Days of Excitement

Hello!  After several quiet weeks of not many Leo-related things happening, I am happy to announce that Things have Happened!  And I have media for some of it!

Last Friday, Leo got a rather impromptu ride from a visiting trainer (A).  She had seen him at the William Woods show and wanted to try him out for herself (so I guess that he must have impressed somebody with his..enthusiastic..performance).  She spent roughly 20 minutes on him and had him flexing and bending and looking like an actual dressage prospect (!!!) and it was super impressive and made me so, so proud of my crazy horse.  Unfortunately, I was so busy standing around being impressed that I forgot to take any pictures/video, but he looked so good!  Then she had me get on him because he was In the Zone and she wanted to watch me ride him.  Although I don't think that I ever quite got him to collect as nicely as she did, we had some pretty lovely moments.  She emphasized thinking of riding like waltzing, and to try and be more fluid with my aids - something that I definitely struggle with, since I tend to get somewhat tense when I ride.

Browband fail.  Oops.
She had a few large (for me) jumps set up, and I was able to take Leo over a 3'something vertical - the highest that either of us has ever attempted to jump before - and he absolutely nailed it!  Floated over it like it was a 2' jump, no questions asked.  I was grinning from ear to ear.

Cannot get over his LEGS in this picture from Monday!
On Saturday, my friends M and L borrowed Leo to do a hands-free ride on the the lunge.  I was not there to witness this, but apparently he actually handled the whole experience pretty well (aside from some initial confusion about why exactly he was being ridden and lunged at the same time).  They had lots of nice things to say about him, and it sounds like they had about as much fun as you can during a hands-free ride.  I am really happy that he was good, and that he got a chance to try something new and didn't have a nervous breakdown about it!

love this view <3
On Monday, I rode Leo in my lesson, and we had the quietest, loveliest warm-up on the flat that has probably ever happened.  I was grinning like an idiot (again) by the end of it - we think he may need to play lesson pony for lunge sessions more often!  The jumping portion involved one of Trainer K's most favorite exercises ever - the cloverleaf.  I've done it a few times now, but it was completely new to Leo.  The jumps are low - two poles crossed to form a plus sign on the ground - and you jump the skinny bits in a cloverleaf pattern.

Less complicated than it sounds, harder than it looks
Leo was somewhat hesitant about the whole thing.  We had some really beautiful moments, some drive-bys, and some awkward jumps.

Awkward moment.
Actually jumping
We weren't alone in our struggles at all, though - there were a few other horses that hadn't had the pleasure of experiencing this exercise before, and they definitely offered similar performances to their riders. And the two that had done it before had some struggles, too - which definitely helped me feel a bit more confident about my/my horse's abilities.

Final stage: the oxer
Once everyone had managed to make it through the exercise in each direction in a somewhat cloverleaf-like manner, we moved to the final stage - jumping a coop that had been set up to the back of the exercise, then coming up and jumping through the center once in each direction and halting on a straight line.  It took us a few tries to nail the second turn through the center - I kept cutting the turn short and not approaching it as straight as I needed to - but we ended on a really nice run.


Leo maintained the correct lead throughout most of the lesson, and began to attempt flying changes whenever he happened to be wrong - something that I don't think he's ever done before.  Despite the difficulty of the exercise, I had so much fun with him!  I'm planning to ride him in a second lesson on Friday, and hopefully we'll work out all of the remaining kinks in the exercise at that time.  Unfortunately, that's going to be a morning lesson, so I won't have any kindhearted barn moms hanging out to take video.

LOVE.
My horse is so cool.

Comments

  1. TheFoxRiderApril 13, 2017 at 6:56 AM

    He is so cool! Sounds like a whole bunch of good stuff happening all at once, and that is so awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kaityApril 13, 2017 at 12:21 PM

      It's definitely nice to finally have something interesting to blog about! Haha

      Delete
  2. julesatthebarnApril 13, 2017 at 7:42 AM

    I love the 3+ jumps, you get that little moment of silence in the air before the hoof beats start again, nothing like it! I'm going to try these exercises in my next arena ride. Fun stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kaityApril 13, 2017 at 12:23 PM

      I can't wait to move up to bigger stuff, especially after getting a taste of it! :D it's a really great exercise, I hope you have fun with it!!

      Delete
  3. CathrynApril 13, 2017 at 10:31 AM

    HOLY SHIT those legs tho!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kaityApril 13, 2017 at 12:23 PM

      I KNOW RIGHT?!?! I keep making everyone I know look at that picture lol

      Delete

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