Take that double brush table!

I've been terrible about keeping up my daily blog or rides...lately I have been a bit of a physical disaster with a summer cold or something dragging me down. I am never sick, so when I am, I am bit of a baby about it. I haven't let it stop me from riding though since there is no rest for the wicked ;)

Tillie apparently morphs into a zebra when it rains around here

This week came up really fast amid some of her foot tenderness which luckily has mostly subsided...I feel like we just are getting back into the swing of things and we have some big plans for this week and weekend: Its our big move up to Training Level.

Our lesson Friday night with trainer D who we havent seen in a while

I won't lie in admitting that I am feeling a bit unprepared, mostly I think because we had a lull in riding...but also because my current roster of trainers have been off showing themselves so I havent had my normal lessons. I have snuck in a few with some past trainers or some I havent seen in a while.

I do however trust the training we have put in and feel a whole heck of a lot better when hearing trainer D very nonchalantly tell me we are ready...for him to say that is pretty validating since hes always aired on the side of caution and have told us to wait or hang out at a level if he felt it was needed.

Droopy lip waiting for our lesson

 I realize I need to stop relying on outside sources as validation and believe it myself...which it is coming in waves. I wouldnt exactly say Im lacking confidence, but I am not a fan of the lack of saddle time we have had leading up to this week. At the end of the day, I still am trusting in our training this summer and confident in many ways. We have been working diligently and I know its paying off.

Tillie isnt so sure

The biggest triumph this weekend was the fact Tillie and I conquered the blasted double brush table we fell at earlier in July...not only did we jump it, we did it a few times and not once did Tillie even question or look at it. Clearly she doesnt have any recollection of that particular fence...even if I do. I was happy and slightly terrified to see it the same exact place when we arrived Saturday.

Happy because the question of it wouldnt be nearly as hard if it was moved, but terrified because well its fucking huge and jumping into really dark woods and it didnt end so well for us last time.

Tillie isnt worried at all about anything

It was down pouring as well...so by the time we finished schooling, Tillie and I looked like we had just went for a swim in a lake. I was counting my blessings for being a true horse person with so much crap in their car that I was able to Frankenstein some dry clothes for the very long drive home in the torrential downpour.

Tillie and I both a bit having heebie jeebies at a very empty loch moy

When we first arrived to the XC schooling, it was really strange because of how empty it was. I have only ever been to this facility to compete so its usually hustling and bustling with hundreds of people and horses. Tillie was a bit looky but happily munched on her hay while i put her studs in...which I was very proud of how smoothly it went compared to some recent past attempts.

Ghost town

Once the instructor arrived with a few students in tow it felt a bit less spooky. We warmed up in the ring so jumped what was set, which looked like 2'3 fences maybe a few BN:

I thought Tillie felt pretty darn good despite one long spot going into a two stride where she got a bit flat which is normal for us warming up...shes always good for one flat/launching fence. 

We went out to warm up XC and I felt myself trying to remind myself to stay calm. I realized it was my first time xc schooling since my fall. Tillie was behaved for the most part but man my release is pretty standard arms straight body back...the same old positional flaw that just wont go away as part of my PTSD/defensive riding. 

True to form, the longer we went, the better tillie settled in. We started with the logs, then a roll top to a produce stand and a table looking thing. The biggest thing this instructor kept telling me was I was messing with her too much before the fences...which I know I can be guilty of at times and maybe with my PTSD was doing more...but I just didnt feel 100% great in general about the outing.

Another warm up fence

Once we warmed up we made our way over to THE fence. The instructor had me think more about setting her canter up, half halt and then leave her alone but leg on...basically more forward to the fences and stop trying to wait for that perfect distance. Which I do agree I do...the trainer said she knows its scary to do, but Ill have to let Tillie make those choices more and to stop helping her so much.

Lattice fence leading to the double brush (sadly not pictured)

Coming up to the brush and quick internal dialog was "Yep this is happening, OK we are doing this, ok mare get it!!!" She REALLLY soared over it all three times we did it. On landing I felt myself really absorb the landing with how hard she jumped it. The trainer had us circle back and jump it a total of three times...first time was just do it to get over the fear, second time she had me really work the canter on the approach then be quiet with my hands and really push her at it which was slightly terrifying, then the final time find a happy medium.

The dreaded double brush table i stole offline.

