Half Seat

In true WNY eventing fashion, the HT we were entered for this weekend got turned into a CT last week...and then cancelled altogether at the beginning of this week. Why? Because GVH got cancelled and all those lost qualifying rides have to reroute to MD this weekend. Fortunately the schooling show is giving everyone full refunds so at least that's not yet another "donation" made this year.

making our own water obstacle

Opie had Monday and Tuesday off to recover from Houghton--although I probably needed more recovering than him, my thighs were whooped. Wednesday I gave him the world's longest currying session because he was in full contortionist mode making sure I got every single itchy spot on his entire body. Once he was satisfied, I threw on my jump saddle and went to the outdoor to do some stretchy work. 

He was feeling just fine and was happy to stretch at all three gaits while simultaneously avoiding the three dogs doing zoomies around the ring and occasionally into him. There was a skinny 2'6 vertical set up on one of the quarter lines so while in half seat at stretchy canter I pointed him at that and he loped over like a metronome. 

We took the dog pack out back behind the pond, did a few jumps there including a bending line and a straight line, and then splashed around in the pond for awhile before meandering back. He got a little spicy over the final line of teeny tiny jumps so to finish I made him jump the single in the outdoor one more time just to make sure he still had a brain. No problem, he loped it from the other direction with zero effort or change in pace. 

I wanted to jump the actual course in the indoor for today's ride so jump tack again. I warmed him up in the outdoor super quickly because I wanted to keep the whole ride short and sweet. W/t/c, over the single no problem, and then right into the indoor. 

We did the outside single first which he gave plenty of space over because there was a apparently terrifying sunflower box under it that all the lesson horses have been spooking at, too. Never mind that all these horses have jumped flower fill a million times. 

We did the diagonal line next which might have been set at a pony 3, but we did it in a going two. Down the outside line of top-of-the-standards Xs which was a 4 that he barely squeezed in because I didn't put my half halt through. Finish over the single diagonal. 

I gave him a quick walk break and then put the whole course together: 2 stride diagonal, single outside, outside line, single diagonal. Easy peasy, he nailed every distance, and I kept my half seat the whole time and felt super solid in my position. 

I'm trying to do more half seat work because I'm so bad about getting behind the motion and driving like a crazy person with my seat while also pulling on the reins. Even doing the few xc jumps yesterday when I sat the last few strides on approach I made sure to think forward with my body and my hands and really follow his motion without throwing my body at his neck. It feels really good and we're both jumping better for it, so hopefully I can carry that mindset over to our off property xc school on Saturday.

Tomorrow I'm going to put the double on him and see if maaaaybe I might enter him in 3-1 at the Fair next month. He has to give me clean, sane changes pretty much right off the bat though or I'm not going to bother. 

WNYDA Summer Fest II

I gave us twenty minutes to warm up for our first test on Sunday: 2-3 in the outdoor under a new judge. 

I kept to the same basics as the afternoon before where I got after him over the lateral work in the walk so we didn't have to fight even more at the trot. He did get tapped a few times this time around as he was being so recalcitrant. He was better once I let him move into the trot so I finally let it rest and moved on to the canter. I was battling an FEI rider for space in the ring and I really wanted to run through the counter canter serpentines after he broke/did a flying change the day before. We ended up having a bit of a go-round over that, too, but eventually I got him to hold it both ways.

I let him have a good stretchy walk break. When I picked him back up I could feel his back tighten up, but I kept quietly sending him forward and eventually he loosened up again just in time to go in for our test.

Second Level Test 3

It's a good thing I've ridden this test a million times because I hadn't run through it in my head once, but my body just went ahead and started riding it. Halfway through my lateral work, I was like, "Damn, I sure hope this has all been right up until now because I haven't thought about what the next movement is once."

Unfortunately that lateral work was still shit--too tight and no bend which earned us a score crushing slew of 5 and 5.5s. 

