Had my jump lesson last night, and I was in a touch better mood for it- I still went home and ate too much chocolate and junk food (UGH this is a habit that HAS to go) but I managed to pry myself out of the house at a reasonable hour and there was very minimal traffic heading out, so that already put me in a better mindset.
Last year- a very eager Oats.
Oats was kind of lazy, but not super behind my leg. He is handling the cold better this week than last week. Maybe he was surprised by it last week, and found it really tough on his joints?
This week our exercise was a grid- and it went fine, nothing exciting, to a canter raised-pole/cavaletti exercise that we bombed quite spectacularly. I think I was feeling quite smug with our previous attempts at this type of exercise, because it really took me by surprise how lousy our yard-sale attempts were!
It was pretty ugly- breaking to trot, flying through, coming in long, coming in short, you name it, we did it. Yikes!
Compared with the grid, this was technical stuff. I really enjoyed learning, and though it was quite hideous and we looked like complete amateurs, I felt like we were working through some stuff and it got me out of the funk I’ve been feeling lately. Oats, as usual, was a good pony who is trying! We even went through the raised-pole exercise with reins flapping in the breeze to try and make him ‘figure it out’ and he did start getting it. I started getting tired, haha, and was told to stop – helping- him so much.
I am getting a lot out of this type of work, and look forward to trying it even more in the future. Good pony. 🙂
The adventures of Mr. Oats 