Lesson Day

Gayle came up to give us, and our neighbor, lessons this morning.  The weather was supposed to be sunny and warm.  Instead it was overcast and cool.  It was perfect for riding, but a bit chilly for sitting around watching.

Brett spent a couple of hours yesterday getting the arena perfect.  He shoveled all the sand that had mounded up close to the rail back into the center.  Then he groomed it with the tractor.  It looked gorgeous; almost too pretty to ride on.  Almost.

Gayle hit some traffic on her way up so was delayed.  I used the extra time to practice braiding Winston's mane.  I got about half of it done, experimenting with fat braids and skinny braids.  Fat braids definitely look better. 

Gayle worked us hard.  I was up first (on the pristine arena footing: woo-hoo!) followed by Brett.  Here's some video with pieces of our lessons.

Jeanine and Calibar went last.  They worked on lunging technique.  Calibar is a bit out of shape after being off a few months so they took it easy on him.

After the lessons were over, Brett fired up the BBQ.  Gayle stayed for lunch and my friend, Heather, was up for the day as well.  We ate our burgers and tried to decide if the weather was getting warmer or colder. 

Brett and I were both very pleased with our lessons.  We learned a lot, we progressed, our horses progressed, and we are all tired and sore.  That includes the horses who rolled in the dirt after we hosed them off.  They stood, heads down, covered in mud, dozing.  Brett's asleep in his recliner and I'm headed to the couch.

Fun With Cavaletti

Yesterday, Brett set up poles in the arena; some on the ground, some on trash cans, some close together, some far apart.  He worked with Mufasa on some sensory stuff and trotting over the poles.  Mufasa was a good boy, trying to do everything, licking and chewing when he got it right.  Brett said Mufasa did a lot of licking and chewing. 

Flash is slowing down and on some days even easy work is an effort for him.  He is still firmly in alpha position with the herd, monitoring the comings and goings of the residents on our street and in our community. 

This morning before work, I worked with Winston.  I didn't want to do anything too intense because Gayle comes up for lessons tomorrow and I don't want him tired.  Since the poles were already in the arena, I set up some cavaletti. 

I set two poles on the ground toward the middle of the arena, so we would cross them on the diagonal whenever we changed direction.  Winston walked over them without blinking.

On one long side I set up two poles, a few inches off the ground, spaced quite far apart.  The object of the raised poles is to get the horse to lift his hocks, creating some suspension, while lifting and stretching across his back.  Winston did very well with lifting his legs and not quite as well with stretching over his back.  Eventually, he relaxed and stopped hollowing his back but it took awhile.

On the opposite longs side of the arena, I set up two poles closer together.  This required him to think about where his feet were and to adjust his stride.  No problemo.

After he was working well at trot in both directions, we picked up the canter.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to go over the raised poles at a canter.  Winston is quite the jumper, he was started as a jumper, and he has talent.  But I'm 52 and my bones break easily and my balance isn't what it was when I was a teenager jumping bareback over logs.  So, we picked up an easy canter and rode to the inside of the poles.  Winston tried as hard as he could to go to the jumps.  He leaned, he tried to turn, he desperately wanted to go over them.  So, we did.  Just the ones that were spaced far apart.  He jumped them clean and neat.  It was really fun.  I felt safe.  He didn't get silly at all.

I think we'll do this more often.