I thought I had the TOH sorted in warm up by getting him super collected and slowed down, and while he did get a 6 for the first one, he whipped the bitch around on the second one and bombed it with a 3.

We finished the test with a loooong line of 6s until--you guesssed it!--the second counter canter serpentine. He broke to the trot for one step, I immediately jumped on it and corrected it and carried on, but that's all it fucking takes for a 5. 

Her overall comments were about bracing and tension which were spot on. The two mistakes and shit lateral work ruined what would have been an otherwise decently scoring test, and by that I mean at least a 60%. Instead it was a 59.4% (2nd) which killed my soul a little bit lol. 

We had another five hour wait until the second test--2-2 in the indoor with the same judge from the morning. 

Warm up was awful. I asked him to do a couple TOHs to start as I had been doing and he kept trying to evade with a half pass so I got after him for that. That upset him greatly to the point where I eventually dropped my whip (which I hadn't even touched him with) and tried just sending him forward in the canter. He was forward alright. Like straight up trying to drop his head and bolt. 

I was like, "Mother fuck I need every second to do a million transitions to see if I can't get him to lighten up and LISTEN." Instead the ring steward told me I was on deck--aka had two more minutes. Okay, fine, I'm going to take every second of those two minutes. Half a lap later they were yelling at me that they were waiting on me in the ring so I yanked Opie out of the shitty runaway tense canter and hustled over to the indoor. 

They were not waiting for me. The inexperienced ring steward there had never seen a dressage equitation class run so she just wanted me to stand there the whole time they ran it instead of calling me over when it was actually my ride time. That kind of pissed me off, and my horse was still pissed off, and when the class did end he went around the ring feeling like a piece of rebar.

Second Level Test 2

To be honest, if I wasn't the only rider in this test and it had been a big class, I would have put my hand up and quit instead of going in the ring. He felt that fucking shitty. 

We actually got a 6.5 for the first travers but everything else in the trot work was a 5 or 5.5 until a 6 for the medium. He got a 7 for his free walk as I scratched his withers and tried to get him to stretch and loosen up any little bit. 

The medium canter barely existed because he was so tight. The simple changes we'd been scoring so well on all weekend were crap, but the counter canter was at least 7s. The final medium trot is up the center line which is just dumb, but especially not a good time in this ring when the footing is so bogged down from too much water. I felt like Opie's legs were flying everywhere and therefore I was flying everywhere and I really just wanted the test to be over asap.

Her final comment was, "Promising horse we needs more confidence in the connection between leg and hand." A-fucking-men because I was pulling for all my worth to match Opie pulling for all his worth. It was just a gross, gross test I felt awful about every step of the way and I was shocked when it scored even a 60.4%. 

I ended up going back to the warm up ring and making him pick up a stretchy trot for several minutes before sinking into the sitting trot and nudging him on until he was super soft with a long neck for that, too. Which then made me annoyed that I couldn't get that in the ring, annoyed I didn't have the extra time in warm up, and mostly annoyed with myself for not riding better to produce this relaxed trot. 

All things considered though at least I had a sane horse for the entire weekend. He was happy to march right onto the trailer both mornings leaving the barn, he hung out at the trailer quietly, he carried tension and had some opinions on my corrections but he never went up or backwards.

 He has eight more days of UlcerGard left, but a lot of shows still to come so I think I'll get a couple more tubes to dose him for the weekends that he's travelling. 

WNYDA Summer Fest I

As stated in previous posts, I went into this show focusing on a good mental attitude with relaxation being the key goal for the entire weekend. 

To do that, one of my main focuses was not getting on too early. I'm the master of thinking that my hyper efficient crazy person brain needs forty minutes to tack up my horse, but that is obviously false. For all four tests though, I stuck to my time line for dressing both myself and the horse and getting in to warm up with no extra time wasted on wandering around feeling frazzled while simultaneously doing nothing.