At this point it started to really rain...but we pushed on to jump the training level open oxer in the woods...which I found the exact one on a coursewalk app because it was pretty big in my humble opinion...and Tillie thought so too:

 She sort of looked at it the first time, requiring me to give her a little pop on the shoulder with my crop...so the second time she decided she would just try to run at it, which I made her circle and get it together...and she came back at it the next time fine, but it wasnt the perfect distance which the instructor said fine to it and it was educational for her.

We moved on to the bank combo up to a training level house...but by this time it was raining so hard we all were water logged and the footing was starting to get a bit soggy too. But the instructor pressed on for us to gallop over to the water and do a few more things.

She had me do a jump one stride into water...then right away a slightly larger novice jump into water to the island bank up then bank into water.

See the bank behind the huts?

The first time Tille got to the bank down and sorta slammed on the breaks before dropping in...the second time she did it no issue. I think she got a bit surprised by it. We moved on then to a turning jump exercise which Tillie did fine, just got a bit flat to the B element...but trainer said not to do it again with the rain just to be sure to ride just as active to the second element as the first.

Finally we finished with a blue log skinny up a steeper hill..We did that twice and called it a day.

All in all I am proud of Tillie and I needed to get back out there. The pouring rain didnt deter her at all. I am planning to go one more time with Dom this week to windurra just to really feel secure about things (hopefully).

Biding Time until winter is over....so we dressage

So far we have been pretty lucky with winter...its been fairly warm and mild until the biggest snow fall in the history of our state's snow fall happened (and I am not exaggerating...it really was the largest recorded snow fall in the history of my state).

Sooo much snow...and this is from a few weeks later!!!

The snow fall was enough to put me over the edge...because it means not being able to ride unless I haul out and my job has been limiting that happening since no one wants a stranger in their barn later then 8pm. So anyway, I havent been riding nearly as much as Id like to and its sad. Very sad.

BUT once in a while I can haul somewhere and shockingly Tillie has been pretty behaved and, better yet, ready to work with a nice work ethic.

Is it me or does she look eeevvvvilll here?

Without boring you all too much longer on the intro, I scheduled a dressage lesson with C and finally got the opportunity to try hauling with my trailer with the partition open to see if Tillie's scrambling around turns would be better, worse or the same. 

Luckily all of our self loading practice came into to great use here since with keeping the divider open means no butt bar. I did minimally put up a lead rope but if Tillie realllly wanted to run backwards out of the trailer she could break it easily...but shes really good about waiting for me to ask her to back out.

Night hauling makes taking pictures harder :(

Tillie didnt scramble AT ALL...and majority of the time did keep herself fairly straight, but around turns you could see her swing her butt and angle herself. So I think I need to get myself a wider trailer and haul like this in the meantime...

Lesson Time: (sadly had no one their to take pics or videos)
I get on and just start going through the normal motions of loose rein walk around the whole indoor both directions a few times while waiting for C to finish another lesson. Tillie was quiet, had a bit of a speed walk going on, but not terribly looky like she can be. 

I start picking her up in the walk a bit to test her mood and see how much resistance Id be dealing with once C was ready...and Tillie was quite pleasant and even with a longer rein moved right into contact without missing a beat. Typically even after warming up walk trot canter, going from a loose rein to contact isnt as smooth as this! 

Once C started with our lesson we moved into a trot fairly quickly and her first transition was quite nice and she stayed connected without going inverted. Another Win! We treadmilled it at the trot a bit just to let her warm up...and C thought she looked off right front so we did a few changes of posting diagonals and changing direction see if it was worse on turns or a certain direction....but luckily it went away and Tillie seemed not bothered at all so we pressed on. 

C right away when I trotted again said "no bigger trot then this" which was interesting because I felt like we werent covering enough ground....I attribute this to me getting more comfortable riding her trot now and not always trying or needing to slow things down. 

Can winter and the early darkness be over yet?!

Tillie was pretty consistent in the trot and we worked on getting more inside bend both directions...for this ride, her right bend was much harder. My inside rein would end up touching her neck which C pointed out there should be a clear gap and the inside hand should be open and away...so more inside leg to push her away. But do not lose the outside elbow (I tend to straighten it out too much). 

Leg yielding 

Moving on from that we went into riding down the quarter line and leg yielding, but this time rather then using the entire length of the long side of the arena, C wanted us doing them pretty quickly without leading with the shoulder and focusing on a straightness. Tracking left she nailed every one, tracking right we had a few at first where she really didnt want her booty to stay in line, but a tad more inside leg and outside rein fixed it pretty easily. 

