New Year's Rides

My last lesson of 2019 ended with an exclusive invitation to join in on a New Year's Day ride. T said she invites about 20 people to come out and do a free trail ride and then anyone who wants to can do a bit more in the arena. The only stipulation is that you clean your horse's stall, make sure they have hay, clean water, etc. I jumped at the chance!

I was hoping to ride Tosh, but when I got there, I saw him out in the field by himself. Apparently, he had been a turd when they brought all the horses in that morning, not letting himself be caught. T told me if I wanted to ride him, I was just in time to help them go down and try to catch him -- or I could ride Garrette or Skylar, who were already inside. Tosh had looked very fresh, in addition to being wet and muddy. I opted to be lazy and ride Garrette for the first time in ages. 

G was a good boy. He got excited as soon as we stepped off the driveway and started prancing, but I moved him away from one of the OTTBs that was getting antsy and got him to settle down. After our trek down the (seriously long) driveway, we went to the outdoor arena and walked a few laps. Then, anyone who didn't want to do more than walk left while a few of us stayed to trot and canter. G was a little up for him. I think he was excited about all the other horses being around. We did a few laps of trot in each direction and then the 7 of us that were left agreed that the 1 girl who injured her neck back in July would canter by herself, the 3 ponies would then canter together, and the 3 horses would canter last. G and I only did 1 lap to the left, as he felt a bit foot sore and I couldn't get my right seat bone out of his spine. We did 1/2 a lap to the right because after a beautiful depart, he tripped in a deep spot and came up a little ouchy. I dismounted after everyone was done and walked him back to his stall. Once I had untacked him, I tracked T down and told her what had happened. She told me he needed his feet done and was on the schedule for Monday. She told me not to worry it was just that he was at the end of his cycle, and so his angles were bad and he was a little sore. T's right hand woman, M took us down to the turnout in the golf cart after I had cooled G out. She told me the entire bloodline has sensitive feet at the end of the shoeing cycle. Phew! After turning G out, I went back to the barn to clean his stall, etc. I spent almost 7 hours at the barn that day and it was absolutely refreshing.

Yesterday, I arrived for my regular lesson and saw my name next to Tosh. Yay! I had been debating on my way to the barn whether to ride saddle or surcingle. My last lesson was in the surcingle and was amazing. I opted to check-in in the saddle again.

I lunged him for about 20 minutes and while he seemed like he wanted to buck a little, all he did was flag his tail and snort a few times. We did a few minutes in each direction 2x before he seemed like he was settled enough to work. I brought him over to the ramp and mounted with barely a scoot as we walked off. After doing my 2 laps of 2-point, T asked what I wanted to work on. I said more of the same -- building confidence, quiet, relaxed work, and focusing on making sure I'm actually centered on the horse instead of being tipped 1 way or the other (which, side note, my GPS has been WAY better about the last few weeks). She asked if I wanted to work on any figures in particular, and I said I thought the circles and serpentines were good ones.

So, she had me trot off to the right in 2-point. After a lap, she asked how I felt. I said, I think I need to adjust my stirrups. But when I started to lengthen them 1 hole, she was like, I don't think I'd go longer. Damnit :( She said if I want to be a hunter and potentially jump, they were good as they were. If I wanted to be more dressage, I could lengthen them 1 hole. I said, well, I still think I want to jump again, so I guess I better keep them this length! So I put the 1 stirrup back and opted to leave them alone. It was hard on my calves!

We did some more trotting in 2-point to stretch my heels down and get me centered in the tack. At my 2nd halt in front of her, I stretched both hips a bit, lifting them onto the pommel of the saddle like I would put them over the handle of the surcingle, to get the hip flexors to release. That helped quite a bit!

We did a lot of figures. For the most part, my body was behaving. I only had a little bit of trouble tipping my right shoulder forward. But she had me lift it over my head, thumb facing behind me to stretch up and that really helped me keep it lifted while lowering my right leg at the same time. Now that I'm thinking about it, I actually rode a good portion of the lesson with my right arm behind my back! 

Overall, the trot work felt really lovely, especially after stretching my hips. Once I started posting, my stirrups didn't feel as awkward as they had in 2-point. We had a really nice, flowing trot and Tosh's back was soft and swinging. 

We started with the left lead canter on a long rein. Our first depart was bad as I had tipped forward onto my pubic bone, which caused him to just trot faster. I brought him back to the walk settled my butt underneath me and asked again, which resulted in Tosh's usual beautiful prompt depart. I settled into his stride with relaxed hips and kept telling myself to keep my shoulders up and back and to breathe. We navigated through traffic at the A end of the arena, a pony lunging at C, and did a couple of circles all in the same relaxed, easy going manner -- on a long rein. T said, I want to cry, that was so beautiful!

We walked a lap and then reversed and cantered to the right. I had the same tipping issue, but I was able to fix it in the trot without getting nervous and get the depart from the trot. With a few breaths, I relaxed into it and was able to replicate the same lovely canter to the right, still on a long rein. We circled at A -- a perfectly round, relaxed canter, where I steered with my body, not my reins, and the horse went exactly where I wanted him to. I even remembered to breathe around the entire shape. After the circle, she had me thigh release and halt, which was prompt and square. I rubbed Tosh's neck and told him he was a good boy while T exclaimed behind me. We walked back to her and she was beaming -- that was my best canter circle ever since I've been riding with her. She said, is there anything else you want to work on? I don't want to cut your class short, but we're not cantering anymore today, that was too perfect. 

I thought about it for a second and said, I think we're done. There isn't anything else I want to work on and I think it all balances out -- there have been classes where I've ridden for over an hour because we've been working through something and there have been classes like this one where it clicks when I least expect it to. She agreed, and opened the gate for us so we could walk around the barn to cool out.