Limerick and I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas Eve/Happy Holidays and to thank you for following our journey thus far :)
Today started out right with a relaxing and fun ride. It was just me and E at the barn, so it was pretty chill and I didn't have to worry about avoiding tons of people in the indoor. We schooled transitions, got a great round trot, and even managed quite a few lovely walk-canter transitions. He was still sticky about them today, but not nearly as bad as he can be. I carried a dressage whip and wore spurs, both of which I had to use... he seemed happy and had his ears forward for most of the ride, which I consider a victory in itself! Then we headed outside for a quick cool down and hack in the foggy and grey morning. Limmers was adorable today and super loving, which was obviously his christmas present to me <3
After that, I did non-horsey things like go to church and have dinner with the fam. Tomorrow, I might get to see Lim in the morning and then will be driving around all day, visiting various family members. Wednesday, we leave for Florida, so I won't see the pony again until January :((
UPDATE: My little sister just started a blog about our cat, Rue! If you have some time, take a second to check it out... he's pretty adorable :) First he's sour, then he's sweet
I leave you with some pictures from today:
With my little sister <3
He didn't understand the point of standing in front of the mirror...
To read about Limerick's adventures in our group lesson yesterday, you can head on over to Hillary's blog, Equestrian at Hart :) The lesson involved me riding the lovely Houston for the second time ever, which was such a fun and different experience. I've ridden Limmers almost every single day since I got home for break, so it was a nice change. The biggest difference between the two, like I said in my last post, is totally their trots. Hill and I could never really agree on how exactly they're different, but luckily I think we both prefer our own horse. I said that my perfect horse would be Houston's canter (it's easier to sit) + Limerick's trot. Hill's perfect horse is Houston, exactly as he is :)
More than anything, riding Huer helped me appreciate how hard Hillary has to work to get him to look as good as he does. His head is HUGE and so heavy, requiring a lot of support from his rider. He definitely likes to be "held" and when he gets his head down really low, it's extremely difficult to get it back up, particularly with a mild bit like the KK snaffle. We mostly just did some trot and canter poles... nothing too challenging and mostly just to have fun and test out our new "rides." The trot poles were easy for us, but canter poles were definitely harder for me to figure out. Like I said, he likes to be held and supported much more than Limerick, so I had to find a good balance of adding leg and holding the reins. Limerick uses this as an excuse to break, but Huey needs it to stay balanced and to get a good distance over the poles. Getting him round was also nearly impossible for me, so props to you, Hill!
After the lesson, we went on a walk around the farm and Hue was a perfect gentleman, as always! We headed back into the indoor, where I asked him for some walk-canter transitions, which are so much fun to ride! Hill has done such an amazing job with Houston's transitions!! He's so responsive and quick for all of them and I even accidentally got some leg yields, which were also really cool to ride. Yet again, I realized how much work Limerick needs on transitions... I have a feeling they're all we'll be schooling for quite some time! That's ok though, I love having a goal to work towards :)
I'm making this a note to myself: work on
transitions until I'm bored with them and they're as easy and smooth as Houston's!!
If any of you have suggestions for ways to make transition work interesting, I'd love to hear them :)
Here's the video that my mommy was kind enough to take of our lesson:
And an assortment of pictures from the past couple of days:
Today, I rode the infamous Houston B for the first time ever!! It was also my first time really riding (more than walk) any other horse besides Limerick since I got him in August, and boy was it different. I was originally just going to briefly hop on and walk around, but Hill encouraged me to trot a little bit. His trot was by far the most radically different gait from Limerick's and has a very distinct bouncy step to it. It felt a little choppier, which definitely was not helped by the fact that I rode in Hill's saddle and stirrups (she's 5'5", I'm 5'10") because I didn't expect to do much and didn't feel like changing them. Needless to say, I felt like a jockey...
Huey's canter is by far his best gait! I had no intention of cantering and didn't know how Hillary would feel about it, but she told me to go ahead and ask him for the transition since it was going so well. His transitions are amazing :) So much more immediate and responsive than Limerick's, which really drove home how much Limmers and I need to work on them. The awesomeness of his transitions (walk-canter especially) also shows how well Hillary has done riding/training him, as well as how much he has improved lately (leaps and bounds)! His canter is also much smoother and maybe less expressive than Limerick's, and I was actually able to sit it successfully. I often have trouble sitting Limerick's, especially without my back brace, so it was a nice change.
