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| Darn short arms. Terrible for selfies and wearing jackets. But look, I'm wearing a t-shirt! |
She got onto me in the beginning for not having as organized of a warmup for jumping as I do for Dressage. I had justified changing my game plan in my head because he was b-e-h-i-n-d my leg when we came out, so I was trying to think forward first. But that wasn't the right answer. And, in true Connor's-first-ride-in-the-outdoor-since-November fashion, he quickly went from behind my leg to spicy anyway.
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| Getting some sand in our Majyk Equipe fetlock boots finally! |
We started with three sets of ground poles next to each other, set for a short stride, a "working canter" stride, and a long canter stride. The idea being to keep coming to each in the canter, but adjust the canter within the canter for each stride length. This is hard. I'll be the first to admit I do not have very much control over his body in the canter. This is partly because I've never been a very "aware" rider at the canter. Obviously that has to change as we approach Second level, and will help our jumping too.
Then we moved on to a course that included a small bounce and a scary painted plank fence with flowers. Predictably, the bounce was no issue and he MASSIVELY overjumped the plank. Of course. Glad to know that hasn't changed...
The most interesting fence of the day was a 2' vertical. The first time I came to it, we chipped. The second time, we went for the long spot. Both times I tried really hard to micromanage the ride and make good decisions. The third time, I did nothing, and he was perfect to it. Maybe my horse is better at jumping than I am.
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| Sand, leather and feathers. |
I'm envious of your weather! It sounds like progress was made despite the warm up ;-)
ReplyDeleteWe had t-shirt weather too! We were able to work all the horses. It is a good day when you realize your horse can manage on his own. Now you can focus on something else. Wish I could have jumped this weekend, that sounded fun.
ReplyDeleteThe weather this weekend was amazing! So glad you guys got to take advantage of it. Also, those fetlock boots are awesome!
ReplyDeleteWe've had beautiful weather for MN (40ish) but not quite Tshirt weather yet so I'm jealous! Also, in that first picture of his little feet they look the way people draw horse's feet in cartoons. Sooooo adorable!!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you guys were able to get a break from the cold and ride outside in a t-shirt again!
ReplyDeleteThe weather has been super nice, although this Wednesday looks gross again. I swear my lesson day is always the nastiest day of the week! The ponies are getting spicy here already even though we are still in the indoor.
ReplyDeleteI miss sand so much!
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