Further Silliness

Due to the holiday schedule, our lesson took place mid week and was shared with one of the more advanced horses and riders. Since they obviously jump much higher than me, the compromise was slightly higher jumps than my norm, but lots of related distances, bending lines, a gymnastic line, and some particularly tricky angled lines to keep it interesting for the others.

Bridget was a superstar, I rode terribly. I was a little uncomfortable with the height and pony was a bit backed off too, since she was a little unsure about some of the trickier things. With the over jumping and weird momentum I felt like I was loose in the tack more often than not. I also wasn't riding confidently so we were doing that thing where you ride in with not quite enough momentum and the jumps end up feeling awful. Next time I will be a little more assertive (and carry a stick!) Bridget did get frustrated with me and had a bit of a rodeo at one point, but kindly stopped bucking after it seemed like I might actually get turfed. She still gets an A+ for being the most honest pony around and not stopping even when things got weird.

Maybe.

Her only silly moment came when we introduced a fake liverpool in the form of a blue gym type mat borrowed from the vaulting club. She'd been giving it the evil eye and was unhappy with the noise it made when the sand hit it as we rode by. We introduced it by letting her look at it but being a Welsh Cob, the first thing she did was stick her foot over the cross rail and on to the mat. Both my girls like to step on or paw at anything weird before they get close. Weird horses. 

Anyway, I guess it felt odd because she didn't want to put her weight on that leg and ended up getting herself in a muddle and falling/laying down in the jump. Either that or the blue mat passively sucked her in and was going to eat her, not sure. It was all very slow and non scary, and in typical Bridget fashion she had to sit/lay there and think about life for a bit before she got up. Or maybe the mat was comfy to lie on? Again, no knowing what she thinks sometimes. Once she righted herself and we went back and walked over without issue. Next, we built it back into a proper oxer and again she jumped it no big deal. Pony is zero drama, at least. EC brought up the similarity to the time she slipped in the barn aisle and nonchalantly laid there...I decided not to mention the snow rolling incident from the day before, there's only so much fail we can admit to/demonstrate to everyone in an hour - it's nice to pretend we can manage to keep ourselves upright :)

My homework: grids without stirrups, grids without reins. Focus on riding FORWARD! keeping those heels DOWN! and shoulders BACK! even when I'm unsure/nervous.

Bridget's homework: Nada. I think she deserves a few days off for tolerating my awful riding during this lesson!

Halo shining very bright after our ride

Quick note: I felt like I got run over by a train the day after this lesson. I really need to work on keeping my upper body still and my heels down. No matter what!