Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Browband: Dark Jewel Designs
Despite all that, things are just fine around here! I've been lessoning twice weekly with Al, and each one brings slightly less angst despite all the universal challenges coming our way. Though we still have not ventured to the very end of the ring... Baby steps my friends. Today we jumped a little course, complete with a three stride line, and I only almost died once. So that's pretty good! And my response to the near death experience was to dig in and ride better, so I think we're actually getting somewhere. And by we, I mean me and my ridiculous fears. You're probably wondering what went wrong... It wasn't really much of anything really. The jumps have stayed small like 2'3" ish? Maybe 2'6"? Not sure. The height is of zero consequence with Al, our struggles are solely about things unrelated to the jumps themselves. But in this instance, I was glad the jump was small! So I was jumping a little vertical on the diagonal off the right lead. I was jumping away from the lounge area, heading toward the dreaded end of the ring. But the fence was set so I was really only about two thirds of the way up the ring upon landing. No where near the "scary end" really. But for some reason, on the way to the jump, Al had is eye on something to the left. And just as we left the ground to jump the fence, he shifted HARD to the right, like to the point that I thought he was just going to launch himself through the standard. I have no idea how we didn't demolish that standard. My instructor thought I was going to hook my foot on it, we were that close, but I scrunched my leg up and closed it around him as hard as I could and somehow just brushed the standard. It was kind of horrifying from my viewpoint. But we didn't die. I went back and tried again, and though he was still kind of a turd about whatever he was seeing on the left, he jumped the center that time without any real antics. The rest of the course rode nicely, and I'm looking forward to Friday when we can try again. I'm feeling optimistic that things are going to be fine.
In other exciting Al news, his saddle finally came!
Bridle: Camelot RCS Gold
Browband: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks
Things with Al are still going okay. I remain a bit of a chicken, and the universe keeps challenging me by having the most ridiculous things happen when I'm trying to lesson. I had scheduled a private for Friday with him. It had been very mild so we had the big doors open in the indoor. This usually is better for Al and it was... for the first half of the lesson anyway. The flat portion went swimmingly and Al was pretty relaxed. We took a short walk break before jumping because I was running out of oxygen by then. (Al takes a lot of... well everything. Core, leg, hand... mental acumen. All of it.) Anyway, walk breaks are fine with Al. He's not like Shiny who thinks she's done any time we stop for a breather. But then mother nature lost her ever loving mind. Out of nowhere, the wind came up and brought with it literal sheets of rain. Which would be fine being indoors and all... but the doors. They were open still! The wind and the rain came in like a damn tsunami. Al handled it pretty well and the instructors in the ring got the doors shut pretty quickly (the the poor things were DRENCHED in the process). But my chicken brain took over and I had to opt out of jumping. Al was feeling very tense, and all that drama happened at the end of the ring that Al's afraid of. (Okay fine. I am also afraid of that end when I'm on Al. WE are afraid of it. Collectively.) I stewed about my decision for awhile because I hate being a weenie quitter. But I also hate giving a bad ride which I felt confident was about to happen. To remedy my emotions about all of this I signed up for an early lesson Saturday morning. Gotta get right back to it so it doesn't fester in that chicken brain of mine.
Of course, it was cold first thing the next morning. I had chosen that lesson slot because the other people in the class only jump small fences and are relatively low key kinds of people. What I hadn't accounted for was that possibility of EVERYONE deciding to ride at the same time as this lesson. Seriously, the barn is always so quiet whilst part of the barn goers are in Florida. Except at this moment when I wanted a low key lesson. Always the way isn't it? Fortunately for me, Al actually prefers lots of buddies in the ring with him. So once my psychosis settled down, we were fine. I rode with the trainer who normally helps me with Eros and Shiny which was perfect. She's not easily offended so I felt like I didn't have to do anything I didn't feel ready for. (Ugh, my ammy is showing, isn't it?) After warming up over a little crossrail, she let me make up my own course. I still avoided most of the jumps by the scary end of the ring. But I did do ONE of them, so that's like a solid baby step. And I also jumped a bunch of the fill and even a little oxer. So we're working towards getting back to the old life. Slowly.
I'm taking the path of doing the thing as regularly as I can, so I signed up for both Wed and Fri lessons for Al this week. We have a built in service fee with board which can go towards lessons, so I have a good bank of them built up being that we pay three boards. Which is nice because boy do I need all the lessons right now.
Today's class went fine, though once again the universe was messing with me. So, the barn is situated across the street from an active rock quarry. Meaning that every now and then they blast. If you've never experienced rock blasting.... it basically feels and sounds like an earthquake. Or a bomb detonating... It's mildly terrifying. They are SUPPOSED to let the neighbors know when they're doing a big one, but they never do. So I was on Al, doing our warm up walk around the arena, when BOOM! Blasting. Fortunately, I wasn't at the scary end of the ring when it happened. Al was pretty edgy for the lesson today, but did settle a bit once another horse came into the ring. We jumped a handful of fences and an abbreviated little course, and then called it a day. Friday I am going to give him a lunge before our lesson and hopefully there won't be any tsunamis nor earthquakes for that one... Seriously. Please let it be uneventful. It's a semi private so he'll have a buddy too. Setting us up for success as best I can!
Eros is perfect as always. He was a little excited for jumping last week, but not full on torpedo mode... More like torpedo-light. And I think we exceeded his flatwork allowance beforehand. He's a funny horse. He's great for a flat lesson, but if I get him doing too much flatwork before we jump, he gets a little tired, and just wants to lay on his forehand and drag me around. We're going to do a little less on the flat tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. It's a working hypothesis... Will report back.
And last but not least... Shiny! She's still waiting for the vet. He's in Florida for a bit but she's scheduled for March 3. I'm still attempting our lessons, we just take it slow and let her tell us when it's enough. She isn't shy about telling me that, so I just have to make sure to listen. She's actually given me some great work lately, and is starting to come round again. She absolutely still needs some vet work, but I think the warmer weather last week felt good to her. Hopefully this return of winter won't last too long. For her sake... (Okay, yes, my sake too. I hate the cold.)
And that catches you all up! Hope things are going well with you and your horses!
Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Browband: homemade