Tillie eating ALL the hay

Tear drop exercise
Then C had us ride tear drop formations (trot and at E make a 10M circle and trot a straight diagonal line between H and F and ask to change the bend). Once I got the hang of the actual figure Tillie rode through this exercise REALLY nicely. C remarked she was impressed!

We took a bit of a walk break and chatted about the upcoming dressage show and discussed strategies...when I started to pick Tillie back up again I reminded myself shorter reins and really felt I found that sweet spot (you know when your seat feels solid, your rein length feels right and the stars align?). Tillie on the other hand didnt appreciate the shorter reins and despite another lovely trot transition and half circle started "whip nae nae-ing" with her head when I applied inside leg (tracking left).

She did it a few times when trying to re-establish bend and I wasnt letting the reins out...C recommended I verbally reprimand her for this....that a physical squeeze or crop for her would be too much but I need to at least tell her NO.

I will admit, I felt like the contact in my reins was heavier then I like (I tend to waiver it seems or say this after not riding for a period of time). I never dislike when this happens...just seem to notice it and feel like its not "soft" enough contact which is false. She is soft...just not behind the contact like she used to be more often a few months ago. I think I just need to re-calibrate my feel...

UMMM...wheres my food?

So we treadmilled a bit at the trot again to let her get those out and C said ok, canter NOW! OK it wasnt quite that abrupt, lol, but it felt sort of sudden...as I wasnt really expecting to move into canter so quickly in the lesson. We sometimes only get to it briefly!

Test riding - being smart about placement of transitions

C did set me up for it talking about the strategy of riding in the test and prep for the transition depending on the horse I had that day. If Tillie was more up to ask earlier to use the corner or turn to back her off, if she was going well ask a bit more in the middle of the corner to present the long side of the ring to promote her opening her stride. 

Canter

So we started on left lead and it took a few steps at first, but she did a nice little jump into it I sort of didnt expect. She felt a bit unbalance on it again so I do a poor job being soft in my arms when this happens...but C talked me through it, we achieved inside bend and she felt a bit smoother once that was better. Her downward transition was a bit strung out and as we changed directions on the short diagonal Tillie was a bit fired up and ready to jumping into right lead canter which I promptly did a strong half halt which C agreed with. It sort of took away the rhythm but it was needed...and we regained a nice balanced trot tracking right within a half circle. 

I so good!

We went right into right lead canter once we passed C and it took a half the circle to get the inside bend, but once we did C even said it was a nice canter. She urged me to step more into my right leg so I dont fall to the outside (which would push tillie in and not be able to bend in). Her downward transition to trot this direction was really lovely. 

Center line - test riding

After this, C had us run through a few center line practices again really concentrating on no drifting...especially when you continue the trot on and turn at C. She said most horse and riders will drift before reaching C and to wait as long as possible to make the turn - for example if youre turning left, you start drifting right when over prepping for the turn. 

C said Tillies weight and muscling is looking good! 

Riding Novice A

Once we got the strategy for the center lines down we moved on to riding through a test. I chose to run through Novice A with C since that's the most difficult test I signed up to do for the dressage show. I am debating now on changing that after this ride and talking with Emma...but we will see how the next week goes if I change. I am currently signed up for BN A and B and Novice A. 

C called out the test as I was riding it and for the most part it rode pretty well. USEF tests tend to be harder for us since there is so much ability to build up in the trot and canter...USDF tests are nice since there is a lot more changing directions, circling, transitions etc to distract Tillie.

Her transitions out of canter to trot were a bit rocky...but C said if I plan them accurately the judge shouldnt be able to see it too much. Her right lead canter transition I planned perfectly and C said we would work on the left lead too next time, but both leads she stepped right into without needing a few steps, I just need to time the transition better and stop anticipating the build up so much.

Nicely trimmed tail :)

Her free walk we talked about her wanting to dive when she stretches...like throw her head down and pull the reins from me rudely. She has a habit of doing this when doing anything stretchy or even when letting her walk on a loose rein. C suggested I dont ever let her go around on a completely contact free rein until she breaks this habit and earns the privilege back. When she goes to root give her a boot or slap with my leg. No pulling of the reins, just a bump using leg. 

Aside from those C was really complimentary and said we definitely earned the award for most improved. :) Its really nice to hear!!! 

I seee you barn cat

Is it possible this is our new normal?

There are something about my Saturday jump lessons with P that really seem to make me "centered." Anyone following me at this point can tell I am a ball of just heightened nervousness of OMG my horse is injured or OMG my horse is nuts or OMG my horse cant do this....and it goes on. So basically just a lot of self doubt and doubt in Tillie.

