Another Wet Ride

But we managed to get in our fitness work. I don't know how, as it rained hard all night last night. But it stopped at some point overnight and the wind picked up, so maybe that's why. 

 Playing with the camera settings. :)

 

 

Ha ha...He cracks me up in this photo...

The trails were pretty decent and only had a few slick spots. Fleck and I just avoided the treacherous areas, walked when we needed to, and got it done. We managed a 20 minute walk, a 25 minute trot, and then three 4 minute canter sets roughly. (I forgot my watch so I used my phone alarms... and so it may have been 4+ minutes). Fleck felt great and was cracking me up. Whenever he heard my phone go off, he would take off. Hee hee. He was actually ready to go long before his "breather" in between was over. We didn't go all out because I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to slip and I didn't want to tear up the footing. We also did each set in a different field so that we didn't tear up the footing. It actually held up pretty well. 

Then we did another 20 minute hack to get back. And to take pictures. :) 

Ahhhh..... feeling better. I think its about time to clip Fleck though. It wasn't hot today by any means but mid 60's. And granted it was misting, but Fleck is getting fluffy. He didn't get quite sweaty enough to rinse off, but close. So I think I'll bathe him Tuesday after our lesson and then try to get him clipped soon after that. 

Making the best of the weather

So... wahhhhh..... The weather has been wretched all week. Even if I had not been working all darn week, I probably wouldn't have been able to get much more riding in before the show this weekend. And then... the show became an issue. The weather is horrible with Tropical Storm Juaqim on the horizon. Basically, we decided not to go to Windridge because they were expecting 2-8" of rain between Friday and Sunday morning, they are mostly grass and hilly, stadium is in the grass with the bowl terrain, it was our first prelim back, and it was temporary stables. I decided it just wasn't worth it. Which is a damn shame because Fleck feels amazing and we were so ready. I was so looking forward to a fun weekend with Caroline and Karen and Fleck. I felt prepared and ready. Sigh.... But it just wasn't worth risking my horse in the footing. And it's not just the XC footing... I was actually more worried about stadium. Heck, even dressage was a little worrisome. Plus I didn't want to get the trailer stuck. So... we ended up scratching on Friday but by Saturday morning, they had cancelled it. So... that sucks. I was super bummed. I was really hoping to see how he felt after that to help decide what else to do show wise. But so is life.

So.. the current plan is to do the schooling show at Full Gallop in 2 weeks and then run the recognized show at Full Gallop Halloween weekend. I know it's sort of cheating by schooling the facility before. BUT... it's okay. My horse is 18. We haven't had the best track record to begin with. It's our comeback. I'm okay with making darn sure it's going to be a happy positive experience. That way I can see how it goes and decide if he's good to keep playing at prelim or if we need to back down to training. Or if we need to stop eventing overall. And for my confidence, I need a good ride. I'm pretty sure that a good bit of our issues were pain related and I'm also pretty sure that he feels really good right now! But... for me... I need to make sure. So whatever, we'll school 2 weeks before. It'll probably be a slightly different course, but only slightly. But so what. After that I will decide what to do next. Whether it's Poplar... Pine Top... ??

So anyways.. point is... I was a little bummed (or a lot bummed) about missing out, but... it was a good choice after all. I ended up being a bum most of the day yesterday so today Kelli and I got motivated and decided to go ride. Good thing I did too because Danny was getting to be a twit, I was getting grumpy and irritable and even Flecky was starting to lose his mind.

We headed out and I decided to ride Dan with Kelli. Peri was supposed to join me for the second horse but in case she decided not to, I wanted to be riding Dan with a friend and not all by my lonesome. So after Kelli and I rode, I hopped on Fleck and went for a hack with Peri. :) It was fun. It was really wet though. The footing was great on the trails for walking and probably areas would have been fine to trot, but not everywhere. So we walked. I aimed for lots of hills so that I could at least accomplish some LSD and hill work.

When we were finishing up, I asked Peri if she minded a little work in the field. She wanted to head back, so we walked her back to the trailer and then I went back out for a few. I wanted to do a teeny bit of trotting just so Fleck could stretch his legs. We trotted up the hill twice and then trotted around. And Fleck was so happy. He was ready to go and keep going and even canter. But even just trotting, I was leaving deep footprints. We didn't slip, but it was so squishy. I decided that it was rude to keep working in the field and was tempted to go out on the trails for a long power trot, but... it was starting to rain worse and my feet were wet from the holes in my boots. And Peri was back at the trailer waiting on me, so... I just headed in. I was starving too. I figured I'd do more tomorrow since I would probably be all alone.

 Goofball

But it was a good ride. It helped my mood immensely! And confirmed my decision to cancel. 

Dressage Aha's!

Great lessons today!!!