I gave myself fifteen minutes to get warmed up for the first test of the weekend: 2-3 in the indoor. When I went in to warm up there was no ring steward as the judges had just gone on a break. Fortunately I had Hubby with me who kept track of time, and I got to warm up with a friend who was riding right after me. 

Second Level Test 3

We went up to the ring on our own, and the ring steward there had zero dressage experience and basically asked if I was allowed to go in. The judge had already returned and it was 10:27 (my ride time was 10:28) so I was like, yes I am and if I get yelled at that's on me.

Instead we got one full lap of the ring which Opie was a bit looky for and then were rung in. He was still kind of wide eyed coming up center line for the first time, but he went to work after that.

Unfortunately he was SHIT in the lateral work all weekend. I started off thinking, "Okay, this is his bad way, we'll redeem in when we switch directions." Nah. Never got redeemed in four tests.

I then did what I hate the most and fucked up my geometry by halting past C, and then Opie made me want to pull my hair out by crossing over behind in the fucking TOH that both earned 4s. UGHHHHHHH WHYYYYYY CANE WE NOT GET THESE?!

The shenanigans didn't end there though. He broke/did a flying change in the second counter canter serpentine for the first time ever which made it an automatic 4 as well. 

We finished with an 8 for the final center line at least. I don't think I've ever ridden under this judge before (and I knew I'd never ridden under the other one) so I had no idea how her scoring was. Not only was she....not generous per se, but willing to give points, but she also had such good comments. And in the end that's all I'm really here for!

Besides the three 4s that she had to give us, we also got a couple 5s for those shit travers. Plenty of 6s-7s. We ended up with a 58.9% (3rd) which means still no score for year end awards, damn it. She did really focus on any time he had a head wag which I haven't seen comments on since his first year of showing. Tension is a big factor, but he also paddles a bit up front and the footing in there was super deep and super wet. I didn't notice it while I was riding in this test, but I did notice it when we were back in there the next day. 

Second Level Test 2

We had five hours until our next test, and I gave myself twenty five minutes to warm up this time because I wanted to see if I could clean up the lateral work.

I brought my dressage whip with me and spent the majority of the time in the walk working on the SI and HI. I didn't even touch it in the trot because I knew he would just go shooting off and I'd have to pull him back to stop the running off and then he'd get what he wanted by getting out of doing what I was actually asking. I got him going better but not great, did some canter work, and then let him walk on a long rein until we were ready to go in. By that time he'd relaxed and gotten over the two times I brushed him with Mr Tappy.

The SIs stayed 6s, but at least the first travers got bumped up to a 6. He got a 5 for the first half turn and a 5 for the second HI. 6s the whole show for his mediums which I will take to the bank all fucking day, and then a 7 for his rein back which I know can be a really good movement for him. 6.5 for the first TOH and then a 5 for the second one. 

7s for his walk work, and 7s down the line for the serpentine and simple changes. He even got a 7 for gaits which I'm happy for since his legs are little and he carries so much tension. Overall the test felt better than that morning's and we were rewarded with a 62.9% (1st). 

Some things I want to improve: sit in the fucking saddle at the canter, staying round in the medium canters, the TOH need to be there always not just sometimes, SI and HI have apparently just gone from our lives, and he needs to stretch out more at the free walk. 

We grabbed a delish homemade ice cream sandwich to go and then a friend texted me when we got home that I won $45 by being the third highest placed AA at 2-3.

Mental Prep

In an effort to keep Opie feeling chill and zen and relaxed in all ways, my original plan was to run through 2-2 and 2-3 this morning, but doing it in posting trot and not asking for much collection in the canter. Basically just hit the marks so I remembered the tests after not riding them in quite some time. Instead I walked into the barn and saw a full course set up in the indoor. 

Okay, jeeze, pull my arm, I'll do it.

i even had my pivo in the trunk of my car!

Everything was set around 2'3ish, maybe 2'6, and the only change I made was switching one of the diagonal verticals to an oxer. 

Opie felt super warming up. Soft, relaxed, swingy, down to party.

