One Long Day --> One Long Post

Butterball and I spent the WHOLE day together Monday. It started out with me bathing him to get him nice and clean to do his second clip of the summer. I could really live without the hair growing feature of his pony self, but I love every other part so deeply that it is worth it... I knew I didn't have time to do all of him so I did the usual diagonal line from flank to withers clip with the addition of complete front legs. 

The dapples are the only perk of this summer clipping BS

There wasn't near as much hair to come off this time (compared to the end of April) which was nice. But it's horrendously hot and humid right now, so every little bit counts. 

Then we headed down to PW's for a jump lesson. We started off our lesson with a single vertical and then a single oxer. And it was rather unimpressive. 

So much so that eventually PW asked if he could get on. Then Butterball tattled on me about how little I ask of him a lot of the time. He bulged his right shoulder through a left turn and got MOST offended when PW told him he couldn't do that. He tried it once more and then gave it up. That's the thing, he's a pretty darn agreeable creature. He will rise to meet expectations, but he'll also sink to the level of little expectation pretty easily. He tried dropping his sternum and lengthening his stride to a fence and got a HALF-HALT and then gave that one up as well. 

I got back on after that and we did some course work. 

And overall it went much better. We sort of slogged through the one stride the first time, but got it right the second go and then incorporated it into a course. When I focus on the basics, things come together. Do I have the canter I want? Is he bending to the inside and not staring outside the arena? Am I keeping my outside rein through the turn and consequently is he straight to the fence? Is my eye on THE SAME SPOT on the fence?  

PW got after me to be better organized at one point. "You're a vet, aren't you organized?" Dear sir, I am not sure why you would assume the second from the first. LOL. You should see the sticky notes around my desk on a busy day. But anyways. Plan the round. Pick up the canter with a GOOD transition. Get the canter I want. Then execute the plan. Once done, come to trot and then walk before dropping the reins. Deliberate every step of the way. 

The last run through of the first four fences of our course I got the BEST canter to the first fence. And he jumped that fence GREAT. It was a bit of a different feeling over the fence, but PW says that is the feel we're going for. I could tell the canter felt great, but wasn't as committed to the way the fence felt. 

The canter

The jump

I am frustrated to see in these pictures that my release seems to have gone right out the window again though. I'll consult with PW at the start of the next lesson. 

From our jump lesson, I headed down to 75 to get some diesel. And ended up at the world's slowest pump. C'est la vie. Fortunately ever since my BIL coated the roof of the trailer, it stays MUCH cooler in there. I know insulating it would be best, but baby steps with this trailer. Then we headed to Majestic Oaks and pulled up under a shady tree to hang out. Monday was the only day PW could do a lesson this week and Monday at 5 was also the only time I could meet up with the saddle fitter to check our jump saddle and dressage saddle. Rather than driving all the way north to essentially turn right around and head back south, we camped out at Majestic for two hours. I cleaned all my tack in the trailer and then pulled his mane while he fell asleep (I truly don't believe this horse cares about having his mane pulled, so I do it). Then he sampled some of my lunch - apricots were okay, peach was a no go. He grazed some and then I put him back on the trailer and he napped. He's such a lovely dude, I'm sure he might have been sort of sick of me at this point, but it wasn't a hardship on me just hanging out for a few hours. 

Mane looking very cute except that chunk that I ripped out with the seam ripper after the last show... 

Eventually we loaded back up and then headed down a series of smaller and increasingly less paved roads to get to someone's farm to meet the fitter. Our appointment lasted all of 30 minutes, but was well worth it. The jump saddle was brand new in March, so I suspected it would need some flocking adjusted. This was the case and she added a tiny bit to the front where it had compressed. She asked if I wanted to sit in it. I almost lazed out of it and said no. But she's based in Wellington, and I decided it would be too tricky to fix if for some reason we didn't like it. Ever the good sport, I got back on Butterball and he agreeably walk/trot/cantered around a new arena at a new farm for 5 minutes. The balance did change slightly, but not in a bad way. When we pulled out the dressage saddle, she asked if I had any issues. NOPE! It continues to fit both of us like a glove, thanks Jen. She agreed and didn't need to adjust anything in it. Perfect. 

Then the poor pony put up his first protest of the entire day and stopped at the ramp to the trailer and said "Do I gotta??" A circle and reapproach and he walked on, but I couldn't blame him. We'd gone to two different locations post jump lesson, neither of which was home. And it sounded like everyone was getting tossed dinner at that barn, so he probably would've just as soon stayed there. 

Procrastination level: PRO. "I gotta pee... And eat... But really gotta pee..."

The next morning we loaded back up for a dressage lesson. It was the day I could go back to back with my friend in hopes of hearing and retaining the checklist that JV had gone over in my first lesson while I was cantering around. Unfortunately that didn't end up happening since they worked almost entirely on squares at the trot and canter to get him honest to the aids and steering. But it was educational nonetheless and she did snag some video for me. 

This time we became a bit more demanding about leg meaning not just forward but forward and UP. A lack of UP didn't mean that I had to escalate through the 1-2-3 series of leg/dressage whip aids, but it did mean that the aid was repeated at the same magnitude. We also added in some leg yields and shoulder-in. The leg yields were to help straighten him when I felt like I was losing his shoulders to the left. The shoulder-in was to help bring the balance up. Shockingly the same soft aid then escalating if there was an inappropriate response got us pretty excellent leg yields (for us). I've been doing "baby" leg yields the whole time I've had this horse and never upped the ante. We did during this lesson and he responded stunningly. Good boy. 

At the end we played with down transitions from trot to walk. He explained that there is a balance between promptness and relaxation. The first one Butterball completely died and "came off my aids", so we repeated the transition with a sharper half-halt to start. That one was more prompt, but to me it felt abrupt and like his back dropped. JV confirmed that we had "lost the relaxation and swing". So the next ask was more gentle. He continued swinging through that one, so I called it better. JV said in a way it was, but that it was less prompt. So the next one (we quit at that point though) should be more prompt even if it sacrificed some of the relaxation. And so on. Interesting. 

We were back home by 11 AM and he got turned out with his friends without me pestering him for the rest of the day. 

Popped the camera back up - this is how he travels. Makes me think he's not too stressed by all this travel. He looks out the window at stops, but mostly eats hay or naps with his head about at the level of the chest bars.