What's Up Wednesday

 

Between outside activities and weather, the horses didn't do much jumping last week. But honestly, I think it's fine to have an easy week here and there. But we did do some quality flat work most days so all was not lost. (And you know... some days the flat work was lower quality, but that's okay too!) I'm trying very hard to stay on track this week though. So everyone put in a solid flat day on Tuesday, and today we popped over a few fences. I was a little short on time, and the windy weather was giving me anxiety (me... not the horses this time) so we kept it short, and mostly just popped over single fences. I didn't really put any courses together. That IS my plan for Friday, fingers crossed they're wrong about it being another windy day. I don't think we've had a still day the past couple of weeks. In the summer a breezy day is fine, but this time of year, the way the sun hits, we get some crazy moving shadows in the ring which is tough for Al. So far he's been trying very hard to be good though, despite the active shadows. Gotta give him credit when it's due!

I jumped Al first today. We avoided the spookiest jump which I stupidly placed right in the moving shadows... But we jumped most everything else. I had to tuck in some of the fill because of the wind, but I have a plan to fix that problem for next week....

Al was good, though surprisingly a little too quiet. I'm still taking it slowly with him as he lost a lot of fitness during his sore foot episode. He's probably my laziest horse, and I didn't realize how much I was letting him get away with not actually working in our rides. So the next few weeks I'm going to try and focus on getting more from him. I think he needs a training ride to re-install the go button honestly... But that's still several weeks away. My achilles heel is that I absolutely can create a horse that gets a little dead to the leg. And this is why I'm not a horse trainer! Anyway, despite him being behind my leg, and not really ever getting a quality canter, he still was honest and a good dude to the jumps. A positive day! 

Eros went second. I offered everyone a free lunge today before jumping (see note above about my wind anxiety) so E was actually pretty quiet for our jump school. I had to really push him to get down the line in four. But since he'd had some play time, he came right back to me despite being pushed down the line. If you know Eros, that's a big deal!

I love this horse so much. He can be a little silly, and sometimes he drags me around like a runaway train, but I just trust him so much. As long as I ask, he always tries. Even when I'm wrong. Even when I get left behind. Or jump ahead. He just forgives it and tries again. He's really a special guy. 

Shiny went last. I was starting to run low on time, so we didn't get AS much done as I'd hoped, but we still popped over a few things. She wasn't bad, but I really needed more time to get her going. I've found this summer that you kind of just have to keep jumping small things until she decides she's there to play that day. Once that happens, she will actually start to take you to the jumps and she's a really easy ride. Up until that point though? She sucks back at your leg, and chips to everything. And if you try to rush her through this silly process of hers?

You get all the sass! All of it! Lol! She's too much. I never fully achieved getting her to take me to the jumps today, but she gave me a few semi efforts anyway. 

She's a good pony. She just has a lot of feelings that we need to work around. But the nice thing about her, is even when she's throwing her feelings around, she's still never out to hurt you. She states her opinion and then it's over. You want to raise women who stand up for themselves, and well... I've done that I suppose. 

On Sunday, I actually got to have a lesson over at the other barn. I rode the most wonderful good boy! He's enormous. Even bigger than that tall guy I rode for spirit week's Thursday's Threads if you can believe that. But he's just as sweet as they come and honest as the day is long. No photos since I got no media and he's not mine, but we had fun! The flat part went just fine. I've flatted him a bunch of times, and while he is a challenge for me to really get put together (he is SO LONG!), I can do it, and it was actually a lot easier in a lesson setting. It took me some time to figure him out over fences. He's so big and long, I had two things to figure out. First, the correct distance always looked a little long to me. It wasn't, he was getting there just fine, but there was just so much horse in front of me, I was confused. There was a moment mid lesson, where I decided to try to hold for the add, and that was very much the wrong choice. But it did help me realize that longer one was actually correct. The second tricky part was in the air. It was hard for me to follow him all the way across the jump. It was like I ran out of arms to give with. So I would land a little discombobulated, and then it was a little hairy in the bending lines. But eventually we put it all together. I was in a lesson with 2'6" riders, so thankfully the jumps weren't so big that I was REALLY getting jumped loose! She did put the out of the last line up for my last time through, maybe to 3'? Nothing crazy. And it felt great, so that was a nice way to end. That horse was so kind and sweet to me, and it was really nice to get to jump around on something different. 

The week was busy outside of horses too. I attended the most beautiful fund raiser gala on Friday evening. One of the families at the barn have a son with a very rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, so they organize this fundraiser every year to benefit research for the disease. Not only was it a fun night out with the barn friends, but it was successful too, and they raised a lot of money. 

Thursday I had an old friend from high school stop by who is in town visiting from California. It's always great to see her, and one of our more local mutual friends came by too. Shiny wound up having a day off because I spent too much time hanging with my friends. But these things happen. And it was worth it. 

Saturday was Rosh Hashana dinner with the family which was delicious. So I've been very well fed this past week and all kinds of socialized. Clearly, it's time to return to my bubble and get back to a proper riding schedule! 

Did you all have a good week? Windy where you are? Is it COLD? Because it's getting chilly here for sure. The horses are wearing sheets at night. And I might even go throw on their 100 grams tonight. Boo. Summer is my favorite season, and fall is always kind of a bummer for me. But don't get me wrong, I love me some pumpkin flavored everything!