My yaya sista's did the first ride of the season at Glenbrook on Thursday night - but I was flying back from Denver after a work trip to Laramie, WY so I MISSED it. And although cool, the weather was lovely. Hope everyone had a great time for me and that I can join in for the next one.
So, I had to wait until the SPL to ride and the weather was cool and misty all day - but did get above 40 so I shouldn't complain. Sunny's foot was looking pretty good on Friday so I thought we would take him along for Alaina to get started with a short ride BUT Sat. morning and there was a little blood again, so we took Diez instead. Alaina rode first Diez English and then Casper western (thanks Kathy). Ivy, Roxy and Maddy joined Alaina for the kid lesson.
Doc had an injection last week so Nancy didn't ride in the lesson - Call was recovered from her farrier attack so it was Mallory, Kathy and me. We warmed up with trot then worked a little shoulder in along the long sides and collection along the short sides. Sister was making some progress with left bend about half the time and showed minimal attitude for most of the lesson. After a short rest, we had a bit of "discussion" about returning to trot work and I had to get after her with some strong kicks. Canter right lead was fairly good, prompt and obedient transition for several large circles at A. Left lead canter took more than a complete circle - very resistant but FINALLY, left lead canter without kickout. Sister has a little trouble holding canter when changing from circle to straight line so Patty suggested staying on the circle to make things a bit easier. We finished with a practice test (Intro B) and discovered BAD HALT. So, before we even started the test, we worked on standing Quietly at X. Forward 10 steps - Stand; repeat - repeat - repeat..... Finally, Sister stood still. The plan for the show next weekend is to make our halt at X as brief as possible. Hopefully, I will get a chance to practice halts a little before then.
Doc had an injection last week so Nancy didn't ride in the lesson - Call was recovered from her farrier attack so it was Mallory, Kathy and me. We warmed up with trot then worked a little shoulder in along the long sides and collection along the short sides. Sister was making some progress with left bend about half the time and showed minimal attitude for most of the lesson. After a short rest, we had a bit of "discussion" about returning to trot work and I had to get after her with some strong kicks. Canter right lead was fairly good, prompt and obedient transition for several large circles at A. Left lead canter took more than a complete circle - very resistant but FINALLY, left lead canter without kickout. Sister has a little trouble holding canter when changing from circle to straight line so Patty suggested staying on the circle to make things a bit easier. We finished with a practice test (Intro B) and discovered BAD HALT. So, before we even started the test, we worked on standing Quietly at X. Forward 10 steps - Stand; repeat - repeat - repeat..... Finally, Sister stood still. The plan for the show next weekend is to make our halt at X as brief as possible. Hopefully, I will get a chance to practice halts a little before then.
Kathy and Call were looking really good so expect High Points for them next weekend. Mallory and Raffles had some really beautiful canter departs and had great impulsion, so they could give Kathy and Call some serious competition. Yippeee, my show friends are making progress with their mounts.
LAL was at Graham's (surprise) and we were an extra large group - 16 total including Marsha, Melissa, Larry, Susan, Mike, Deb, Ron, Patty, Nancy, Mallory, Kathy and me plus kids. Graham's loves to see us come in for our late lunch - haha.
I hope to get Big Sis over to Patty's for a lesson Friday evening before the show on Saturday and maybe will get a chance to ride this week. Cross fingers and toes. Yaya.
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