Flip Flop

We seem to be on a good week to bad week schedule. I guess for spring basically being here that's better than being #childsatan every single day like the past trend. Still plenty of time to get started on that though LOLFML.

last week in a nutshell

Last week was a real Debbie Downer. If I hadn't had company while riding Friday morning, I probably would have had to take a timeout to have a crying meltdown. Every ride spiraled into a giant tense rodeo--like, literal fucking saddle bronc riding--which caused my whole body to feel like it had been run over and rendered me next to useless in the saddle. 

But don't worry--Opie got his PEMF, massage gun, and on Friday a gram of Bute before having the weekend off. As long as the horse isn't suffering, right?! 

Fuck you, Opie.

candies, too?

Obviously it was all tied in to the flying changes because that's what it always is. I'm having a lot of success about making them clean and prompt with a brush of Mr Tappy against the hind leg that needs to come along to the new lead. That brings a change alright. It also brings us into the rafters and either bolting off or propping depending on...who fucking knows, really. 

I'm obscenely frustrated knowing they're in there, he knows the aid about ten different fucking ways at this point, and yet he gets so tense and in his head about them that he descends into a Rage Monster instead of just doing the job and being done. I know, logically, that horses don't think like that, but come on, man. You're killing me here.

not concerned with my mental or physical well being

I rode today striking all of Third from my mind. He knows the "tricks", but clearly the big picture is severely lacking. And I could not bring myself to get back into it. 

He is, however, a perfectly solid Second horse at this point. Whether he remains that way off property is yet to be determined, but we'll have a good sneak peak this weekend when we go around the corner for a dressage clinic. I'm going in with three requests: explain to me the turn on the haunches so my scores are consistent, help with the canter depart that still sometimes wants to come above the bit, and WTF DO I DO WITH ALL THIS TENSION PLZ SEND HELP.

Back to this morning's ride though.

He started off fucking marching in the most perfect amazing walk ever that I just let him cruise around in forever until finally--sad story--time for real work. A few shallow leg yield zig zags, lots of halt and rein backs, and then into the trot with lots of t/w/t and t/h/w/t transitions while maintaining straightness and throughness. 

The canter was tight going right, but I got some counter canter with no attempt to change or throw a shit fit. We moved in and out of the medium several times, and then switched to the left. Better that way as I didn't do anything but just half halt and half halt and half halt until the relaxation came. 

We took a break and worked on the extended walk across the diagonal, picking up the reins to go into the medium walk and back across in the extended again. He was quite lit today so this was super for him to maintain his forward without jigging--which he wanted to do the first couple of times. 

We finished with a bunch of medium trots across the diagonal which he was all about. For once. Praise Baby Jesus. 

Keep the good vibes rolling

Today we had our Friday Fun Day: Jumpies Style.

I was feeling better about my ability to see a distance after our multiple repetitions over the world's tiniest jumps on Wednesday, but I still wanted to get my pole work in so I brought them in to our jumping.

the skinny lines are ground poles

Opie. Was. Perfection. 

BM set the jump after the trot poles down to all trot poles so she could do that line with Mo without dying because Mo no do the trotting when there are jumpies. Mo proceeded to canter through the line multiple times until BM threw up her hands, admitted trot pole defeat, and set the jump back up for me. Opie went through the line of poles fine, and we coasted over the bounce line (pole, 2'3" vertical, pole) off the right before we went back to the trot poles and popped over the 2'6" jump at the end of them. He's done that exercise a few times so it was easy peasy and he gave me a great jump each time.

We did the single vertical on the centerline off the right lead staying on a circle a few times without issue and then did the one stride from the top of the ring. This was our only "off" jump as I always have to have one bugaboo. I kept getting in to the first jump too close, but at least I sat up and sent it immediately on landing and he always jumped out great. After three or four tries I finally got my canter right, got the distance, and called it quits on that one. 

Bounce line off the left was equally as good each time, and we finished doing a fun little rollback of left lead to the centerline jump coming off the right side of the ring, turn right, and jump the straw. 

waving jump fill over my head to try to get his ears up.
mostly just got skeptical side eye.

I jumped off and jacked up one of the jumps for BM so Mo could finish on a big jumpies, and shoved cookies down Dopie's throat the whole time. 

Back to dressage work tomorrow, and then a long road hack scheduled for Sunday to enjoy the relative warmth.

A Very Good Boi

Knowing I'm going to give Opie tomorrow off, and that BM and I had already scheduled another jump day on Friday, today was the last day to do real dressage work for the week. However, neither one of us into drilling so I figured I'd throw the jump saddle on again and do some poles mixed in with stretchy work. 

Set up in the ring was a mini course of tiny jumps so instead I made them even tinier (like 18" minus the gate that was 2'3") and decided those could suffice as our "poles" and I'd get bonus work in on not missing my distance like the fucking jagaloon I rode like last week. Stay in half seat, let the canter come, let the distance come, stop fucking everything up.

You know, the absolute fucking basics.

