Friday - I decide to work on the continued breaking in of the field boots. I hope they drop down or I develop callouses pretty soon. I have scabs on the underneath of my knees so I wear them and then give my skin a couple days to heal before wearing them again. I decided to be NDM and ride in the updoor. The horses were pretty frisky. NDM got taken back for a few minutes. One horse who is normally very calm was freaking out in the updoor. I am pretty sure I fed Josie a little of this vib before I realized I wasn't in my NDM persona. I quickly switch to my wonderful alter ego NDM.
I stuck with it and had a pretty decent ride. I decided to go inside to canter more than a portion of the circle. I was a little too tense to let Josie go. NDM - don't forget NDM!
The pups and I went for a short ride down the lane. It was getting dark and I was pretty tired.
Saturday I got quite a scare. As I was descending the steps I felt something weird in my right knee. Quite painful actually. I took Ibuprofen and iced it. All the while thinking if I can't do my jumping lesson I will be PO'd!! Walking up the steps it was uncomfortable but doable. I took it easy and decided to try riding and see what happens. I loaded up on Ibuprofen and saddled up.
Josie was a bit sluggish today. She is partially shedded out. Her head and neck and a bit where the girth lies behind the elbows is her beautiful summer color. The rest of her hair is coming out in major fashion with her bite marks showing her summer buckskin coloring. She has definitely been enjoying her hay lately. At first I thought it was the pad I was using but nope she has filled out.
As we went on she became more forward. I took it a little easy hoping my knee would be fine. It was - thank goodness. More pills and ice tonight and during the day tomorrow.
Finally jumping lesson day has arrived. The day went slowly - very uncommon for a weekend day. I made a point of resting my knee and watched a couple of the Harry Potter movies. A few games of fetch for the pups.
Not knowing if Josie would be as dirty as she was the other day, I leave for the barn at 4:00 my lesson isn't until 6:45 and I want to be on and warmed up. She is reasonable clean.
The horses are already grained and eating hay. This was unexpected but very much appreciated. I had been worried about taking the girl away from her hay. Now she will have had an extra hour to eat hay.
I looped her lead around the hitching rail and begin the hair transference process. With the little wind it ends up in my mouth, spluttering I finish brushing her. I am ready almost a half hour before I am to have my lesson. We take our time and go into the indoor which I have to myself. I tune Josie up to my left and right legs. She is a bit stiff to the right but not uncommon. With my leathers at 9, my knee is feeling pretty good. We do a little canter work. I work on not trying so hard and Josie responds willingly, almost as if to say I love it when you get it right.
H comes in and we discuss how we are going to start Josie. I told her the schooling show isn't the priority it is starting Josie right. She tells me what she had in mind and I agree whole heartedly. This is going to be good.
We warm up over the poles on the ground and then H has us canter in two point the long sides and then sit with leg on and canter the short side. She wants this done smoothly so Josie stays the same. This is really good work for my legs and the right calf has started to squeal in protest. We take a break and then Begin going over small x's. Shortly H makes a bigger X and then we are ready for a vertical. She sets it up so one pole is across the tops of the blok and then the other pole is one side up and the other down for a ground line.
I am not helping Josie very much and begin to get better at putting my leg on and half halting to collect and let her see the fence. We make it through - yahooooooo! We had a very nice bascule over the first fence (H said the look on my face was priceless!) and then I kind of lost my supporting Josie and then got it back for the third fence. She is quite a trooper that Mare. She goes but doesn't give a lot of effort. This became apparent to even me when we went over the first vertical and her hind leg steps on the pole, breaking it in half and we land ungracefully and stop (this was bad to do) before the next fence. We stood while H fixed it so we could continue forward. Forward always forward. I do give myself credit for not looking back which is a common mistake.
We come around and H advises that Josie may really jump this first one big due to what had happened. I'll say she did! We caught plenty of air as she deer jumped it. I was proud as I stuck with her and rode on to the next two fences. YES! My confidences rises a little bit more. We go through a few more times and end with Josie doing a fantastic jump as I finally got my snit together and rode her forward to the fence. I threw my heart over it and she followed. We quit on that good note.
While maybe not a big deal to others, this has me riding high as we complete another goal I had set. This brings us one step closer to Eventing. It is going to be a great summer.
Both of us are hot and sweaty as we wander down the road to get the pups to go for a cooling ride. Once we take a right up the lane, I ask Josie for a nice trot and ride her with my heart soaring higher at every step. We did it! We did it!
Josie is most pleased with herself and cannot wait to get her grain snack and join her buddies at the feeder that is after her apple treat.
This was the most wonderful day!!
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