Rare Occurrences

I did an entire jump lesson this week while wearing two jackets, a long sleeve shirt, and wool socks. That has got to be a first. Unfortunately (fortunately?) we did not get any of the snow that hit Florida, but did get a lot of verrrrrrryyyy cold rain. I think snow would've been better. Monday morning we went for a bareback hack in the cold at 8 AM because that was when I had time to ride. Pony was MAD!!! Like hopping up and down and insisting this was complete BS. I was quietly insistent though and eventually we had a pleasant hack. 

The jump lesson was quite productive. JT complimented our canter work initially, it seems like the transitions and focus on ENGAGING the hindquarters has been getting us somewhere. We started over fences with a jump with placing poles. We've been starting this way for the past month plus and it has been immensely helpful for my eye. The whole rest of the lesson is pretty well documented in the video. 

We were having some trouble finding the correct spots to leave the ground. He wants to be so careful and was doing a bit more chipping than leaving at the correct spot. We got it by the end though. And what is most important to me in the video is that he looks HAPPY over the fences. Our stadium round in December at Majestic involved a lot of flat pony ears over the fences. Whether that was my riding, the saddle that was way too close to his withers, or his feet, we've made it better. 

We'll keep on chugging away at me learning to see the correct distance and COMMIT to that distance. The first time through the bending line I didn't start counting until stride 3 or so, so putting the 7 in there was my fault. The second time through he thought that since we'd done it that way the first go, why not do it again. Then we got it right. 

When I watch the videos, I feel like I've gotten a bit sloppy in my position again. I'm not jumping ahead, my fave, so there is that. But I'm not pressing my hands into his neck for the release. So we'll circle back to that focus. 

When we finished, he stood very still and closed his eyes in a heavy blinky kinda way. He was most displeased when I woke him up to walk back in. Poor pony. 

I spayed my kittens Tuesday. They were RAVENOUSLY hungry 3 hours post-op, like chew the towels and blankets afterwards in case a morsel had been dropped kinda hungry. I didn't use a benzo in their medications, so I have no idea why. My coworkers were accusing me of kitten starvation. 

They are 100% broken by their surgery onesies. Oh boy do I have a new appreciation for the ask when I tell clients their pet MUST stay quiet post-op. These things are energizer bunny terrorists even on a LOT of drugs.