Dopie warmed up great. I brought Mr Tappy out for yesterday's ride to do the work of my left leg and keep his left leg in line. He was Very Angry with this development and tried to work himself up into a Grade A shit fit over being asked to leg yield correctly at the walk, stepping that LH under while not flinging the rest of his body every which way. I defused that situation and we ended up with a good if slightly tense ride. No work on the changes though, and really very little canter because I think the girl that was riding with us is slightly afraid of me/Opie. Which is silly because I have no problem sharing the ring and being aware of where everyone is at all times--just know that I change direction every five seconds.

Anyway.

Good w/t, stepped into a big, swinging canter and began our "course" work. Cue me missing the distance to the first two barely off the ground jumps in a big way. 

I gave myself a mental slap and fortunately that was the end of that. I was able to string together jump after jump, and while Opie landed most his leads, occasionally he'd swap and not do the hind as well so I just sat in the saddle and asked for that to come along, too. And he was super responsive to it!

We finished with a really good last jump, landed calmly on the left lead, and I took him across the diagonal again to ask for a change with no jumps. He thought about getting worked up for a second, but I put a big half halt in, got him straight, asked, and he jumped right over and cantered calmly off. 

I quit right there and shoved a ton of cookies down his throat while giving him huge pats and telling him what a Very Good Boi he was. 

Almost There!

 Oooooohhhhhh, we're so close I CAN FEEL IT.

This morning's ride we came even closer to the changes being right there right off the bat. 

He had:

• A couple times where it was a couple strides late each direction.
• Twice where he bolted before I could even ask for the L-R change.
• Then we just stayed on the circle for several laps until he relaxed again.
• Which he did do!!
• Bam, got the change.
• Right around to try to R-L. 
• He sort of self collected to super collection as I held with my seat to try to contain any bolting, and then right on centerline I asked and BAM! Clean change on the spot and cantered off.
• Again right back around for the L-R. Same thing, collect collect ask and CHANGE.
• I immediately halted him, jumped off, and shoved candy down his throat.

We need to nix the preliminary theatrics obviously, and that diagonal off the circle in 3-1 is going to feel like a fucking mile until I can ask for the change so once they're confirmed that's going to for sure need work, but progress! Definite progress!

He is throwing my left hip/butt cheek out something awful though. He's straight as an arrow going right now with the LH under him, but now I'm working overtime trying to shove it back under him tracking left. I have to kick him hard to get him into a shoulder-fore so the LH isn't on the inside of the track all by itself and it's killing my leg/seat. Probably time to get Mr Tappy out so he can do the work for me.

Plugging Away

I feel like I'm forgetting important ride notes without writing as much, but honestly every ride has either been bare minimum work or it's just plugging away at the same old thing: changes, of course!

We've done two Friday jump schools with BM. The first one was waaay too cold, and it was precipitated by the puppy getting her first literal run-in with horse hooves which was very traumatic for the puppy, me, and BM. Fortunately she was totally fine, but between that and the cold, none of us had any real energy left and after jumping a few 2'3" jumps a couple times apiece we called it quits.

This past Friday's jump school I came in with a lot more motivation, put things up to 2'6-2'9, and then promptly failed to see a distance to a single fucking fence. Poor Opie only ran-out once when he should have just stopped jumping all together because I was nothing more than a flopping idiot up there. Probably if I jumped a little more, things might have been smoother, but....

CHANGES. THEY ARE ALL CONSUMING.

my brain on jumping.
opie's brain on changes.

We worked on them last Monday in the jump saddle again, and that thing has definitely taught me to sit straighter and plug my butt into the seat--and keep it there. I switched to my dressage saddle for the first time Saturday and those things both came much more naturally. 

Improvement is definitely gaining in momentum. Almost no bolting and a lot less tension. Neither of those things are completely eradicated as yesterday's ride had several e-brakes pulled as he tried to yank me right out of the saddle, but in general they're just much less of A Thing. He seems to do better when I pick a specific point and ask Bigly for the change there instead of "between the centerline and the rail" like 3-1 calls for. Whatever, it's all about both of clicking on the ask at this point. He knows what I want, I know what I want, we're so close to meeting in the middle come onnnnnn.

only his third new blanket of the season thanks
to his childish bay friend behind him. 

We also finally got a ton of consistent snow this month which has made for some good snow walks. We did two last week--one with Hubby aboard while I rode Mo, and then the next day we went out with two other boarders. Walking through that deep, heavy stuff is exhausting and Opie needed a couple breaks after breaking trail the second day. 

the black bear needed a couple breaks, too.

unlike 18yo mo who could go forever

So, same old same old. May 1st is the first show of the season providing COVID doesn't shut things down again which means by April I need to know what tests to enter. 

THE PRESSURE IS OFFICIALLY ON.

Ride Notes: Jump Saddle FTW

 Oh hey, just over here still plugging away at the changes.

And trying not to freeze to death.

Or remain curled in the fetal position whimpering about how much my broken body hurts. 

YAY I LOVE HORSES.

