Friday, April 3, 2015

The flatworks

When I'm not jumping P-Diddy we are doing flatwork/dressage, hacks around the fields, etc.
Wheee flying even without jumps

Looking suave

Thank you 'autoawesome' for choosing the most awkward clips 
Can't beat a moostache like that

Such trot, much wow.
Welp, I'm tired and headed to bed, thrilling post I know.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

That's what she said

Sorry no dirty jokes, just a quick lesson recap.  Life is getting busy again with the track and the fact that my hubby is home...can't just be a hermit on my computer at night anymore.  Our weather has been glorious #bestmarchever.
Check out that sky
So last week's lesson.
Apologies for the awkward course map
Looking at the course map now I realize that I reversed the first and third jumps, but you get the point.  We started out with all poles on the ground and he landed on every lead and never rushed!  It was glorious.  I did get in trouble for leaning my shoulders a bit to try and help with the leads, which Prisoner obviously didn't need my help with.
Check out that browband, finally remembered my brass polish
The jumps went up to about 2'6" and then 3' and everything continued to ride well.  We worked on keeping enough pace and not blocking him with the reins.  More of the same for what we have been working on, but it finally seemed to really be clicking.
Hello scope
 Finally we reached the cherry on top of the day, one jump in the middle of the course got raised to 3'6" hellz yeah.  Of course one jump goes up and we get a bit over excited.  You can see in the video that he rubs the big jump with his front legs and thows a teddy bear fit.  We recover, but then we have some zoomies back.  We finish up ok and then regroup and do the big jump once more with a nice quiet style.  We did the big one a total of three times, a decent distance twice and a bit tight once.  It never actually felt big.  Seriously guys, it wasn't even an effort for him.
Landing from 3'6"

Flying

3'6" again.

Getting a little zoomie

During the teddy bear fit

Feeling fancy after the course
Keep in mind that these pictures and video are from our worst round.  I was thrilled with him, we were riding forward to great distances and had soft reins.  In fact what I refer to in the title is something that has been making me grin for the last week, just about nonstop.  Near the end of the lesson Steph mentioned that we needed to figure out how I could get over for training 5 days a week so that Prisoner and I can get to Rolex sooner.  While it was just an offhanded comment it seriously made my day/week/possibly month.  In case you haven't heard me say it recently, I love my horse.