He didn't need much so we didn't do much. W/t, into the canter and right over the single vertical on the long side. He started off jumping pretty blah as I didn't have him rocked back, but also because the jumps were small and boring AF. Even so, it took me a few jumps to find my rhythm and lock my lower leg into place. Once I got that sorted, it went better and he put at least a modicum of effort into lifting his feet.

The oxer went fine once I found a better line to the approach...until we turned around and took it the other direction. Pivo missed that jump--sadly, when it comes to entertainment purposes. There was no distance to be found, but Opie was coming in hot and bless him he found a way over it with zero help from me and not touching the poles. I apologized and came right back around, getting it fine the second time. 

We finished doing the line from the other direction once. He knocked the first rail down by not picking his feet up enough, but carried on without issue.

good boy.

Tomorrow BM and I are hitting the park and then he'll get Friday off. Hopefully this will all have been a good mental prep for him and it will carry over to this weekend.

Full video of the short ride here:

Back to dressage

With our return to Second this weekend after the total shit show that went down the last time we presented ourselves to the public, I assumed I'd fall into: cram everything into the week before, get the horse super tense and angry, go in not feeling at all good about preparation.

But instead so far I've made good choices!

I've stayed chill, the horse has stayed chill, and I feel like a I have a good plan to put in relaxed tests which is really the best we can hope for. 

Yesterday we amazingly were able to ride in the outdoor despite the absolute deluge of rain on Saturday--and the preceding two weeks. He was good for the lateral work. What we worked hard on were the halt and the simple changes. I had to get after him a couple times on both those things, but they were fair corrections and he knew he was being a bit of a shit because he took them without drama.

At the halt, he's for fucking sure learned how to count to three and after his three steps he goes forward again. Well, sir, sometimes I want to do the counting and sometimes I want to do four steps. Or maybe even five. JUST BECAUSE. By the end he stopped fighting me on math and would let me pick how many steps we did. And they were quite lovely.

The simple changes were shit because once again he was being lazy and not wanting to load the hind end with enough collection. We got those at the end, but I was one hundred percent working harder than he was to make them happen. 

would rather snack than dressage. same, bro.
yet here we are.

Knowing that the problem with these stupid simple changes was on Opie and not me, I dug Mr Tappy out of my trailer and rode with him today.

He warmed up super well and I worked on making sure our circles/spirals were off my leg and not from pulling my inside rein. I have to lift my inside hand up high and put both hands close together over his neck to trick my brain into this, but the reins stay soft and Opie responds well so we roll with it. Seeing as how my hands are usually in my lap anyway, this probably actually makes them where they're supposed to be.

The start of the canter work was sloppy as we got going. At one point he even tried to snatch the reins and jump the single vertical in the ring we were circling by which was very rude. After his second shitty downward transition and then crawling into the canter I immediately sent him back into, he got one tap on the butt and magically the hind end could do its job. Imagine that! He didn't get offended by it either!

He gave me a good simple change, some really good counter canter, and then we finished with two banging medium trots across the diagonal while I posted. I wish I could produce those while sitting because he's really learned to reach and bounce and not just run. It will come, just like the rest. Hopefully.

Called that one

Obviously the horse trial canceled. Logically I know it's not the event organizers fault that mother nature is a bitch....and yet I'm still pretty annoyed because this never fails to happen with this show--or with eventing in general with this group.

when you put stadium in the lowest lying spot....

and xc in a bowl surrounded by a creek...

We got 3.3" on Saturday alone on top of two weeks of it raining at least a little bit every single day. About half the entries went down Saturday for dressage, but after seeing a picture of the (highest ground around) trailer parking already under water I scratched first thing knowing there was no way there would be jumping the next day and not wanting to waste gas. 

this is where we park the trailer at ellison park just down the road
from opie's barn. 

