(I wrote this on Labor Day and it’s been sitting in my drafts since then whoops)
So I guess we’re all the way at 30... wow.
Rode dressage because I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get two hacks in this week. There was a little girl having what looked like one of her first lessons (she was practicing steering at the trot and keeping the pony trotting) so I stayed towards the foresty-end of the ring. I like to do that a lot even when I don’t have to because 1) it’s shady 2) there usually aren’t jumps back there and 3) Promise is really good about not getting spooky back there, unlike the back side of the indoor >:/
(Funny story from a few years back- I was riding Annie in the outdoor a few days after a big windstorm had come through. We were doing some jumping when I heard a crack/crash towards the back of the ring as I was going into position for a jump. Annie came up in front of me as if she was going to jump but then I realized she had stopped going forewards. A large branch had fallen back in the forest and she had technically reared in fright, but since I had been prepared for a jump I didn’t even realized till I felt her feet hit the ground XD Thats the only time I’ve ever been reared. Scared the crap out of my father)
Besides the normal cirlcing+stretches to get her loose in her back+tracking up, I did some half passes(?) with the jumps (having her shoulders face the jump while I push her sideways) because she braces her neck like heck if I don’t >:/
Almost forgot! My instructor told me to go ahead and get my own pair of spurs because we’re gonna be doing more lateral work. I’ve only used them a couple times but I do like them more than carrying a whip. Didn’t really use them outside the stretches+”“half-pass”” (quotations because idk if I’m using the correct term?).
After warm ups I just did transitions. Lots of transitions. That’s really what she needs right now, I feel like I’ve fallen back on the canter transitions. So we did like 6-8 strides of canter into 6-8 strides of trot back into 6-8 strides of canter. I say 6-8 strides because I was looking more for a quality canter before the downward transitions than counting strides. Anyway, probably confused the lil hunter in the front. “Why is she doing so many circles? Her pony doesn’t seem to want to listen- it won’t canter/trot for more than a few strides! Why isn’t she posting?”
Ended by letting Promise do as big or little of a canter around the full ring once the kiddo was out. Some days she just really loves to take off, especially after we’ve done dressage. She didn’t go super fast, but she did want her reins back and went up onto the forehand (which scares me cause she always TRIPS when she canters on the forehand! D:<)
