Poor hard working Flecky

Poor Fleck.. he placed well in the horse trial yesterday and then had to go do a dressage lesson today! No rest for the wicked! Ha... Fleck has not a single ounce of wicked in him. But we had fun. It was a good lesson!

We started out working on the trot and I had to remember to ASK for the good trot. Fleck doesn't just give it to me. Then we worked on the canter. Cindy had me do a square serpentine. So square turns and canter pirouettes (fake baby ones for us) instead of an arc. It was good. But prior to doing that, we had a discussion. I got flustered and was having a hard time keeping Fleck square and upright but with inside flexion. Cindy pointed out that I was asking for one or the other, not both. I would ask him to counter bend and get his shoulder in line but then when I got that, I'd drop him and ask for inside flexion and he would just pop that shoulder back out. So... I had to ask for both. And she gave me a helpful hint. I could use an indirect rein with my outside rein, coming to the inside, to straighten that shoulder. It was essentially the counter bend or the renver without being so obvious about it. It was very helpful. I managed to get Fleck up and straight and square!! No throwing away that outside rein. Then we got to do the square serprentine thing and it was fun. Hard, but fun. 

Such a good boy!

Full Gallop Horse Trials

Another fun weekend for Team Awesome. Fleck and I went to Full Gallop for their January horse trials. We weren't planning on it, but it worked with the schedule and they made it a one day and when I was debating signing up, the weather was gorgeous. So.. I did. Luckily, the weather wasn't horrible. I got some riding in prior, but Friday was miserable cold. It actually warmed up later that afternoon but by then I was already in "do nothing" mode. So I figured he could have the day off. Saturday we loaded up and headed out. We stabled at Jumping Branch that night so we decided we might as well school while we were there. Fleck was a good boy. We managed to jump decently, though I could beat myself for the stupid half coffin again. Argh... I came up to and stared right at it. Argh... Of course he stopped. But I came again and looked up and he went fine over it. We finished with a long hack. And it was gorgeous out! It was so warm I sweated in just a t-shirt. Then put them up and went to Full Gallop to walk the courses. The stadium course looked fun. It was a good fun course... WITH a triple!!! Yay!! Only this triple was a big forward triple, then four strides to a upright vertical slightly downhill. Eeeks! Tough. So then we walked XC. I just ran P/T because ...well, because it was Full Gallop and I'm still scared of the ditch and wall and giant trakenher. :) But.... the ditch and wall and trakenher are NO MORE!!!! They annihilated them and they are gone. SWEET!! And actually, the prelim course looked kinda fun! We didn't walk it, but as we walked training, we passed most of it. It looked quite doable. Training was a fun course. Not big... not tough, but a few questions that would be tough for me and Fleck. Lots of downhill stuff. Lots of stuff that was just tough for us. And one new trakenher that was little... but still a smidge scary. And as we finished the walks, the moon was making it's way out. It was gorgeous!!!! Big, low, and yellow! 

So the next morning dawned a little chilly and gorgeous. The moon was just as pretty that morning. It was cold though. We cleaned stalls, fed ponies, and I braided. Then we loaded up and headed to Full Gallop. I swear it just kept getting colder. The wind was brutal. But we manned up and got ready for dressage. I had a pretty good warm up. I worked on getting his neck supple at first by bend/counter bend, then leg yield in, then leg yield out. We got some nice work and at the end, Beth had me do ten meter circle figure 8's. I had to sit up, sit him on his hiney, and then soften his neck too. So I had him working nicely, but when I lifted my inside hand he really softened and bent around my inside leg and was lovely! So... in we went! And it started out pretty good, but then we lost it. I came in strong and our ten meter circle figure 8 was pretty good. My second circle started funky but I fixed it. Our first canter serprentine was lovely!!! Aside from the slight break to canter because I got him with my spur. Oops. The second one.. sucked. It is always tougher and I guess I forgot to let my hip open and allow him to move. And I didn't allow his shoulder to go so it sorta turned into a half pass, but not a good one. Then our walk work was our downfall again. Argh... I like test B better.. it comes at the end. ;) He started okay but when I went to collect him, he inverted and started to trot. I barely held him together but then of course we were tense and I got grabby and locked and... it went downhill. Our right lead canter wasn't horrid and I actually thought it was pretty decent but not so much. Then I accidentally went to X instead of the quarter line on our serpentine so we got counted down for that. The change of lead through the trot was.. just that. It wasn't great.. but he trotted. But the judge wrote "Changed leads". ??? I thought I was supposed to... ?? Oh well. Our lengthen wasn't great either. Sigh... oh well. We ended up with a 42.3 or something. In last place... out of 5. Doh. But aside from the first place girl.. i wasn't too far off. Oh well.