Thanks to ill-timed historic flooding, I rerouted us to Carriage House HT 8/8. It's very much a schooling show in every sense of the word, but I'm still hoping we can squeeze in the required two HTs for year end awards. That puts us with a show every single weekend until September starting this upcoming weekend with Houghton. Enjoy that UlcerGard, Dopes!

Twilight Dressage

Twilight Dressage is a "show" put on by the local eventing group held on a Tuesday once a month during the summer. There are three rings running simultaneously at the farm where dressage is held for horse trials with L judges. You go in, ride, the judge may or may not give you feedback, and then they give you your test. There's a scribe so you get scores and comments, but it's not given a final score and it doesn't count for anything. 

BM had space on her trailer so she invited me along and I figured for $30 it was a cheap and easy way to run through our dressage test (BN A) for this weekend at the venue it's being held at.

Of course, since it's run by this particular eventing crowd, they were calling for storms all afternoon into the evening when this was going on, but there was no word on whether they were going to cancel it or what was going on down there. BM and I religiously kept and eye on the radar and on the facebook page, and in the end decided, fuck it. Let's just go. 

the storm starting to blow in as we waited for bm
to ride her final test

I was the first ride of the three of us at 5:52. I gave myself fifteen minutes to get warmed up and it was still more than I really needed. Opie wanted to look around and take everything in, but as soon as I asked him to go to work he went right into it. 

Of course then I asked him to walk away from his friends to go around the ring by himself and that made him Angry and Tense. Fortunately the judge was taking awhile writing down comments on the test before me so I had enough time to ease his rage a little and get him softer. 

I thought the test itself went fine. He had moments where he softened up for me even though I could tell he was still tense/angry. His free walk was nonexistent which was a bummer because his walk can score so super high when he's loose. Overall though we did the things in the places and ended with a square halt. 

Our judge is actually the director of the equine program at Houghton so I knew she was going to give it to me straight. Which she did LOL. She asked, "What happens if you soften your hand and let him reach his neck out for the contact more?" To which I said, "He softens too and the contact becomes steadier. AND YET HERE WE ARE."

So we had a little chat about how maybe I should actually try to work on the same comment I keep getting from everyone on the planet so my horse's neck doesn't get so short. I am trying, it's just so harrddddd. BM did agree that--knowing Opie--it was a good test for him and the lack of drama was the real win there. 

I went back to the trailer to grab myself a gatorade and the other two waters so I didn't grab my test right away. That was a mistake because they then lost it and it was never recovered which means I have no idea how I scored or what any of the comments were. Fuckers. 

A bunch of people bailed (probably because they had no faith in it being held) so BM and V were able to get their rides in way ahead of time, and we had the horses on the trailer and back on the road just in front of the storm. 

In true fashion, they were tearing down rings and tents as people were showing up to ride at their scheduled times because they decided that they were going to quit judging at the time the radar said the storm was going to come in, but they didn't bother announcing this in any way shape or form. 

It's looking sketch on the weather front for the rest of the week so who knows if this horse trial will happen. 

Cohocton Hunter Pace

After our "jump"/overly long flat lesson on Tuesday, I gave Opie Wednesday off and then had two dressage rides of extremely varying degrees of success to round out the week. 

Thursday we went out to one of the fields and worked on parts of the BN test. Nothing exciting, stay round through the transitions, don't throw the shoulder, yada yada. Completely uneventful.

oh hey there truck i haven't seen since april. so nice
to have you back in my driveway again.

On Friday the warm up went well. From there we oozed into a little sitting trot, stayed relaxed, did a couple medium trots across the diagonal, and then picked up the canter again. Cue laying on the left rein and tumbling right onto his forehand. No amount of transitions got him picked back up again which meant that when I tried to work on the simple change across the short diagonal he'd fall into the trot or try to psych me out by offering a "flying change" (which, if I had any faith it would have been clean, I would have accepted) before I could even ask for the transition down to walk. 