Which isnt really fair to either of us.

Hows THIS trot for ability?! side note: excuse my where's waldo shirt :) Its warm! 

I noticed after only having 1 P lesson in the last month, I was starting to be like the pysh patient losing their minds from lack of seeing their therapist. Not to mention, work has been quite crazy so keeping to riding 4 -days a week has been tough. I did manage to ride 3 days this week so that close right!?

Luckily Tillie hasnt seemed to miss a beat minus the one really crummy ride I blogged about last week. Which is quite surprising since she typically requires full work to stay sane.

I LOVE Tillie's expression here - shes like " I got this"

Saturday morning comes around and Im like a big kid on Christmas - Soooo anxious to get loaded up to go except our lesson wasnt until late afternoon/early evening. **waiting sucks**

Loading Tillie, I was trying to put to practice the self loading session we did with Emma...Tillie has seemed to develop a nasty habit of going crooked now and swinging her butt away from me anticipating the whip. I even reintroduced it to her and rubbed it on her showing her it was fine, but she REALLY gets squirmy with it. As soon as I put it away she goes right on just fine. 

So homework for me - practice this loading thing a bit more. 

Oh hey uphill canter! I think Tillie looks like a fancy upper level horse here! 

We get there and hack out to find puppies/dogs everywhere! Tillie was realllly not sure about them, but I was able to keep her focused and as I started warming up felt this incredible just peace. 

You know when things just go silent and its this quiet, steady feeling of just being in the moment on the same page? I havent felt that ever on a horse. But our warm up I felt this...I said bend left or right she said ok and had these incredible uphill gaits. I felt at first like she wasnt moving forward enough, but watching back I think it just felt that way because she was balanced and where she needed to be where I am usually used to feeling her pulling herself around by her front end. 

It was a bit warmer out so I attribute her quietness to that partially...but it still weirds me out when things feel this nice. Emma always reminds me as of late that this IS our new normal. I just havent gotten used to it yet! Tillie did throw in a teeeeenie sass fit after one fence when I half halted going into the turn and she got a bit offended like I KNOOOWWW I was doing it already mom!!

This lesson we had a much larger group then normal so we didnt get to do as much...but with Tillie and I havent jumped in a while, it was probably for the best. What worked well for it, was it kept things REALLY chill and low key - and Tillie ate all her breakfast Sunday AM!

Anyway, P had us warm up over some ground poles and then some small fences set as a one stride line. I needed to be reminded to release a bit more rather then plant...that is one hard habit to break!...so we can start encouraging Tillie to stretch and jump better with her shoulders.

Then we got to business and P had us run through this twsity turning course that was really fun! The first time we ran through was ok...Tillie was a bit flat but was listening and stayed in a nice rhythm. 

The second run through didnt feel that great to me, but P didnt ask us to re-do anything which normally she will if she feels its necessary. Not sure what it was about it (not just the rail cuz I know rails happen), but I just didnt like it...

P was ready to call it a day and, as always, asked if anyone wanted to run through it one more time. Usually I say no so I dont push too hard...especially when Tillie is being so quiet. BUT shes been quiet jumping lately and its time to start expecting more...but I asked if we could. 

I am really glad we did because it felt pretty good and P had raised the monsters inc jump to 3ft for another rider and left it for when we ran through. I honestly didnt realize/or think to question that height since height **usually** doesnt bother me, but I did hear the fellow barn mates asking, are they jumping THAT?

Yes, yes we did! 

Tillie sailed over it no problem! I loved Emma's WOOO upon landing and you could feel Tillie hear that, and just get this vibe through her body like lets do this. The angle the video was shot makes it look smaller...but P said it was 3ft... 

All in all, I wasnt super thrilled with the lesson at first. Mostly because I still am dwelling on the fact my horse doesnt jump "well" yet. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that our goal has been getting quiet first since that was a challenge - and I think we are there! The fact Tillie could open and compress her canter and adjust without sass is HUGE. 

So I am thrilled and just hope to keep the momentum going! P even suggested trying her back in the snaffle jumping! WOOO!!! 

Weekly Jump Lesson Recap

Yesterday was another "P" lesson and boy was it cold. We have been really spoiled lately with this warmer winter so far...but Friday brought in a cold front and it was cold and windy. I did ride Tillie Friday night and lets just say something was in the air. She was in a mood tacking up and just was making all sorts of faces even when grooming her. First getting on she felt cold backed and coiled up and just so braced everywhere I knew I needed to slowly work though each area to try to unlock her. 

