Revisiting Winter and Sitting Normally

For a minute this week, I thought I was back in New England! After being decently spring-like on Saturday, Sunday came in with lots of rain that continued into Monday and turned into a wet wintery mix that eventually became snow and slush. Then, on Tuesday, it was in the low 50s and sunny, melting the majority of the snow and ice.

Lessons on Monday were cancelled after about 3 pm, and I wasn't sure if they would cancel on Tuesday because there was no way to know how the roads would be. I got my stuff ready and kept an eye on my email. No email came in, so lessons were on! 

I had trouble figuring out how to dress, again. It was still in the 50s when I was leaving. And with the time change, the sun is now up through half of my lesson, but it was supposed to dip into the high 20s/low 30s overnight, which meant it had the potential to get cold quickly. I ended up choosing my long-john long-sleeved shirt and a t-shirt with a vest to ride, and my winter barn jacket as an extra layer while I groomed/turned out, etc. I wish I had put 1 more long-sleeved layer on, because when the wind wasn't blowing, the temperature was perfect for riding, but when the wind picked up, it went right through all 3 of my layers!

There was a note on the lesson page next to Riko's name to give him 2 scoops of Quiessence, so about 45 minutes before the lesson, I put some in his feed bucket and then left him alone until it was time to groom. 

He was falling asleep on the cross-ties while I groomed him. I noticed when I went to get his pads, girth and bridle, that the new foam pad I was told about was with his saddle, and it looked really nice. Thicker all around than his old one, but especially in the front. 

Photo courtesy of Amazon. This is the Wintec Comfort saddle pad with lift front.
Not the actual pad, but a decent approximation

I was excited to try it out. He previously had a fleece half pad and a foam half pad to put on top of that, and I had to finagle the placement because if I used the foam pad in the correct way, it pitched me and my saddle forward. So, K had suggested flipping it around, which worked, but there was still a bit of forward pitch going on. 

When I mounted, I instantly felt the difference in where this pad put the saddle. (I also was able to tighten the girth 1 hole, due to not having as much thickness 😮) As I walked around, and glanced in the mirrors, I noticed my legs were easily and comfortably at the girth and I didn't feel like I had to be in a chair seat to get them there. It felt much the same when we started 2-pointing and trotting. I felt steady and strong, and like I was sitting where I needed to, so I wasn't hitting him in the mouth when I wobbled and lost my balance. I lowered my right stirrup half a hole and felt more balanced in general. All in all, our flatting felt hugely different and Riko was really great. He was silly with his head a bit at the canter, but I think his forelock was tickling his ears.

He is still not (formally) jumping...his owner seems to overlook that he regularly jumps cross-rails and small verticals like they are 2'6" or better, and does pretty much the same thing with ground poles, lol. His leg felt normal to me when I was grooming but K felt a bit of heat in it after warming up. But, we did a poles course and he lit up like a firecracker. 

He launched over the first one, even coming in at the trot, and K had me halt him, which involved a 1-rein stop because he had cantered after and just plowed through my hands. I got him stopped, scratched his neck and then trotted the 2nd pole and halted nicely after. We cantered it the 2nd time, and he launched again and then porpoised a bit after. Another 1-rein stop to halt and then we tried to canter over the 2nd, but were kind of discombobulated, so we ended up trotting it and cantering calmly after. 

The 3rd time, K said, canter the 1st, canter a big circle and then canter the 2nd. That didn't go well, either, lol. On the approach to the first pole, he got strong, so I sat up and circled first. He jumped it and tried to drop his head. I pulled him into the circle and since he was so busy trying to play, I wasn't able to hold him up in the circle, so we broke to a trot and then flailed a bit trying to get the canter back. We cantered the 2nd one a little nicer and I made a huge deal of him holding his crap together. 

I know I was counting my strides, but I think I need to be a little more diligent about breathing, too (breathing while jumping has always been an issue for me!). Also, I finally remembered to switch my stirrups before I took my saddle off of him. The left leather was feeling pretty stretched out, but I kept forgetting to do it!