Lets first start with the good, shall we?
The biggest win of the weekend was I jumped over some legit 3' fences. Two to be exact, but who's counting? They were kind of spaced out in our course that day, but one was the "in" of the line, the other was set as an out/single that we were doing rollback turn to. It was a lot of fun.
Now for the bad (this is a lot more lengthy than the good)
Arwen refused twice on me on Friday. First was because of a horrible deep spot I put her to on one of the 3' fences. She probably would have crawled over it if it were smaller, but at 3' its a little harder and she just isn't that type of horse. Second was because I was riding her like a drunk monkey through a bending line. She had no idea where she was going, and suddenly I point her to the fence two strides out and she slams on the brakes. Fortunately, I stayed on both times (in fact, no where near coming off knock on wood) but I'm disappointed because it had been, up until last week, a REALLY long time since she's been refusing. I'm wondering if her coffins are bothering her again, and really hoping NOT since I just got them injected two months ago. If it is her coffins, I'm going to do x-rays because seriously, this horse should not need maintenance that often. She is jumping little speed bumps and doesn't get worked that hard.
Other bad-Saturday's lesson was okay, but no where near the greatest it has been. I was riding her in a different bit and I think it caused me to get a little handsy because she started rushing a little, and we also just couldn't get the distance to this one particular fence. It was a fence off a right turn, and she kept sticking through the corner so our distance was always a little funky.
Well, of course I had to get out there Sunday and play around with that turn by myself. I know when I have to figure things out, its best if I do it on my own. So we did a little crossrail, off a similar turn. Lightbulb moment for me in 3...2...1...I'M the one who is HOLDING her through the corner. Girl is only sticking because stupid rider up top is simultaneously trying to keep her impulsion through the turn while holding onto that outside rein waaaaaaaay too much as opposed to just putting on more outside leg. Because the first time we did that cross rail, same thing. Crappy, chippy distance. Did it again and realized I was totally holding her through the turn. Third time through, I let go, and just let her naturally flow through that corner with some pace with very little rein, and only added outside rein as we were getting straight to the jump. Voila. Great distance. Oy. One of these days, I think I'll learn how to ride/ride my horse. Or, at least that is what I'm hoping...
This really frustrate mes because I KNOW the holding through the corner is one of my really bad habits. No idea why I do it either. But now that I'm aware I just really need to keep working on it.
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