It has been a while! Honestly the holidays were hectic for me, Christmas and New Years were a blur and then my birthday was this past Sunday, so I finally have some down time to sit and write about my past few weeks.
The last time I posted, I documented the difficulties I was having with Dawn, training, and making my body and brain work the way I wanted it to. I wish I could post that I am 100% confident in my abilities and the grasp I have on the new way I’m trying to ride, but that would be a lie.
What isn’t a lie is how much easier it has gotten in the past few weeks. My coach took the last 2 weeks off for some well deserved R&R, and our last lesson before she left was actually fantastic. I rode well, Dawn went well, and we left with positive things and a little homework.
Our flatwork has come along quite well, my half halts have actually been meaning something lately, and I’m being conscious about my hand position and seat and leg aids. So like the little eventer I am, I felt confident enough to try a little over fences work.
I jumped her New Years day over some tiny little cavelleti, and it went really well. She felt confident and like she had been jumping all along, not like she had been off for 2 years. Most importantly, she felt sound and happy, which is what I was hoping for.
I then jumped her this past Sunday on my birthday. I set up a simple grid, trot poles to a small cavelleti, 1 stride to a crossrail. She was so keen, rode well through it, and landed both leads when I asked, so I was over the moon. The first trip over the crossrail she jumped quite-ah-enthusiastically and I got pitched into the backseat a little, but the other times were fantastic. I have a video on my Instagram of the line, but check out this launch over the crossrail!
I know I don’t post about Tribute very much (or at all, it seems) and I feel awful about that. Unfortunately he’s been on the back burner- though I don’t think he’s minding too much lately. He gave me his all this summer, and I can’t thank him enough for it. I a actually toying with the idea and teaching him to go western, so if that happens it will be a fun thing to blog about. As soon as I figure that out he’ll have his own little posts about the journey!
Until next time!
encourageeventing.wordpress.com 