets to the mesentary. The prognosis sucks and there's not much I can do for him. But the plan was to manage her with pain medication and anti nausea meds. So... we had a plan. But I was still very sad about the whole situation and emotionally, mentally, and physically spent. So I loaded Fleck up and we went to our happy place.

We had a great hack as the sun was setting and got in some good gallops. We finished up in the lake as the moon came out. It was just what I needed.

Dressage Anarchy!

Photo credits to Tiffany "Faye" Brown...

I love this!!!

Fleck and I had our lesson with Sandy today. It didn't go great. ;) Fleck was trying and I was trying but I just couldn't get him unlocked in the canter. Mostly because I couldn't unlock myself. So... Sandy had to get on. Hee hee. Poor Sandy. Fleck had a complete and total tantrum!! He threw everything he had at her - haunches in, haunches out, head up, shoulders out, sewing machine trot, piaffe, passage, backing up, crow hopping, baby bucks... it was ridiculous. Just ridiculous! All she was doing was sitting quietly up there asking him to go between her legs and reins. But he took serious offense.

Eventually though.. he gave up and settled and was LOVELY! She even said that he had quite a nice suspension to his trot. His canter was a bit of a disaster though, especially tracking right.

So then I got back on. And wow!! I could totally feel a difference. So basically I need to be more adamant about getting him supple and lifting through his withers and down towards the bit with his head hanging. Not braced! My elbows need to stay bent and at my sides. My seat needs to stay evenly on him. He tends to throw me onto the left seatbone. My left hand MUST quit pulling and blocking him. I need to use an opening rein. And I must sit firm and tall and use my core to hold him in that right rein, rather than my arm. Remember bent elbows with low hands. Also, I need to relax my legs on him. I should be able to just feel his hair, not be clamped down tight. That way, he is maintaining the rhythm without me constantly nagging, but I can quickly and softly put his body back where it belongs. I also need to pay more attention to my upper body. When I ask him to bend, I need to bend. If my head is turned, my upper body also needs to turn.

When I accomplished ALL those things.. at the SAME time... we had a lovely horse! :)

Best stadium lesson EVER

It was SOOOO much fun!!

Basically Beth had me work on keeping Fleck supple through his jaw all the way to the fence and as soon as we landed. Not "on the bit" necessarily, because he had to be able to lift his head and look. But he couldn't be stiff in the neck, inverted, or locked in the poll. But then she said that I had gotten to accomplishing that by essentially see sawing him down. My alternating one handed half halts were becoming constant. Which was only causing him to tune me out. I went from braced and hanging to too many half halts. Hee hee. Of course! So we worked on me only half halting when necessary, and using my fingers to say "hi... I'm here... wiggle wiggle..." when I needed it instead of constantly making BIG half halts. I need to learn to whisper instead of shout.

It took a bit to finesse it but when we got it... HOLY SMOKES!!!! Fleck was soooo happy. He was jumping like a beast! I loved it too. By giving him that ride... he was soft, supple, and happy. AND more importantly, he had energy. I wasn't having to create energy. I wasn't half halting any energy he had and then asking him to recreate more. I was allowing his natural energy out. And then I could just finesse it. It is amazing!! He wasn't any faster, but he felt very much more "prelim-y" to me. It created a soft, forward, supple, energetic canter. It was nice not to have to fight with him.

I also need to remember to keep my leg on, especially when I am half halting. And I need to remember to not "row" or pull back over the jumps. Plant my hands on his neck, or follow them in an auto release, but no backwards pumping.

It really was a great ride. Beth said I had never ridden better. And Fleck surely felt awesome. He never once rolled over his shoulder, even though some of our distances weren't fantastic. it was definitely FUN for both of us. We both finished with big smiles on our faces!

Now the key will be remembering this! And re-creating it!

Ponyin'...

So... a few more days of trails and dressage riding. And then we took Danny for a trail ride with us after some dressage work. I did put my stirrups back on for ponying. Figured I might need them. But they were off for my flatwork! Danny was great. Fleck too, though he kept making dragon faces at Dan. Hee hee.. Silly boys! Oh, and Fleck decided to use Danny as a scratching post.

Dressaging at home

Fleck and I went to Dr. Brown's today. He was in pretty good shape. No issues on his right knee, but a little sore on the left. But today he was sore on his intertransverse joints. Which is new for him. interesting....

Anyways, when we got home I really wanted to ride. However, they were using my truck to rig up a harness for Josh so he could finish painting the house. So... If I wanted to ride, I had to ride at home. So I did. It wasn't a great ride, but not too bad. Nothing too horribly exciting. I had my stirrups off as it was the first day of Lent. We worked on our leg yields some too.
But I rode!!