Bridget warmed up last night feeling a little sluggish - surprising considering she'd just had 3 days off. Not so surprising when EC mentioned the grate accidentally got left off the slow feeder the night prior and piggy pony ate 62 pounds of hay (an entire bale) overnight.
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| Photos from a recent neighborhood tour - loving the longer days that allow for daylight rides after work! |
When I mentioned my disappointment with our recent show weekend, EC replied "You'd better not be disappointed in Bridget! She did awesome!" (She's a huge Bridget fan, in case you hadn't guessed) For the record, I was actually sad about my riding, so EC got right to work 'fixing' me. She's awesome about trying to keep things fun for us, but sometimes I feel like she goes a little too easy on me - her approach is generally as long as I'm riding safely and pony is being ridden fairly, pretty much anything goes. Since I want to be better than that, last night was all about reminders to keep my heels down and my hands up in front of me. Also, getting the pony truly in front of my leg and uphill/light in the contact, which makes it less likely I'm going to cheat and hunch my shoulders/bury my hands. So cool that Midge has come along far enough we can start picking on my bad habits while she just does her job :)
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| Acreages with ocean views, maybe I will win the lottery one day and move here. |
Our actual lesson involved figure eights over some small verticals and oxers. Lots of nice long approaches, and a focus on keeping a consistent rhythm in the canter, and riding nice straight lines. Midge was super and figured out right away what lead she needed, changing over the fence. A treat because we were really able to find a nice rhythm and get things flowing very nicely entirely in canter, rather than spending our corners doing simple changes through trot. Her canter felt the best it's ever been, I so wish we could find a way to get that energy in our dressage tests!
Bridget felt very out of shape and was puffing quite easily. I'm thinking it was the warmer weather and the 60+ pounds of hay consumed rather than a return of her COPD symptoms, but we'll keep a close eye on her.
I sat down a few days ago and made up a proper fitness plan for the pony and I, so here's hoping we'll both be thinner and fitter this spring!
Oh boy. That sounds like me tonight. Ms. Piggy. Fingers crossed that's all it is ^.^
ReplyDeleteUghh, me all last weekend too. I can empathize with you both.
Delete62 lbs of hay?! Holy crap! I'm working on a fitness plan for Mystic, curious to hear what you plan out for your girl.
ReplyDeletePost coming your way tomorrow! And yes, 62 pounds and the feeder licked clean. She's ridiculous.
Deleteomg that is an awful lot of hay, Ms Bridget Pony! sounds like an awesome lesson tho. i'm finding that both my horse and i thrive on a balance between lessons focused on HER way of going, and lessons focused on MY way of going.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping we can get to that point soon - it's been months and months since I had a lesson focused on me, so it was a real treat, although slightly discouraging to see recent pictures and notice all my bad habits have come back in force!
DeleteWow, that's a lot of hay! She probably thought it was pretty awesome though ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure she thought it was the best thing ever. The grate over the feeder makes her very angry!
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