I don't know what I last left off writing about--I'm sure it involved the changes--but here's a quick recap of the past two rides from Sunday and today (Wednesday). 

Sunday:

• I brought the Pivo out for its quarterly use and was pleasantly surprised by their latest batch of updates. It lost us a couple times on the dark side of the ring, but at least it knew we had disappeared and tried to zoom out to find us, and it picked us right back up when we went by again. 

• We didn't work on much since I didn't realize the entire day had been devoted to makeup lessons until I was already on, so I hurried things along to finish before the ring got taken over by people who can't steer. 
• I think I'm sitting straight albeit weighting one seat bone or the other when asking for the lateral work, but nope. Turns out I'm still a Leany McLeanerson. 

• We touched the changes briefly (around 11 mins and 17 mins I think), and they're there. Not reliably and maybe a step late behind sometimes, but I know he gets it.
• I need to do more posting trot, but let me tell you a little story about how bad my legs hurt right now.
• The story is this: My legs hurt so fucking bad right now.

Today:

• I had the best success getting clean changes on my own the last time we "jumped"/rode in my jump saddle, incorporated some jumps, and worked on the changes. So I did that again today!
• After warming up, we started with a vertical on the diagonal and a vertical on the center line, but wow we could not make either of those work. He kept pogo sticking over them for who knows what reason, so I nixed those and we stuck to the vertical X combo on the rail instead which jumped great every time.

• I wanted the whole school to be chill AF so we took so many breaks. It was great for my bitch ass body, and great for Dopie's neurotic brain. 
• It was also good for a hundred canter departs without our heads in the air thanks very much.
• We'd do a change each way and then either have a stretchy walk break or go for a victory lap over the vertical X and then do a stretchy walk break. 
• I also made keeping my stupid body straight a major focus because flinging side to side isn;t helping anyone. However, not flinging it probably did help the success rate.
• In my lesson a couple weeks ago, BM also told me to keep my outside rein as a side rein feel because he might need it to lean on as a crutch while he's learning. So I worked on keeping my shoulders firm and not throwing away the contact the second he got fussy.
• A mixed bag on the changes themselves. They started out late behind for a couple strides, but quiet. And then they got a little saucy, but late for maybe only one stride. And then we got a clean change each way and quit there!

I'll be giving him tomorrow off because he was such a willing boy today, and also it's going to be so fucking cold, but then BM and I have a jump play date Friday afternoon. Regardless, I think the old Stubben might be getting precedence over the dreamy County for awhile because we both seem to be able to better control our bodies in it. 

Come on, changes! You're so close.

Snow Rides

 It was cold AF, but snerrr so yeah. We did the outside riding both days this weekend anyway.

snow pants and sneakers are def appropriate
riding wear when it's a high of 12*

On Saturday, Opie did his first skijoring adventure. I wasn't expecting him to have any issue with it, but we started in the outdoor quick anyway. Hubby skiied behind him for a half lap to see if the noise and look of the skis would bother him. He could have cared less so we hooked Hubby up, did a couple laps at walk and trot, and then off to the big field we went. 

I let him pick his pace, and he was more than happy to trot around towing Hubby along. All he needed was a nudge and off into the canter we went, with a couple laps where I gave him his head and he went blasting off into a gallop with his ears slammed forward having a blast.

I was going to give him Sunday off and then do a light stretchy ride today, but his PEMF lady messaged me late afternoon to see if I wanted to go for a snow romp (she boards one of her horses at the barn directly behind ours that we share the big field with). Obviously I couldn't turn that down, and Hubby even volunteered to come take pics for us.

"who are you, new friend?
and why you do such crazy things with your feet??"

Opie was a little fresh when I swung aboard because so far snow rides have equated to running around, but after a boot to the ribs when he almost went prancing sideways into a drainage ditch, he pulled it together and marched over to the neighbor's. Of course then we saw Base on the horizon who was low key flinging himself through the air, and Opie had a quick jig because SO EXCITING. 

He had one more moment when he shot forward a couple steps the first time Base "spooked" and snorted at the same time, but he quickly realized that was just Base's MO and ignored him for the rest of the ride. 

"why are you freaking out?!"

"oh, for literally no reason. got it."

We'd originally hoped to get some galloping in, but Base was clearly not ready for that yet. We did a bunch of trotting, Opie did a couple super slow canters, and then we finished with an entire lap of flat footed (for Base) walking which was a good spot for his brain to be done.

making sure everyone remains in the saddle while loping along

"you're a real weirdo, but a soulmate is a soulmate."

I was so proud of Opie for being completely non-reactive. He didn't care if he was in front or behind, and he didn't care if Base went crashing sideways through the brush past him while grunting and bucking. When A got off to walk Base back to the barn, I took Opie all the way back to the other end of the field to get some galloping pictures, and he didn't call or balk at all. 

And then we did it once more just for fun.

Such a good boy who got loaded with carrots and candy before deservedly getting today off. Stretchy ride tomorrow instead!