Friday the 14th- Lesson at Patti's. Trailered Bunny in to her place. Paige has video but hasn't uploaded it yet. The vast bulk of our work has been trying to work on my weird habits- I tend to collapse through my collar bones and push my elbows outward, which throws all of my balance off completely.
I am also learning to RELAX. Everything in me wants to override to the fence- collect, tweak, lengthen- crap, rode past my distance- HURL self onto neck to catch up. Yeah. I just have to learn to bend through my hip and release, but it's so hard to break those old nervous habits.
In addition, I am learning that I don't have to just swallow my nerves and tackle the fence without any prep. My tendency is to just grit my teeth and bulldog my way through things, which would be great if I played a contact sport, but I, uh, ride, and it ends badly. We have been working hard on that. For example, there was a rather large (to me) oxer set up over a rolltop and flower box. I am more nervous than my brave little horse, and told Patti straight up that I wasn't sure about that fence. Instead of just tackling it first off, which is what I would usually try to do, we worked on our flat for a while, jumped all of the other jumps, and then trotted it to show me that I wasn't going to die.
One of the lovely epiphanies I had was that the reason why Bunny backs off to the fence and adds is because of my lovely "sit back push push push hurl!" habit. Duh, goes without saying.
Saturday and Sunday- 4H show.
Took the munchkins in the club to the show. My faaaaayvorite trainwreck of a trainer in the world was appointed as "official" club trainer- I am so glad I had a say in this. I am, y'know, president, and this trainer has a long history of scamming families and just all sorts of fun sketch. I know from experience, and I also know this lovely lady is the same one who taught me to holdholdhold hurl myself at the fence, but that's neither here nor there...
Anyways, the show. It was packed. My showmanship class had a good 20 kids in it- tough competition. Bunny did all right- she behaved, but her pivot is crooked and so we didn't place. Need to work on that a bit. Went on to our HUS- placed 5th out of 17 or so- I was very pleased :)
Things went downhill in our working hunter- actually, it was downright shameful, and my fault entirely. Two refusals at PLAIN WHITE FENCES and I went over her head- this is why I have to fix those little habits. I have a solid position when I relax, as evidenced by the XC photos. And there was no reason for her to refuse- she's jumped the fences at SSBC a billion times. It was all my fault, and maybe a smidge of her being fed up with my shenanigans.
We had our hack class last- no issues there, but I was just so thrilled to have gotten over the damn fences that I didn't remember to stop and back. Failure. But that's ok- it is just a schooling show, and there will be plenty more. Got grounded for arguing with my dad about whether or not I should do my equitation class- I wanted to go, even if it meant trotting my way around- just for the sake of nipping any anxiety in the bud. He doesn't "do" discussion, so yeah. Hrrgh.
I love his "she needs to slow down" pronouncement, from the man who has never sat on a horse in his life. He also reamed me out for being so stupid to sit back before the fence. Hrrgh, again. But whatever, I'm only ranting now.
So we had a nice peaceful barn lull until yesterday. Just got on bareback because she had a convenient kick on her butt that looked a little sore. We only walked, but I worked on some baby shoulder-fore, bending, and getting her to lift through her back.
Today, we continued on that theme. If you can't tell, Bunny is lacking in neck muscle- the rest of her topline is pretty good, but I feel like it is because she is a. growing, and b. spends most of her time in a pleasure frame. I know better than that, but I just get darn competitive and don't look out for her development. It's bad. So I have decided to shift my focus and do what's best for her, because the ribbons will come when they come.
Anyways, I always audit Paige's lessons with Chad Wattridge, partly because he is the bomb and one of the most classical hunter trainers I have ever met, and also because I could probably never afford a lesson with him ;) One of his favorite exercises is to set up two cavaletti to make a chute, and then practice transitions between them in a figure-eight pattern, maintaining the engagement of the hocks and as much straightness as possible. After a few trips through the chute, he sends the horse across a set of trot poles to restore some lift and stretch. Whew, it is a workout for the rider as much as the horse. Bunny felt fabulous, and we got a few clean flying changes through the chute- it really give you no reason to let your horse bulge either way.
Then I climbed into the car and headed on over to Patti's, because our conversation after informing her of the show Sunday went something like this:
P: How was it?
L: Oh, great! Bunny took fifth in HUS.
P: Good! I'm so proud of you and Bunbun.
L: And I may have eaten dirt in my hunter class.
P: Okkkk... any good video of that?
L: Yep.
P: You are so learning where your ass belongs in that tack tomorrow. Say hello to MR. MURPH!
Of course, it rained Monday, so we postponed it until today. Murph is my favorite of Patti's horses- he is a cantankerous OTTB, her ex show horse, who has slight vision problems from a bout of EPM or something like that, so he doesn't do well with things above him. Like riders mounting and dismounting. His hobbies include tearing unsuspecting bystanders' shirts off with his teeth (no, really!, being a vicious cribber, stopping at fences, and breaking halters. Most would find him the opposite of charming, but having been Keeper of the Murph when he had abscesses a few months ago, I find his psychoses endearing. And he reminds me sooo much of Berky's evil twin that I can't hardly stand it.
Anyways, lesson on him today. I was a bit nervous at first- he is definitely different from Bunny, but again, he rides a bit like Berky. He was sooo tolerant. I definitely wasn't expecting it. I really like him- he made me sit back and stay out of his way- but that may change when he bucks me off or throws me into a fence the first time,lolololol. Here is some lovely footage of me flinging myself up his neck and Patti screaming at me.
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