I also briefly rode Lim, who was a fire-breathing dragon after being cooped up in a stall for 24+ hours because of crappy weather. We went on a fun hack in the freezing cold with H&H and then schooled some canter transitions. He had tons of energy today, was a little bit hot, and therefore super responsive, so I actually got some walk-canter transitions. He was good overall, if a little distracted, and we ended on a good note. Like Hill said, she and I have a lesson tomorrow and we're playing musical ponies!! We'll both post with how that goes, but it should be a ton of fun and good for both of us :)
first attempt at trotting in superrr short stirrups
In Huer's hay nest
So that we can remember what the sun looks like when it decides to disappear again
I have days where I'm feeling braver than normal and have no interest in putting up with Limerick's crap. Today was one such day! Hillary had a lesson, which I filmed, and then went to get tacked up. We started out with a fun hack around the property and Limmer-face was a saint, despite the scary noises of the nearby construction site. I went in with the intention of having a really good and productive ride, which I did :)
However, that does not mean it was easy in any way, shape, or form... he certainly made me work for it. We started out with the same old stuff, trotting around and doing small circles to keep his attention. My plan was to trot and maybe canter some cross-rails, which had to change when I realized how sticky he was going to be about his canter transitions. He pulled the exact same move he's been using the past couple of days, AKA running trot instead of actually transitioning.
Luckily (but not so lucky for him), something in me snapped and I was suddenly incredibly sick of it. I took off my spurs (didn't want to get too aggressive with them), grabbed a whip, and got down to business. Let's just say I used it judiciously enough that he was much more responsive for the rest of the ride... like Shelley said in one of her comments, I was a little bit of an evil dictator, but he more than deserved it. I'm sick of him being lazy, sick of him not moving off my leg, sick of having to wallop him with my leg, and sick of that stupid-bouncy-running trot!!!!!!
All that said, I felt extremely accomplished and proud of myself afterwards- probably the best I've felt after a ride in a while. I needed to finally stand up to him and letting him stop pulling me around, but I wish that I had made this kind of progress in my lesson. Do any of you ever feel like you don't ride your best in lessons? Sometimes figuring things out on my own helps me more than anything else... I've also decided that I LOVE this bit for us, I just have to remember to keep my hands low and quiet to avoid pissing him off. Hill was nice enough (even after a crappy day) to record most of my ride, so here you go!
Today, I had yet another lesson with E. I asked her if we could focus on trot-canter and canter-trot transitions, which have been our messiest area lately and something Limerick definitely tries to freight-train his way through. In fact, he pulled on me so badly at the beginning of my lesson that E switched us from the eggbutt snaffle to the elevator french-link. I had only used it once before (in August) and Limerick didn't seem to like it very much, so I was slightly nervous. However, it made a huge difference and effectively prevented him from leaning on the bit/pulling me forward, which was much appreciated :)
We started out asking for a balanced trot, getting him to listen to me, and then sitting and asking for the canter. Limmers is bouncy and his trot is hard to sit when I tense up, which I do when he starts his running trot thing. This makes it nearly impossible for me to ask for the canter again because I get bounced out of the tack and have to take time to regroup. She had me ask effectively and "block" him from running with my reins, all while keeping my elbows behind my shoulders and maintaining my position... A LOT to think about, but towards the end I got some pretty stellar transitions! The lesson left me frustrated, but looking back on it I realized that I was mostly frustrated with Limerick for being a lazy ass. All in all, I was pretty happy with how I rode and E was complimentary, which made me feel good because she definitely doesn't hand them out if you don't deserve them. I also rode in my back brace today, something that I need to always remember to do (COLLYN). If I don't, I feel like I'm literally slamming into the saddle at the canter and get incredibly tense, so this is just a little reminder to myself to wear it at all times!
I'm riding tomorrow and Hill has a lesson, which I'll be taking pictures/videos of per usual. My next lesson is on Thursday, and it'll also be my last one before heading to France :o! Here are a ton of videos/screenshots from the lesson today, courtesy of my best friend in the whole wide world:
