IT'S HERE!!! My dressage saddle finally came in today and it's awesome :) It seems to fit Limerick well and is very comfy. I didn't get to have an extensive ride in it because I had a jump lesson beforehand, but I think it might just work for us! Here are some pictures of it on Limerick's back, please let me know what you think:
Like I said, I also had a jump lesson with S at Gail's farm. I didn't know what to expect going in because last time we lessoned there, Limerick was crazy. That was in our reindeer phase where his back was really bothering him, but I had yet to figure out what the heck was going on. Needless to say, he was 100x better today and quite the gentleman :) We started out with a warm-up of a small cross rail, which was quickly moved up to a 2-ish foot vertical, which we trotted back and forth over. He was good, so we upped the ante and slowly increased to a full-blown course.
He was awesome, even with little kids screaming at the neighbor's house and dogs running around. Combine that with G's rather ghetto jumps, and he was practically a saint. No refusals or run outs, the worst he did was bring back the reindeer move, which I got hilarious video of this time!! If you watch nothing else, please at least watch Limerick's sweet reindeer skillz, they are too funny. He whipped them out for a rather innocuous little white vertical, which just so happened to have a horse eating flower box underneath, clearly worthy of clearing by three extra feet (he easily jumped the height of the standards). Today was my first time riding and experiencing the reindeer for myself, and I actually laughed out loud at how it feels...
Well, at least we know the boy can jump...
LOL
Other than that absurdity, the lesson was luckily uneventful. He did do some serious peaking at some of the other scarier jumps (black barrels, green gate, blue vertical), but he was never dirty and jumped everything, even with some less than decisive riding on my part. What a good guy!!
I would love to do a full update now about the two lessons in two days that I've had, but I have a term paper hanging over my head. I was supposed to work on it today and instead decided to spend 5 hours at the farm... BAD KATHERINE! Therefore, the rest of this update will have to wait until tomorrow, but as the title suggests, I have a gazillion new and awesome pictures. I spent so much time at the barn because my B.O. wanted to take pictures of us with our horses... she is so sweet and wonderful :) Then Kimmie and I kind of messed around setting jumps, and then came the lessons. I jumped the highest that I've ever jumped (at least intentionally...) and Limmers was fab! The whole lesson was great and S keeps telling me how happy she is that things are finally starting to go right for us, which is so good to hear.
More to come, but here are the pictures!
Kimmie and Jazz looking perfect as always!
Liz
Kimmie and Jazz over Liz's ghetto jump
The most round I've ever gotten him at the canter :)
Cool action shot, even if I don't appreciate my heel being even with my toe...
My favorite of the day :) Cute festive jump!
My leg is too far back, but this is the biggest jump I've ever (intentionally) jumped! S said 2' 3"
The best part was that I didn't even think twice about it or get scared :)
The sunset after my lesson
decidedly not feeling the spirit of Christmas... my horse is a grinch!
It's ok, he actually loves his life and is trying to hide his enthusiasm for the santa hat
My horse might actually be a reindeer... he certainly knows how to jump like one!
Boyfriends
Lims and Jazzers
Limmers wishes you all a happy holiday/merry christmas!
I am in love with this picture of us... new favorite of all time!
Yesterday, I had my lesson with S, and I told her in advance that I wanted to "spend the first half on canter and then jump fun things!" Boy, did that come true... this is where I admit that I accidentally jumped a 2-foot oxer. The best part? Liz got video of the entire thing. It was a little bit terrifying, but at the same time, at least Limerick was a good boy and jumped it despite the fact that my reins were long gone and flapping in the wind! S and Liz thought it was hilarious (once they decided I wasn't emotionally scarred), and now I have no excuse to be afraid of a cross-rail or tiny baby vertical ever again! S said I actually managed to maintain my position really well, and they both joked with me that they thought I had decided to show off. Not quite... it was the biggest fence I've jumped in a very long time and my first ever oxer.
P.S. watch it with the sound on to get the full effect
Now, on to the rest of the lesson! First, G warmed him up for me and popped him over a cross rail a couple of times. I'm so glad she did, because the first couple of times, he pulled a reindeer and took off on the landing. At some point during this nonsense, he must have knocked his little pony brain back into place, because he promptly started jumping like a normal horse again. Then it was my turn! We started off trotting and making fun shapes around the ring, trying to keep Mr. Lims interested. The new full cheek helps a ton with maintaining contact, and adds an additional boost to my steering abilities... it's pretty fab :) Then we started working on cantering both directions. It's strange, but his transitions on his bad/weaker side are actually better than his transitions on his good side? This has nothing at all to do with me, because I definitely practice them more on his good side. It's kind of baffling to me. We got all of our leads tracking right, Limerick seems to have gotten over pulling on me (as long as he stays balanced), and I'm still working on fully sitting his canter. If you can't tell from videos, it's lovely but quite hard to sit because he's so big and has BIG movement.
Next, we jumped the cross rail from the video multiple times both directions, making sure he didn't throw his head up before and gun it. S had me trot in, halt, grab the neck strap, and then ask him to go forward. It worked so well and he was much more responsive! He actually listens to vocal commands better than he sometimes listens to physical cues, probably because he's so big and my cues aren't always obvious enough for him to "hear" them. All of this was after our oops moment, which he luckily calmed down from really well! My scream did freak him out a little bit and we sort of galloped around the ring like crazy people after the video cut off, but I maintained my position (and my stirrups) well enough to get him back. The cross rail attempts after the oops were awesome, and Limerick was such a good boy!! For now, I'm going to use the neck strap every time I jump to prevent the reindeer from reappearing. I like having a horse, thank you very much! Also, that neck strap totally saved my ass over that oxer. I had no reins, but I just held onto that thing for dear life!!
My preferred method of torture: crinkling peppermint wrappers to get him to put his ears forward, all while standing too far away for him to reach
Trying to convince me that he's starved and neglected... didn't work
This post is a bit of a photo dump, but I also need bitting advice. I sorta stole this from L. Williams over at Viva Carlos, because it looks freakishly like Limerick! My horse is an Hermes model... NBD :)
The horsey model
Proof #1
Proof #2: He even likes to stare at himself in mirrors
Proof #3
Other than the facial markings and the sock on the left (not right) front leg, it's totally him!! *UPDATE: thank you Hillary for being picky and reminding me to add the part about the sock ;)
Now, an interesting comparison of how Limerick used to jump (normal) vs. crazy weird reindeer jump that he recently developed:
Being a normal pony, complete with bascule and head down...
REINDEER! I mean really, he looks like he belongs on the front of Santa's sleigh
Finally, the three bits I'm considering after I decided that the loose ring snaffle just doesn't give me enough steering power... ideas? Does anyone use either a full cheek, eggbutt, or dee ring snaffle? What are the differences between them and what are they useful for? Any advice would be most appreciated :)
