Rollercoaster Ride

Hoppy Easter everyone! Spring has sprung!

Many ups and downs lately for me...

This time the up was our schooling and photo opp on Friday, and the down, me, sidelined AGAIN with sickness. Yes. I've been complaining of a cold for about 4 weeks. It lingered, I felt better on week 5 and them BAM, sick again. This time I couldn't just power through it. I was really dragging, couldn't breathe, non stop coughing, etc. Doctor man at Urgent Care said I'm plagued with bronchitis which I suppose is better than Mono, but it realy blows. I even have an inhaler now, its so nerdy. I've been intermittantly napping and watching insane amounts of SVU on netflix.

Anyways, we had an OK week. I can't remember if I blogged about our jump school with the single oxer and the figure 8's over it but he was pretty dreadful. I'm sure it was my riding, but he kept rapping the rails and only get his lead changes 70% of the time. So, suck.

We've done 2 more conditioning rides. Lots of walking and trotting. Hella boring. But Levi the dog loves coming along.

Friday A. and I made our ponies a little prettier and made plans to shoot a few pics in the outdoor. I threw Yanks white polos on and cleaned my tack a bit, cuz we fancy.

How adorable.

The warm up was fantastic and I was very pleased with how soft, forward and relaxed he was being. Our forever struggle is getting him to relax his jaw, neck and shoulders and  move forward, especially to the right. He's been doing great lately since we've really been working hard on the "forward and soft" aspect of dressage.

 





I too have been working exceptionally hard on my position. I have a horrible habit of 'scrunching'. I look down, tilt my thumbs in, and my leg angles get all wonky. Half of it is because I am constantly having to use my inside leg to push his shoulder over, the other half is that my legs are a mile long and my saddle is about 2xs too small now. But no monies to get a bigger one.

Case in point:

mmmmm, scrunchy. A hard hunter habit to break. As I look though, I still have a line all the way down from ear to elbow, hip to heel, But its not "correct" for dressage. And those hands...LAWD. Thumbs UP buttercup! Least my Yankee looks great.

I also got on Pronto for H. since she is injured and can't ride for months. Its actually quite tragic...she was getting Pronto going along really nicely and then she hit the bottom of her rollercoaster.

He's half percheron and MASSIVE. I mean, absolutely huge. He makes me look tiny and I'm 5'9. His biggest issue is also unlocking his jaw. But his gaits are naturally gorgeous and uphill. I LOVE working with him because he tries so hard to please you. I rode the day before I got sick though and his trot and canter are so huge, you feel like you're gonna go flying out of the saddle! It was a workout for sure.

But look how soft, round and forward he was going! Love this horse! And I always have better equitation on him too-yay properly fitting saddles!

So I guess I'm stuck in bed for the next 3 days, recovering. Hopefully I do so quickly because I have a show to attend on Sunday! The boy is coming so I believe I will actually have photographic or video evidence!