Today's ride was long and tons of fun! Hillary and I did a modified version of the conditioning schedule I posted last week, then we headed down the trail. I was proud of Limerick for keeping his cool and even letting Houston lead for a little bit, which can be a tricky subject for the Limmers. We also jumped some of the fallen trees on the trail for the first time... Lim was very happy/excited, since he normally has to watch Hue jump them while he has to walk over, which he thinks is super booooring.
The title refers to all of the various exciting situations we got ourselves into today. First, Limerick decided for the first time in his life that he wanted to race Houston during our canter sets. This gave me the opportunity to test out the stopping power of the pelham, and I was able to keep him relatively reined in (pun intended). Then we headed down the trail, which starts out with a steep and rocky hill that we have to walk down. Today was only my second time of being brave enough to not get off and hand walk him down, and I finally learned that the best way to go is holding a loose rein with one hand, put the other hand on the front of my saddle, and lean way back. Good thing I did, because Lim pretty much slid half way down the hill and I would have been a total goner in a less secure position... scary! We calmly trotted the first two logs and then launched ourselves over the third as someone got a little too excited.
Then, we headed down to the creek. For some reason, Limerick has started pulling this absurd maneuver where he spontaneously performs airs above the ground. He pulled this at least three times today, and it basically consisted of him throwing his whole body into the air. It is somewhat like a buck, but it involves his front legs too.... such a fun and awesome habit. He was so good for the creek and was incredibly cautious when I tried to make him trot and canter through the water, which Hillary got video of :) Please make sure to notice after our third or fourth attempt, when he walks with his head down and we all of the sudden disappear for a second into the water! It was absolutely hysterical and Hill and I both died laughing (I'm sure Limerick didn't appreciate this much, as it makes him look rather clumsy).
Finally, we headed back to the farm. To get off of the trail and out to the open fields that lead back to the farm, we have to go up a series of medium sized hills, maybe 3-4. For some reason that I absolutely cannot fathom, these hills seriously piss Limerick off and make him super hot. Seriously, he can go from plodding along like a dead-broke trail horse to a prancing, snorting, head tossing, leaping monster on the verge of exploding. This behavior always starts at the base of the first hill and continues until we are in the open field. Do any of you have any idea at all what could be going on here? Hillary can vouch for this and has witnessed it many times; hopefully she can add some extra info for you all to consider in the comments!
Fortunately, once we got to the field, Limerick visibly calmed down and I was able to ride on the buckle again. He did manage to force my somewhat voluntary dismount into the corn field after a scary and invisible monster chased us, but no harm, no foul. I might have actually killed him if he hurt me (I'm about to leave for two weeks for a total outdoorsy trip), but he didn't other than making my back and shoulders slightly sore. If you want a visual, we were walking on the cleared path next to the field when he suddenly flung himself 5 feet to the left and into the corn field. This caused my left leg to fly out of my stirrup while I fell to the right, my right foot still in its' stirrup and my hands desperately grabbing the reins. I very nearly pulled myself back up, but he refused to calm down and it got even worse when I became unbalanced. Alas, I dislodged my right foot and hopped down, landing ever so gracefully on my left foot and right butt cheek.... Limerick of course ran like a madman for 12 or so feet, when he stopped to munch on the very corn that he had just trampled =| This is me, not impressed. Once I caught him, I hopped back on and we continued the ride like nothing had happened! My inner pre-teen immediately called this scene from She's the Man to mind... watch the first minute and you'll understand why it relates to my fall!
I leave tomorrow morning and Lims will be in training while I'm gone, so I'll try to update a few times. I'll also have multiple opportunities to ride on my trip, so I'll get lots of pictures for you guys of me riding some broke donkey through the Grand Canyon ;)
This week has absolutely flown by and left me wondering where the heck the time has gone. I'm leaving on Saturday for two weeks exploring "out west" as I've been telling people, most notably Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, etc. I've reached a point in my riding where, as much as I enjoy vacation, I'm starting to realize that taking two weeks off from the barn really sets us back and causes me to miss important things like shows and schooling :( To make myself feel better, I squeezed in two very productive lessons, one flatting and one over fences.
My flat lesson was yesterday, and I rode in the dressage saddle, which was the first time E has seen me ride in it. She didn't correct my position much, which made me very happy! We mostly worked on keeping him balanced and tracking up. E also had me do a very cool exercise in which I opened my inside (right) rein as far as I could while pulling my outside (left) rein towards my right hip bone. It sounded and looked easy when E hopped on to demonstrate, but it was actually SO hard. Keeping him moving, turning my torso in the direction I was going, and using enough arm muscle to pull on the reins at a weird angle all contributed to the difficulty. I got it down pretty well at the walk and then attempted it at the trot, which was a lot harder. We did have a really nice corner in which E said Limerick moved "like a ballerina," which was a pretty awesome compliment from her! I also worked on my sitting trot, which I think is getting pretty darn good! I can finally keep my stirrups while sitting, where I used to always lose them because of tense leg muscles. I posted a video below; I'm kind of channeling Silva Martin and riding with my hips more forward then my torso per E's suggestion.
Fortunately, Limerick has finally settled down at our home barn. When he dumped E last week, she did suggest that I get a slightly stronger bit to prevent any freight train action when jumping. Enter a single-jointed pelham, which Hillary so kindly let me borrow today. I thought that the pelham and the double reins worked very well for us. I was nervous for my lesson because I had never ridden with double reins, but it's so much easier than I was expecting! I actually kind of like holding two reins because I hold on to them much better and don't let them slip as much as I do with a single rein. We did some work through a bounce, jumped some lines and some single fences. Limerick was great and I think E was really impressed with how far we have come since our last long stint at the home barn. S is really good at instilling confidence in both of us, which has definitely carried over to all aspects of my riding :) I unfortunately do not have any pictures or videos, but I'll try to get something from my ride tomorrow to share with you guys!
