Rhythm and Half Halts: Lesson Recap 10/24

Birthday treats photo from almost a month ago, I really need new media!

Pretty much my lesson tonight was about rhythm and half halts. At first it was about dealing with a very fractious pony that didn't want to pony. She was tight, sucked back, fussy, didn't want to take contact etc. Jane said that this is normal and that often when we start to push new things they revert to previous behaviors. She was also likely a bit sore from all the running she did on Sunday.

I had really focused on bendy, stretchy, flexions, and lateral work on Monday but it really didn't seem to help the ride tonight. She had a complete meltdown when I was asking for the leg yield and REFUSED to go forward so I kicked her (a few times) into canter. Jane yelled that it was the right thing to do and I did half the arena pushing the canter before I slowed her back to trot and tried again. Honestly it was almost as behind the leg but the next one was considerably better.

We did a few more and she continued to loosen up but still never really relaxed.

Jane had me canter her around the arena a bunch more in each direction just to burn off a little bit of pony steam. It did help and she relaxed (more mentally I think than physically) a bit.

After a walk break we did some walk/trot transitions. The first round was focusing on keeping her supple and not letting her lock up her neck. It was also helping me to keep the rhythm with my seat. It was a struggle but got better as we went. We worked in each direction and then took another walk break.

Then we did the same but this time the focus was on fewer steps and having me cue at the right time. We never actually really got to that few steps because the focus became helping me cue at the right time. I really struggled at first but eventually got the timing a few times and was rewarded by really feeling her step under with her left hind. We switched, cue the struggle again, and eventually got a few good ones to the right but she really didn't want to step under with her right and when she did I didn't feel it the same way.

Jane wants us to do this at least once a week to make sure we keep working on evening out the strength in both hind legs. Homework is good! Plus I really need to keep practicing my timing :)

Again with the old media

We took another walk break and then did some walk/canter transitions. The goal today was just to practice them. As normal, since I'm a perfectionist, I've been mainly avoiding them but Jane wants me to keep working on them. At the very least we both need to practice the communication and it just needs to become less exciting for Katai. Then, eventually, I'll need to work on the timing with these as well.

Even through the end of the lesson Katai didn't really want to play along and she still never really relaxed. We got some good work despite it but it never really felt smooth like it was.

Oh well, I'm not concerned at all and I fully trust Jane and we'll follow where she leads. I have no doubt that she knows where she's leading us, it's just tough that things that felt pretty and smooth don't right now. It'll be better eventually but right now there are sucky moments haha.

My plan for the rest of the week is to give her a day off tomorrow. Thursday she's going to get a light ride, Friday I'm taking off and then this weekend I'm going to find a day where I can do fun things with her. Jane actually pulled down the pen that she put up in our outdoor riding area so depending on the weather (mainly provided we don't get the 4" of snow that's forecast) I'm going to try to ride her out there just to give her something else to think about. I also think it's time to lunge in the Vienna reins again.

And Then I Was Sick :(

I've got some sort of devil cold. Everyone at work has had it by now but I had been fighting it off until the stress of this trip did me in. Someone at work has proposed that burning down our building might be the only way to stop it and now that I'm dealing with it I can't say that I disagree.

I started feeling sick on Thursday, was miserable on Friday for my flight back (thanks cold, so helpful and pleasant for my 4.5 hour flight), then Saturday and Sunday I pretty much laid around in bed and felt ok. Monday I started to go back downhill and now today I was miserable. Mostly it was because this also hit my monthly headache day so I was dealing with that as well.

More blurry arena photos. I may need to follow T's example
and finally invest in a nicer camera

I'd been doing so well and had made it to the barn Saturday - Monday and I RODE every day!! We also had a couple of great breakthroughs :) On Sunday Jane came out and gave me an extra mini lesson and started working with me more on using my seat to slow the canter. Whatever she said just clicked and I had a couple of amazing strides in each direction where Katai really came up with her shoulders and lightened in the connection. Katai won smart pony of the year award and we just had a great ride.

Then, on Monday we had another breakthrough that in some ways meant even more. With Katai it's the relationship stuff that means the most to me. Both because that's just more important to me than dressage ride improvement but also because we haven't always gotten along very well and Katai was so difficult to start that I didn't spend as much time building the relationship as I should have.

The best part of this trip was the vegan rum ball
rum soaked chocolate cake coated in dark chocolate :)

This weekend Katai has been HORRIBLY in heat (because we like to line up our girly days just to make sure we can be especially productive together once a month). On Saturday it wasn't that bad and I just wiped her off with a damp rag but it was much worse on Sunday and she was starting to chafe and get some raw skin. I put her in the wash stall ready for fireworks since she HATES the cold water and typically she piaffes her way through baths with a couple of rears and kicks at the wall for good measure unless we have warm water (which we don't at this barn). However, I was determined to make this as pleasant and quiet as possible for both of us so I did lots of baby talking and petting. I always try to do this but for whatever reason it really worked on Sunday. She was calm and resting and never once even threatened to kick at me even though I was washing between her legs when she was in heat.

It was just such great proof of how far we've come and gave me lots of hope that we're going to make it through this upcoming show with much less fuss.