Dressage Lesson #31

The rain held off enough to have a lesson last night. Though I'm completely exhausted from being stretched thin the past 2 weeks. I had time to groom Cody first and then work on Axel. It's mud and shedding season, ick. I warmed Axel up before Tricia arrived and he was doing pretty well at the walk. We did okay at the trot at first but it kind of fell apart. Too much yanking with my inside rein, so we worked on some long rein exercises. I could blame it on all sorts of things, not having a flat arena area to work, Axel not being able to do more than one thing at a time, I'm still horribly insecure and that affects my ability to ride, I hunch over, stick out my toes, and don't sit properly. Urg, kind of frustrating.

I actually rode on Monday at WCR and that was a big workout. We worked on the pattern for the Instructor Certification and I was beat. It was hot and we had walked 2.5 miles at work on a break and I couldn't catch my breath. So I'm sure that didn't lend well to my lesson last night. It's surprisingly difficult to keep riding a pattern, even a short one, and we were in the big outdoor arena. I wonder how the schooling show is going to go in August. Axel's never worked in a large flat area or in a sand arena. It'll sure be interesting, that's for sure.

I'm slowly trying to change to black tack for Axel. There's a dressage bridle on sale at Dover that I think I'll buy as well as a black dressage girth. I'll just be down to needing black stirrup leathers. I've also got to switch to a white dressage blanket, that fuzzy one does not go with the dressage saddle, it makes the saddle look like it's up over Axel's neck.

Double Update

The last two times I went out to the barn I didn't actually ride. Last Tuesday (March 20) I showed up and Stephanie was out grooming Kiko and Kalani with intensions to work with them again. It was super windy and all the horses were worked up. The pasture was still a mess and the round pen wasn't any better. Of course the road had dried so it was rocky and hard. I made the executive decision to cancel the lesson and go to the bar instead. I don't think there was any complaining on part of the horses. I did groom up both Cody and Axel and Steph and I fed everyone before we left. I also snuck Cody and Axel's wormer in their feed buckets so it was a relief to get that all taken care of for the spring.

Saturday, after Barn Cleanup for WCR, Steph and I went out to see the horses again. We just planned on more grooming and this time we remembered to bring the clipperss. Kiko and Kalani were going to get their bridle paths clipped and Axel needed is ankles clipped. I groomed Cody again and then groomed Corey a bit since he was standing there. Steph chased Kiko around after Kalani decided the clippers was too scary. Because Kiko refused to be caught, Cody joined in on the chasing and they were both a muddy mess by the time it was over. Steph did finally catch Kiko and introduced her to the clippers but didn't actually do any cutting. Axel stood like a champ (or maybe he was napping) while Steph clipped both his back feet. We're trying a preemptive strike against the mud fever this year. With his hair clipped off around his legs I can see better and keep his feet cleaner. Hopefully that will work. Basically she just clipped off his white socks in the back.

Of course it rained this weekend but it's supposed to be 75F today. I'm hoping that will dry everything out before my lesson tomorrow. It'll be nice to have some room to ride again instead of crammed in the round pen.

Dressage Lesson #30

The round pen is a swimming pool and the pasture is a lake, so we were left with only one option for my riding lesson, ride on the dirt road. I think the good footing combined with spring fever left Axel a bit excitable (within reason of course). We worked on some trotting but the turns were pretty sharp so Axel was a little annoyed at me. I kept collapsing at the hip which, surprisingly, makes a big difference in the way Axel listens to me. He actually took off at a canter a few times, I think only once on the correct lead though. One instance he tried to bolt down the drive way toward home and another time he tripped and almost fell into the ditch. Once I started sitting properly it was a lot easier to keep him around the corners. Our location wasn't ideal but it worked better than nothing. Jeff had come out with me and took a few photos. Some of which will make a cool animation if I can figure out a way to do it. It'll be funny to see the one where Axel is trying to buck me off. As usual there are a bunch more photos here.

Dressage Lesson #29 - Riding in 3 feet of snow!

Axel got to try on his new fleece cooler. Well, it's not just his, but he'll be the more likely canidate for wearing it. Even after our tough lesson he didn't even need it last night. There was probably 3 feet of snow in the round pen but that didn't deter us. I was able to sneak a saddle on Axel before Tricia arrived, otherwise it would have been quite an interesting bareback lesson. Let me tell you, I have never ridden a trot so big on any horse in my life. Axel was bouncing around higher than ever just to get his feet out of the snow. Too bad he doesn't move like that when there's no snow! We basically just worked on big trotting and trying to add some collection and bending in at the same time. He did pretty well and didn't get cranky at all. Once he got the circle packed down it got slippery so we had to stop working. I guess Tricia had contemplated working on the canter last night but we went with the trot instead. Maybe we'll canter next time. That'll be something new, I've cantered him a few times on the straightaway and he's offered a canter a few times in lessons but he always picks up the wrong lead. So a canter lesson is going to be an interesting one, that's for sure.