Thursday, June 14, 2012

A lesson...finally!

After our stellar weekend, Charlie got Sunday and Monday off (I needed Sunday to recover and Monday we were plagued by rain).  Tuesday we were back at it although I floundered a bit.  I rode on the flat since I was scheduled for a dressage lesson with Carolyn on Wednesday.  Charlie was good but I just felt a little lost.  Basically, I needed a lesson so I had some direction.  I think I tend to get overwhelmed by all the things I need to be working on.  One of the best things about riding with Carolyn is she has the amazing ability to break things down into manageable tasks.  Knowing this, I called it quits after about 25 minutes of ambling about aimlessly.

My lesson was at 6 on Wednesday and I thought I was going to be on an extremely tight timeline but lucky for me, I got out of clinical about 4 hrs early...score!  I got to the barn early because I was really worried about Charlie being a bad horse and refusing to get on the trailer.  Lucky for me, the perfect pony showed up.  While he didn't jump right on, he did his normal "2 feet on the ramp, wait 3 min, take a baby step, wait 2 min, then walks all the way on".  Because he got on in a timely manner, I was a bit early getting to Julie's farm (where we meet up with Carolyn).  Right as I pulled in the driveway, a lovely summer thunderstorm rolled in.  Awesome.  We hung out in Julie's kitchen while it blew over.

Once the storm blew over, I waited about 30 min for Shannon's lesson to be over and just let Charlie hang out grazing.  Once our lesson started, Carolyn really had me work on getting Charlie to stretch into the contact instead of me trying pull him back into the contact - hope that makes sense!  Once he stretches into the contact, I need to stay very soft in my hand to encourage him to stay soft in his jaw.  My mental image of his jaw is butter.  Once he's soft in the jaw, I need to ask him step under and push over his back and into the bridle.  As usual, I have a tough time explaining Carolyn's lessons.  I know what I need to do when I ride and I know what I'm supposed to feel but can't explain it very well. :(

So now I'm feeling pretty motivated.  I couldn't ride today but I'm getting up early to ride before the heat hits.

Look what I found the other day when I washing Charlie's tail...

 

What the heck?  I have no idea how he managed this.

 

But lucky for both of us, it's hidden!

3 comments:

  1. wow that is talent getting a random bald spot on his tail!!! In the middle!!

    Glad its covered! haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I wish I knew how he did it. When I first got him, his tail barely reached his hocks and the part that did was one little string. It's taken a year and a half but his tail looks halfway decent and then he goes and does this. But like you said, it least it's hidden!

      Delete
    2. tails are hard work!!! he needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap- no kicking and tail rubbing with that stuff ;) haha jk

      Delete