Last night I had my usual lesson again on LBH. We started out in the outdoor ring which was more of a swamp than a sand ring. Got some lovely mud splashed up to MY elbows, and LB has to be about 15.3hh! Of course, since we were starting at 8pm, darkness fell quickly and we moved into the indoor! Yay! Usually I am game to ride in all circumstances, but cantering weaving through jumps (the ring was packed) with deep water in the dark wasn't so fun, I could barely see where the jumps were to avoid them (and I think one terrifying castle one must have been set to about 4 feet... don't want to go over that by accident!)
What was worse was I was embarrassed by my feet, since I mounted in the muck, i had wet sand all over my boots, making the stirrups feel more like a slip and slide. I just couldn't keep them on! Has anyone ever begged a coach to do stirrupless work? I honestly hate cantering in stirrups, I just tense up and byebye! The sand was just that extra bit of oil on the slip and slide.
So moving to the indoor, I brushed off as much as the sand as I could. It felt a lot better, but I still couldn't get those lower legs under control. I grip far too much with the thighs and not enough with the calf. I am going to have to make a conscious effort over the next little while to separate movement from the lower leg to the rest of my body.
Once we got into the jumping part of our lesson, this lower leg thing was elevated. Margie made me put my stirrups even higher than my usual jumping length, I felt like a jockey haha. She told me she "remembered" how I liked my extra long stirrups, and it didn't sound like a good thing! Oops! I guess I should save that length for the trail!
I do have to admit, crunching my legs up like that did make me feel more secure although it was a lot harder to get LB moving and bending around my leg. He isn't nearly as flexible as Bentley. In fact, the comparison I can best think of is riding a brick vs riding a gummy worm. Bentley is flexible, but lots of times can be too wiggly. Hes also very sensitive to what I do. LB takes very strong leg and feels almost impossible for me to bend (though we did get some, it wasn't always consistent) but can keep straight well and is a lot more trustworthy when I screw up and ride terribly! So big differences going from one horse to another.
I went into my lesson debating whether to ask Margie about taking LB in the short course in 2 weeks. My poor riding and difficulty in the lesson stopped me from asking. However, I did ask about trailering Bentley. She had some suggestions of people who may have extra room in the trailer and would be passing by our farm. I think my gut was telling me that while it would be fun to do the jumping component of the short course, I would rather have a great dressage round on my own horse and forgo the jumping. I am just not ready to jump a full course in competition yet, and I think it would be better to set myself up for success the first time out. Well, success in the trot at least. I am guessing the moment we have to canter our dressage score will blow up in "excitement" but it does sound a lot better than having a poorer dressage score and only a satisfactory jumping round.
Don't get me wrong, LB is fine, but the lack of sensitivity and me not being used to using hard leg the first time means we have slow transitions and i have trouble moving him into the connection. Also, I wont have much time to practise the dressage test with LB and I am equally worried about forgetting the movements and becoming "lost on trail". Practising it on one horse and performing it on another just doesn't seem like a good idea, I wont be able to predict and prevent!
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