And then.. it was colder!!! I was freezing. The wind was brutal. So I stalled a bit too long and was running really late for stadium. I think I was swinging into the saddle at 10:56 and my ride time was 11:03. And I was still at day parking. Eeeks. We trotted the whole way to the warm up ring and went to jumping. Beth was trying to tell me to collect him, but I was flustered and just gunning him. So... I did manage to collect him and then we headed into the ring. Ugh.. it was probably one of my worst rides.. but Fleck manned up and was awesome!! He jumped clean!!! And saved my butt repeatedly. We even put a two stride in the triple. Argh.. But.. the pictures don't look too bad. And we managed to be only one of two of the five rides to go clean. SAINT of a horse!!

So then on to XC. I managed to get him a bit more collected in warm up and was feeling less horrified with myself. The first half of the course was a little screwy. He started out behind my leg and almost stopped at the coop in front of the banks. I think it's because he was looking for Phinn. Goof! But once I put my leg on him he jumped the coop and then up and down the bank. I wanted to kick him on but then we were barrelling down the hill to the treasure chest and I knew I had to balance him. So we jumped the treasure chest and then we turned right to the trakenher. And Fleck almost slipped on the clay. Eeeks. I really thought he was going down. Right before the trakenher!! Eeeks... I'll admit it, the trakenher was freakin' me out a bit. But I was thinking "balance, sit up"... and then three strides and we were there. Yay pony. So then after that we managed to get both of our heads in the games. Then we were rocking. He burned up the hill and jumped the roll top to down bank... Oh, but then the goof spooked at the barrel on the prelim corner next to the fake training corner and almost ran out. I held him in. Then we were rocking. He burned up the hill and jumped the water beautifully! It was Beth's grid... right bend, left bend. But straight over the jumps. Whee. Then over the last four or five fences and we were home. Fastest time. :) 

We finished on our cruddy dressage score, but because we went clean in stadium we moved up to third. So.. that is now two third places at training, which means..... one more clean XC run and we are qualified for the AECs. IF we decide we want to go. :) Good pony.

 
 

Dressage is fun!

I always have fun in my dressage lessons but this one had me, and Cindy and Peri, giggling.

I should have known it was going to be a goofy day... I had the trailer in the front yard this morning and loaded Fleck in and put the ramp up. Luckily I went to add more hay to his hay net because when I did.. I saw Tilly roosting on the hay in there!! Tilly, aka Matilda, is one of my hens. I had two bales of hay still in the trailer and one was propped upright... Well, Tilly (and apparently Clementine) was perched up there! Eeks... Can you imagine if I took her to High Point with me? She'd be all freaked out and squawking and then Fleck would get all freaked out!! Hee hee. So I picked her up and put her out.. and had two eggs on my hay! So Cindy got some eggs today. 

Cindy always says "what would you say if I told you to do X right now?"... and my answer is almost always the same... regardless of what she's asking me to do. "Urgh......" frowny face then smile because I know that's her way of saying "Get your act together girl... how do you expect to change gait/speed/etc like that'!". hee hee.. And she's always right.... He's never set up properly. Hence the chagrined face. And then later she was "chastising" another student for sitting too far back in the lengthen.. saying "who rides like that?"... and I"m thinking... probably me.. hee hee..

Anyways... aside from the goofies, it was a good lesson! Fleck started a little putzy but got more impulsion by the end. And Cindy told me to "weight my elbows and joints" and it worked! Although she said "Yes.. that word set works for you"... and I'm thinking "Huh... cause I really don't know what you mean by that"!... hee hee... But I need to remember to bend my elbows/lift my hands, and then lengthen my legs and think of my knees and ankles being heavy... Apparently that's what she wanted :) hee hee.. More giggling...

Anyways... we had some good work today and that thought really seemed to help my position. Fleck and I had some pretty nice canter serpentines too. I need to remember to sit to the inside, even when we're counter cantering, because... I need to be riding him inside leg to outside rein WITHIN the bend... I was putting my weight on the opposite seat bone instead, which was throwing his barrel back to the wrong bend side, thus encouraging him to swap. Not that he was, but still. It was better when I sat right.

So yep.. fun day!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Ahhhhh...... all is well again!

Today was my last overnight of work and the start of my week off. Sweet relief....The basement is dry and staying dry.... And I had a good day with Flecky pie. It was cold but not too bad. We did some flat work and it was a quick mincy start, but I managed to slow my post and get him to slow down and then we were doing much better! I ran through the test and fixed our leg yields. Mostly... we have a great right leg yield but then going left he tends to trail with his haunches and get behind my leg. But I got my right leg farther back and opened my left hip and that seemed to help. Then we played with the canter and Fleck gave me a nice birthday present! We did a three loop serpentine with three clean simple changes!! YAY!!

Then I went back to the trailer and put the bareback pad on him and headed out to the field to meet Missy. Fleck was keen to head out and we trotted and cantered some.... and then I realized my bareback pad was slowly becoming a bucking strap! It was slipping and ended up behind me with the strap pretty much on Fleck's flank! Doh... that's not going to work. So we headed back to the trailer and put on the jump saddle. Then back out again to meet Missy. Fleck was so glad to see Zhar. We had a nice romp through the woods, a quick soak in the lake, and then a polite friendly canter through the fields. Ahhhh........ so much better!

Then dinner with Mike and Christina and Adam at Provinos. Fun day!