That started a battle which involved much head tossing until he finally caught me on the rebound when I'd already moved my face back and he clocked me across the cheekbone with his skull. He got the draw reins on after that and we had a CTJ about Using Our Hind End and Staying Off the Left Rein which magically lead to clean simple changes.

He got Saturday off and since my truck miraculously REALLY WAS FINISHED FOR REAL THIS TIME (after its third mechanic and second replacement engine), I decided super last minute to join the barn for the Cohocton hunter pace. 

Fortunately Opie's giant box of UlcerGard arrived Friday night so he got his first dose the morning we left. He rode down quietly, got tacked up quietly, and then headed off with Wym quietly. 

Since we're doing a HT this upcoming weekend I figured I needed to have at least tiny balls and actually jump as much as we could. Wym can be a bit of a shit head about leading and leaving his buddy in general, but his teen rider was having none of it so any time I and/or Opie had a tiny ball moment she led us over. Opie was happy to be in front or behind, and he galloped beside Wym on a looped rein totally relaxed. 

He only stopped at one thing--a little upright gate that he started to take off on and then slammed back to to the ground. We came back around and went right over it. The footing wasn't muddy, but definitely a bit sticky and tacky in a lot of spots and for a few jumps he was kind of hesitant getting his feet off the ground.

He was a rock star about going over all the creek bed ditches by himself without needing a lead which is a first for this hunter pace. 

We finished up the six miles in just over and hour with Opie still feeling ready to go around again. The timer was like, "Wow, you guys went fast. And they don't even look like they cantered at all!" We got our blue ribbon on the Dutch system for coming in on the time allowed. 

annoyed i wouldn't just take his bridle off already
so he could start grazing

He got to unload right into the field with his besties when we got home and then obviously got today off. Tomorrow we're supposed to go do BN A at the show grounds for the weekend, but as it ALWAYS does when I enter a HT it's supposed to rain pretty much nonstop from now until forever so I won't be surprised if they cancel it. And then cancel the HT as well. Because fuck Area I eventing. 

Jump lesson

BM is trying to get more motivated to ride her own horse instead of letting herself get swamped with other people's rides and losing the energy to do anything for herself, so she asked a local (as in, five minutes down the road) event trainer if he'd be willing to let her trailer in once a week for a lesson. She asked if I wanted to come, and obvi I would like to be able to do as much as I can swing financially. 

Jumping off property? In front of other people? Basically the thing I am the absolute worst at! Let's fucking remedy that!

Plus at this point who knows what Opie will rear its head when he goes off property. Of course he had his BFF Mo with him so he ended up being a good boy on that end.

quiet and mostly relaxed for tacking up

When I got on him he was a little looky at the farrier's truck backed up to the barn, and then he had to have a good look and sniff at all the jump fill and standards piled around the arena. He walked right up to everything though and after a little hesitation clambered up the tiny bank along one side of the ring. 

Once he had a couple laps around the ring at the trot, he had settled right in and was ready to get to work.

T--the trainer--is crazy big on flat work before jumping. I've watched him teach some of BM's kids before and I felt so sorry for them for how hard he made them work on the flat before they even got to jump. Now I got to feel very sorry for myself and BM omg. 

Opie felt sort of foot sore starting off, and T noticed it too. Fortunately it was remedied by me stopping pulling on his face and letting him move forward. Whoops. 

It was pretty basic stuff, but he picked right up on my bad habits: fussy hands, slouching like a mother fucker, and not using my outside leg enough. He saw these habits through SO MUCH TROTTING. I straight up quit on him five minutes before he let BM stop. Listen, dude. It's 90* out and ninety percent humidity. We cannot do thirty straight minutes of trotting, especially not in a jump saddle when my legs are used to long dressage stirrups. 

A few times warming up a horse did call out and Opie called back. The first time he slammed on the brakes and thought about throwing a tantrum, but T was like, "Big inside rein and make him bend and circle. He doesn't get to stop. You wouldn't want him to lose focus like that if you were in the middle of a cross country run, so you don't want him to lose focus now." 