She always has tense days here and there, but this tension was through her whole body back before I started her on Depo and before really digging into dressage lessons with C. She was also insanely spooky which is not normal. The kind of spooking where she would go full on giraffe mode and then bolt a few steps. I realized at this point I have been a bad mom and have not been consistent with the Depo. 

Despite this, she started figuring things out and I consider that a win since in the past it would not have improved. We did some canter poles which she really wanted to brace through and ended the night with walk trot walk transitions. 

On to yesterdays lesson...it was another cold day and I have the best barn friends ever because I had some things to take care of in the morning and didnt think I would be able to make it to the lesson since I knew I wouldnt have enough time to load up Tillie. Well my wonderful friends did it all for me! I met them there and I was delightfully surprised to open the trailer door to this:

NOTE: Her front boots are on the wrong feet...my friend has never done
shipping boots and got a bit confused! oops!

Tillie in her BOT blanket and shipping boots that apparently are my Christmas present! I think it makes Tillie look quite smashing if I may say so.

She was a bit spooky at first too, but at least wasnt jumpy or anything. Mostly looking around more then usual. Once I was on, she hacked up to the ring just fine! Yay for progress there! I could feel her in warm up trying to trick me into riding off my hands by scooting forward when I added leg, but would duck behind or above contact in the process. So really just not connecting. 

P sorta coached me through some of that by telling me to just stay consistent, half halt and give back since I have the tendency when she does this to try to find contact by pulling (BAD BAD BAD!!) She also shortened my stirrups ALOT which seemed to do the trick - her theory being if they are too long and youre reaching, you arent moving with them which causes this issue.

I also started trying to not fuss with her as much and just ignore it by staying consistent in my rhythm and let the jumps sort some of her tension out...she loves it so knew she would settle in (Crazy i can say things like that now!!)

Here is some video from the lesson:

P really had me concentrating more on keeping my elbows in as I like to flap them like wings over fences...and also work more on my release. We talked about the auto crest release and working towards being able to be comfortable enough to put my hands lower on her neck since I tend to let them float which sometimes results in me catching her in the mouth.

See forward hands!! Tillie's face here is awesome...she says I GOT THIS.

1. We started off with a centerline grid to warm up slowly adding more and more jumps. It turned into a bounce to a wide low oxer working on compressing and expanding. 
2. Building off this line, it turned into two bounces to the low wide oxer which could be a 2 or 3 stride. P recommended sticking with the 3 until we sorted some of our tension issues out. 
3. Then we did the one stride grid line set to about 18" - Tillie really hit her groove here and this is where we talked about releasing more. 
4. The grid went up in height and ran through it then...Tillie made it feel easy :)
5. Then we did the oxer grid. Same thing, Tillie just was spot on. 
6. Then we did the whole exercise together except we came in the centerline grid the opposite way to make sure they were paying attention - I messed up here and Tillie sailed through the rest of the line no problem but was sure to tell me I was wrong after the fact (unfortunately the sass was not  caught on video)



My face after messing up...laughing, Tillie staying focused.

P did make me run through that line on more time and we called it a day. All in all it was another confidence boosting lesson. The more repetition I get over fences the less I tense and the more I can start playing with trusting myself and Tillie enough to work on some other things.

The horses were great after the lesson and just too cute all matching.

Slowly but surely we are getting there...

This past Saturday, I finally felt like a human being again after being sick with whatever I had. I finally felt well enough to strap my riding gear on and go back for a jump lesson with P. The baby horse that tagged along during my last post/dressage lesson also tagged along here...so I was really hoping Tillie could behave and provide the young horse with some structure. 

Hacking up to the lesson ring...Tillie says let me show you how its done

The other horse again had a bit of a trailering phobia so Tillie was patient and luckily made things easier by walking on and off no issues whenever it was asked. She also led the way to the mini trail up to the ring while the young horse did a good job taking it all in, being scared but didnt put one foot wrong. Yay for baby horse progress! I am so happy for this friend and glad her green bean learned so much on this outing making it a positive one for them both.

What was so wonderful about this day is it was almost 70 degrees!! I cant remember the last time I have ever worn a T-shirt riding in December. I could definitely get used to this. Tillie warmed up a bit wound up, but behaved. P had me try my new set up with the Pelham after discussing how she felt and the fact we hadnt jumped in two weeks. 

Going over the warm up jump and mini grid the first few times was interesting...and almost resulted in me running over Emma. I was laughing at this point because she was just so happy to be back jumping and while it was rude, I have really begun to feel stronger and not so worried at her antics. 