Argh....

Well today kinda sucked.....  I was so looking forward to it too. I had ridden Tuesday in the rain, but took Wednesday off because of work and the weather being miserable. The 30 minutes it wasn't raining was an option but the footing was just so gross. So then I worked Thursday and Friday... so I was really looking foward to Saturday. Only when I got home from work, Mike told me that the basement had flooded again. Really?!?!?! I swear... I can't catch a break. I hate this flippin house. So I was upset about that... because that means more money that we don't have.... More stress....

So then I got Fleck and hauled to Wishing Tree for grids day. I rode Nike first and he was a good boy. SUCH a good boy. We did grids, which are really hard for him and the rider on him! He jumps with such a bascule and tends to get behind your leg... that it's hard! It was a much different ride than Fleck, and even a different ride than jumping him last time. But it was good for me. It's still the same tactics as Fleck and he makes it a bit more obvious. He's not as sneaky about lengthening his stride on the straightaway as Fleck is. So it was good. Only at one point, he was too sucked back and going through the ground poles I knew it... but we were already "in". So I sorta figured he'd stop. Nope.. he bounced all three jumps and popped me out of the tack. I sat the first one and thought "he'll stop now"... Nope. He threw me off to the side of him over the second.. and then kept jumping. I ended up with my left foot still in the stirrup but hanging off his side over the third jump and then managed to land on my feet, reins still in my hands as he landed off the third. Hee hee...It was....awkward... and embarassing. But... we fixed it after that and I managed to get him in front of my leg without letting him get long so we had two good lines to end on. I rode in Jamie's saddle again and this time I felt all over the place in it. Hmmm...

So then it was Fleck's turn. I had him tied nice and loose to the trailer... so he could get water, etc. Apparently he laid down and rolled while tied and then got back up, no problems. Oops!! So I got him cleaned up and tacked up and rode in Jamie's saddle again. I got on him and... he was lame. Like head bobbing lame. But happy to go forward. So Beth said to canter him around a bit and see if that loosened him up. It worked... I don't know if the saddle was pinching him somewhere? Or the girth? Or what, but after that he was sound. None of the other girls saw anything the whole rest of the ride. Though he did buck a few times on landing... but they all said it was happy bucks because he was ears up and forward and being goofy about it. The footing was a little slick on landing too, so that may have been part of it. Bucking through his changes. Which... he kept landing on the right lead and having to change to the left, and he did. Just about every time... And if I'm correct, that's his harder way. So... he can't have felt too bad. So...we did the same grid exercise and we started off fine. Beth said we were coming in a little bit too the right. She had the poles arranged in touching V's and said we were all getting pulled a little too far to the right because of the orientation. So she put the mounting block in the way so we had to stay left. It worked at first... Then I don't know what happened but Fleck started jumping the ground poles and then getting in wrong for the grid. I tried half halting and he ignored me. Repeatedly. So then I started to get pissy... about the fourth time of him flubbering through it. I mean really??? What the heck? So I got mad at him... and I hate when I do that... Argh. So then I thought.. maybe he can't not jump it because now he's too far off centerline the other way. So I tried getting him closer to the mounting block and he was better but still not great. So Beth took the mounting block away and then he was fine again. .... Doh! Then I felt like an ass... So then we jumped fine the rest of the time and we even added a jump after that he did pretty well.

But... it was still a cruddy day because of the stupid house. And then I felt like a turd for getting mad at Fleck. And then I was upset because I didn't feel like I was jumping all that well in Jamie's saddle. Which.. is a good thing I guess. I mean, I'd rather have a magic saddle even if it was pricey. But if it's not a magic saddle... I'll stick with mine. So maybe that's good news... save myself some money. But argh..... just a frustrating day. So I cried the whole way home. :(

But.... today is going to be a better day. Fleck and I will go do some dressage (We better!!! Showing next weekend and I've only done two days of dressage so far this year!) and then a little relaxing soul improving trail ride.  Then back to work.... Hopefully Mike can get the basement fixed up for cheap.

Rainy Day....

But it's all good... We rode anyways! Although I will admit that it did take a little bit of convincing myself. I almost talked myself out of it. But I'm glad I didn't. It was mostly just a long walk hack, in the misting rain. But it was fun. And then at the end, we did a little bit of work in the ring - just a little bit of trot and canter.

Fun day though!

Power Trails!!

So... today Fleck and I hauled over to Harbins for "Power Trails" with Liz. We did the 6 mile loop and much of it was done at the trot and canter. The trails here are great but there's a lot of direction changes... Fleck was having to really balance himself and at some points.. he gave up and just bucked his hiney into the air rather than trying to stay on the path. Hee hee... We had fun!

And... it was neat because many of the other trail riders came up and said how big and cool Fleck was. And how he was fit and not fat, and still huge! And he looked like a "Pistol"! hee hee...  He was a little amped up because of some kids in the woods... ;)

Fun day! Tomorrow is larking with Amber and Toby and then Monday is dressage with Cindy again and then something Tuesday and Wed. :)