The next couple of times he did it, T had me just exaggerate the inside bend on a circle and then as soon as Opie went back to work give him a pat. Each time Opie got over it that much faster and then he was all business. Also he was probably dying of heat stroke too by that point so that helped lol.

"i don't care what happens anymore as long as it
involves getting hosed down."

Fortunately by the time we were done being tortured on the flat, any and all anxiety about jumping was loooong gone. 

He had us pop over a raised cavaletti a couple times out of the trot, and then we went first for our first course which was all left hand turns. That made the turns a little tricky even in his big ring, and twice I forgot where I was going. The first time I recovered quickly enough to make it happen, the second time I had to circle and come back around as we went cantering by the jump. It was hot as balls and we were dying, okay?

T had me thinking no fucking with my hands and sit tall and quiet. Literally just stop annoying the horse with my hands please and thank you. 

The second course was all right hand turns, and I was able to be quieter with my hands. I still got yelled at to sit tall but quiet, without a driving seat. And then he made me count my rhythm out loud so I could tell that I am very bad about sitting quiet. But the course felt much, much better except the last jump which I came right back around and fixed. 

Overall it was a good lesson--the jumping part of it. I wish we had been able to do more of that. Opie was jumping really well even over the small height, and I was seeing good distances and going with him and trusting him. Plus, again, I was dying from heat stroke so I couldn't work up the energy to be anxious. 

BM already wants to go back next week. Our HT is next weekend so I'd like the jumping lesson, but we're also showing Second the weekend after that so I'd like a dressage lesson too and the funds...they are tight. We'll see!

Outside Aids

 Never ending maintenance of Opie update first:

• Lyme test came back negative. Like, so negative the vet didn't recommend any course of action in that direction.
• Her thoughts were that it could be/have been ulcers or eyesight. 
• I don't know. I told her the next time someone else in the barn needs to make an appointment I'd tack Opie on for an eye check because I'm not paying them $70 every time they pull into the driveway when they're already servicing ten other barns in a twenty mile radius. 
• I'll be giving him ulcergard before shows from now on because that certainly won't hurt if nothing else.
• Saddle fit was definitely an issue.
• The fitter said he'd packed on so much muscle that he'd pushed the flocking aside to make up for it--which is what we're going for, right? Giving him a saddle that allows him room to grow. 
• He instantly went better in the new loaner. While it's really pretty, I don't love riding in it. Hopefully my custom will be in within a couple of weeks!

We didn't lesson last week because of the heat, but the week before was a super tough lesson. Once again we never got to the canter, it was all work on the basics. Bare bones, endless laps around the ring, basics. Can you get your horse to bring his haunches in on the inside bend as much as he can bring his squirrelly little neck in?

NOPE.

Basically my inside aids are on time out until they can learn to moderate themselves because right now they want to do all the work at all times. Meanwhile my outside aids are just chilling, watching the show go on on the other side of my body. 

why eat the grass when you can stand in a puddle
and eat wet straw?

This mostly just means that now we're learning how to ride things like a proper circle and a corner. It made our first practice run through of BN A mad hard because it's literally the world's most basic test. By the end we had it sorted even though those center lines are probably the stupidest thing ever. And I refuse to do the halt through walk because we're showing Second the following weekend and I'm not going to confuse him. 

The turns on the haunches are coming along though! Today after a quick w/t warm up, we ran through a couple of them each way, and then would do one and pick up the canter. After a couple of canter circles, back to the walk, switch directions and do the exercise the other way. 

By the end of it he was super on the aids and rocked back on his hocks while remaining super chill. Good boy!!

thought about spooking at this barrel but didn't!

We finished with a halt and rein back that were bang on. Praise the baby Jesus, I have an actual dressage horse back. Now I just need to keep him for a couple more months without breaking him again.

Tomorrow we're going off property for a jump lesson which is such good mental prep for the both of us for the HT in a couple weeks.