Fleck must be feeling GOOD because he's been a bit of a twit lately. Last night he was a bit goofy at dinner and I almost had to really smack him. But after I just had to giggle because his face is just so innocent and cute!
But anyways... at our lesson he was a bit spooky and naughty but it was fine. We started off a bit inverted but I managed to get him relaxed by leg yielding in and out. And Cindy told me to think of BOUNCE when he got inverted and work on getting the bounce in his stride and back, rather than focus on his head. Bounce was the theme of the day. :) So... working on the trot, I thought more about getting a bouncy trot and achieved it by almost thinking trot lengthen, but not quite. We actually got some fairly lovely work. :) 

Then we worked on the downward. I tend to be a bit... abrupt and aggressive. So Cindy had me think about bouncing into the walk instead of driving down into the walk. AHA!! It made so much more sense. It was great. I bounced him up into the walk. It was glorious!! 

We also worked on the small counter canter serpentine. I told Cindy after that I was so glad we worked on it because it's in my test for the show this weekend and she said "I know"!. Seriously... that woman has ESP! Or is just even more amazing than I thought. :) So we started off and it was okay. I tried to ride with my outside leg slightly back, like with Dan. And it helped stabilize the canter. Then Cindy told me to keep the bend, but push him over with my big toe. However, he can't lean, so I had to use my outside rein to support him and keep him upright, but really keep my seat cantering on the right lead so that I don't get a swap. But man... was that canter LOVELY!!! Cindy said it was 3rd level correct canter. :) Wheee!!

So that was about all we did, but it was worth it. Such an awesome lesson. Now if I can just channel that and keep it for the weekend. :) 

 

Spooky Boy

Today was another overcast day but at least the rain wasn't as prevalent. It was just cloudy and icky. We had lunch with Chan and Britt and Wes and Natalie for Chans' birthday so it was 5 pm before I could go ride. I met Cindy to get my saddles checked and reflocked. Thank goodness as they were desperately needing them. 

I hopped on to see how they were fitting and Fleck was spooky and weird. But the saddle felt better. Then I put the jump saddle on and it felt MUCH better! It was easier to keep my leg where it belonged. Yay!! So hopefully I can fix my position now for good. 

So then after Cindy left I put the dressage saddle back on and attempted to fix the dressage. Fleck was still a bit up and spooky but we got some nice work. We ran through the test a few times and worked on balancing the lengthens and balancing the downward transitions. 

Then we went for a short hack to see if we could see the super moon. Nope... :( Too many clouds. Bummer. But it was a fun hack. Despite all the deer spooking us. :)

 

Getting It Done

Today was an icky horrible weather day. It rained all day yesterday and today started out the same. It wasn't down pouring but it was a solid steady heavy drizzle. More than just a sprinkle. It was a light rain. But it was non-stop and relentless. Luckily, Kelli motivated me and we decided to meet at Harbins. At least that way we were under the trees mostly.

So we went and it was fun! We actually got in a pretty good work out considering the footing was a little slick. Not too shabby. :) And hey.. better than nothing. :)

Jumping ahas

Ahhh... what a stressful day! But Fleck was my wonderful shining light in the day. :) (well, Dan was pretty good too after the fact!). But anyways, we had a great ride! 

We rode with Caroline and Jack and it was fun. Kelly set up some good stuff and we also worked more on my position. 

So we did a triple line and worked on my position. We started out with Kelly telling me that I needed to keep my upper body more upright on landing with my feet out in front of me. I tried that and I got stuck and stiff and felt like I was standing upright. So then we chatted a bit about it and Kelly made a great point! She said that I needed to keep my leg and upper body how it is up to and at the apex of the jump. BUT... when I start to come down from the jump, that's when I need to send my lower legs forward and slide my upper body back up (no ducking) and tuck my hips (rotate my hips, tuck my butt, and bring my belly button to my spine) and push my hands down. Aha!!! It was much easier when I did it that way. I wasn't able to keep it all the time and certainly not when things got wonky with Fleck, but.. it's a start.

Fleck was great. Wide hands to skinny stuff. Don't worry about his head, worry about his shoulders. If my hands are wide, his shoulders are within my aids, not outside of my aids

Fitness Wednesday

Fleck and I managed to sneak in a ride today. :) We opted for some fitness before Windridge. We ended up running into Jeff and Beau, but as I wanted hills, we parted ways early on.

It was a wildlife filled ride! We saw 3 deer, 1 big raccoon (at Raccoon loop, go figure) and a unicorn!! Okay, so maybe it was a deer with only one antler and one point, but... maybe not!

We did 20 minutes of walking and then a 30 minute trot. Then we caught back up with Jeff and Beau and they decided to join us for our canter sets. I meant to do 4 minute intervals but told Jeff 3 minutes, so I stuck to the 3 minutes. They go a lot quicker when you have a pal. And Beau hung with us. We added a little gallop in two of them and Beau kept up by taking the inside track. Wheee. Fun! I may have to do all my fitness work with them. They are tough! So after we did the 3x3 we hacked to the lake for a little soaking. 

It was a good day. 

Okay, so... our 30 minute trotting set MAY have been interrupted some by some photo ops. :)