Supermoon; super ride

So, Lance and I were on a roll after three great lessons with Julie. At our last lesson, two weeks ago today, we finished by reviewing the two Training Level tests we will be doing at the show this Sunday. Since then, I've worked on test elements during our rides, although trying hard not to drill them. (Lance picked up "halt at X" way too quickly!)

Last week I was headed to the beach on Tuesday, and to Spokane for four days on Wednesday. Not wanting to miss any more preparation than absolutely necessary, I got up EARLY both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to ride.

This week has been hot, and I haven't been able to ride in the mornings. Sunday's ride was okay; last night's (as in late – after dark) ride was fairly miserable. So this evening, I stopped thinking at all about the show and the tests, and just focused on exercises to improve connection and gaits and responsiveness. We leg-yielded down the wall as well as quarterline-to-wall; we did a lot of trot-halt-trot transitions; I made sure to keep him properly bent around my inside leg while keeping my hands 'giving' and on their own sides of his neck. Big improvement!

So for the rest the week, we'll do more of the same, and on Sunday, we'll go in and do our two tests as best we can. I'll try to get photos or video!

From whence cometh this energy?

This morning when I turned the horses out, Lance and Oliver were turbo-charged!





I haven't ever seen Lance play this much. He's turned out every day, so it wasn't pent-up energy, and it was a warm morning, so it wasn't frosty-frisky energy. Could it possibly be that our more focused dressage schooling is building muscle, and this was fit-and-feeling-fine energy?

The proof was in today's lesson. Because of Rick's schedule, I wasn't able to take a lesson until 4:00 this afternoon – when the temperature was in the low 90s. While the lesson arena is covered and there was some air movement, the footing had just been watered so it was quite humid inside. I didn't know if Lance would have any "go" at all.

Julie and I were both pleasantly surprised! Lance worked very well, with good energy. We went through both the tests I will be riding in two and a half weeks, and developed a plan of action for his trouble spots (maintaining a consistent right bend, and the right lead canter depart). Julie remarked several times how much he's improved since our first lesson with her less than two weeks ago. Yay Lance!

Romancing the pony

The other day I looked out the window and saw this:

My innocent young boy seemed to be falling for an older woman! Breezy didn't give him the time of day, though, so eventually he lost interest.

Oliver has always claimed Breezy as his "woman," so I was a little surprised that he wasn't taking issue with Lance's attention. Later, though, I saw Ollie romancing Breezy. When she ignored him as well, Ollie started little strafing runs around her, galloping and bucking, stopping to see if she noticed, and then ripping off again. It was hilarious!

In another observation of herd dynamics, I saw Lance harassing Rick's old cutting horse Sammy today. A friend who visited over the weekend mentioned seeing one horse herding one of the others round and round; I'm afraid what I saw today wasn't new. I suppose we may have to do something to keep the old guy safe.

Schooling has been going well as I work on the instruction we got from Julie. I'm hauling over for one more lesson this week, then we're on our own until after the show.

My guy in action

I had a second lesson with Julie this morning. When I decided to get my spurs before beginning, I asked Julie if she wanted to ride Lance around to see what he feels like. Video opp! (She tried to shoot some video while I was riding, but didn't know how to work my camera so only managed to capture two- and four-second clips.)



I am so pleased with how my guy looks here! He's just warming up, but is solid and steady for a green youngster. Oh, we still have lots to work on before his Training Level debut, most notably our trot-canter and canter-trot transitions and the stretchy trot circle, but he is responding so nicely that I know we'll make good progress.

Thank goodness for the coastal breeze!

It's gotten HOT! I thought about getting up early yesterday morning to get a ride in during the coolest part of the day, but didn't figure Lance would appreciate working before breakfast. So I rode last evening. Thankfully, we usually get a stiff coast breeze most summer evenings; which brings the temperatures inside and out back down to a reasonable level. The wind makes for dusty rides, but also keeps flies and mosquitoes (and heat) from annoying us; I'll take the wind!

Before riding him last night and again this morning, we worked on trailer loading. (I conveniently left the trailer hitched, since we have another lesson tomorrow.) Lance doesn't load like I like my horses to load, which is to say I open the trailer door, throw the lead rope over his back, point him at the opening and let him load himself. So I'm using patience, food, and corrective backing if he takes even one backwards step. Most often, he just plants himself at the back of the trailer; if I wait him out (the patience part), he eventually gives up and walks on. But there may come a time when loading quickly is of the essence, so we must get past the balkiness.

This morning I cut Lance's mane before turning him out for the day. I think his new haircut gives him a cute, preppy look – which is totally at odds with his dweeby, center-part, "Alfalfa" forelock!

I love my "little rascal"! (Some of my readers are waaay too young to get the reference! heh)