P tightened up the curb chain and said, yes you need to give over the fences despite this, BUT if you land and she isnt half halting you are ok to set her down and draw the line. 

So here were a few times doing just that:

Trying to stretch more over fences.

In the lesson I was concentrating on so many things, that I didnt even realize until after the fact that Tillie got the picture fairly quickly and we ended up having a decent lesson.

Look mom I can dressage between jumps!

Here is our first attempt at cantering into a fence/line and you could tell we both just are out of practice and seeing the distances just wasnt happening. So when in doubt, count!

So here is the second attempt to clean it up a bit:

Of course, in true P form we start building and slowly making a course. So she wanted us to do the grid, to the 2 or 3 stride line to this angled fence. We ended up chipping into the angled one as we both just didnt see the distance again. You can also see she just wasnt expecting it and almost broke to trot thinking we were done a few strides out. But the 3 stride line this time rode beautifully!

So P sends us to come back just to that fence to try again:

Tillie thought she was just the best pony in the whole world.

So we finally put the whole thing together and I decided to try to open up a little more and go for the striding in the lines a horse with an easier 12' stride would do...so the 3 stride line I would do in 2 and the last outside line I would do in 4 instead of 5 strides.

Nailed it! 

Tillie questioned the 2 at first but good girl said OK. The 4 stride she ate up no problem. I am grinning from ear to ear upon landing because she landed forward and felt like she has in the past juuusstt before putting her head down and dolphin diving but she didnt and it was just this cool feeling of her energy just being like "YEA I did good!" without it being too over the top.

Every lesson we have jumped this, she has jumped it so well and enthusiastically. 

Maybe Ill have more smiling photos by the end of next year :)

So weirdly enough, the next day she didnt eat all of her grain again. Totally happy to eat hay and bright and all...but she did this last time we went to a P lesson and came back. She always eats everything and dinner fine but not sure whats up with it?

I gave her Gastra-FX before going to help with any stress and shes on ulcer treatment now. Her teeth have been done this last summer...Anyone have any ideas?

Id rather have the food version of a pinwheel please

I had a lesson friday evening with D where we jumped a sorta kinda pinwheel exercise. The lesson in the moment, did not feel as great...but once reflecting on the lesson I can admit there was a lot of learning going on. Tillie's flat work was pretty good and D had us pick up where Miseventer and Tillie left off...with trying to get her to stretch.

Just after our lesson, looking as cute as ever.

I had been working on it since talking to Miseventer and posted about it here: http://somethingtotalkabouteventing.blogspot.com/2015/11/just-do-it-and-questions-about.html

We instantly got good feedback from D on how much more relaxed she looked and that she did appear to slightly be letting go in her balance and trusting herself. Except, I have fallen into a trap of letting Tillie get lazy and behind my leg and mistaking it for quiet and relaxed during this exercise. Also she tends to start poking her nose out like a hunter when I am trying to get her stretch and not really staying connected like D wanted to see...

A little too relaxed

 D kept saying to Jazz her up and activate her hind end without her getting quick...sounds so simple right?! I can understand this concept so well, but I put my leg on to activate the hind end and we end up going too fast. **Sigh** I guess it will come with time.

So we moved on to getting her filling up each rein evenly with lots of changing rein and then some canter work getting her bending a bit more with shoulder fore. Then the jumping started and we warmed up over an X on a 20m circle as usual...and believe it or not mare needed a CROP!!!

Yes fellow bloggers, my red head dragon of a mare needed a crop.

Just kidding...but seriously.

He had us focusing on maintaining a rhythm, using the circle as a natural half halt so we could rely more on the outside leg and less hand throughout the process. We eventually built to the below...Jump 1 a vertical, 2 one half of a cross rail so we could jump the lower side off the circle and jump three a square oxer.

While the jumps weren't super high, the exercise itself offered plenty of challenges. AKA landing on the correct lead, staying in rhythm and NOT over half halting. D wanted us getting an even 4 in each quadrant and staying wide in the turns. Tillie would really drift towards the barn going too wide one quadrant and cutting the turn through the other.

After much more outside leg (to which I have skin rubbed off just above my calf...time for new half chaps maybe?) we finally got into a groove and D had us going through it again and again without stopping until we were both not so "OMG JUMPS COMING FAST!"

All in all, we started out a pit out of sync jumping...but by the end felt like we had a bit more of an agreement through the exercise. I would love to try this again even if its just placing poles!