Also, no new pictures still as our photographer had LASIK on Thursday and barn dust is not the best thing for recently lasered eyes. So I am going to practice embedding gifs, one of many things I have no experience with.
We did manage to ride outside today. It was a little windy but otherwise nice. Everything started off nicely enough, Fawkes was relaxed and moving well. Warmed up over some cross rails and 2' verticals, then trainer started raising everything to about 2'6" and having us work on small courses. It was a very equitation course set up out there, no lines, just fences all over the place.
One of the jumps was on the quarter line, going away from the gate into the Scary Corner of Doom.
The first time over it, he was a little squirrely, but did ok. The second time through, neither of us saw a spot and then at the last minute I tried to force the chip and he decided to launch. He landed....decidedly unhappy. Dropped his head, humped his back, and attempted to buck through the whole corner. Thankfully, he is a terrible bucker. But no big deal, right? We will just try again.
Started the whole course over. Came in to the same fence at a beautiful distance, hit it perfectly, landed, and bam. Head down, full on on rodeo horse. OK, not really cause he still sucks at bucking. But he kept trying to drag his head down and get his hind end up. I am not sure if it was him remembering the previous bad jump, the hated end of the ring, or some combination, but we were clearly not on the same page.
It was only *that* jump too, every other fence in the ring he was fine over. Spent most of the rest of the lesson working on jumping and then recovering. Alternated trotting and cantering fences to keep him from getting too hot. Lots of circles before and after jumps.
Did a whole course with trot one fence, canter next fence, trot next fence, etc. It worked really well as I could feel Fawkes want to get crazy but the slow trot fences kept him quiet. Ish.
On the plus side, it was a busy Sunday morning and I got lots of compliments on my riding, so I will take what I can get. And I have to laugh because Fawkes sure does keep me on my toes!
Ooh.. Didn't consider the not being able to ride aspect of LASIK... I have been considering getting my eyes done... Just found your blog so I'll have to read old posts and catch up! :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome! I just started writing this in hopes of actually keeping track of our ups and down. As for LASIK, I think it is at least a week of being grounded. I am sure not everyone follows that but eyes seem too important to me to risk.
DeleteThank goodness for horses that can't buck hard :) It sounds like you were able to get through it though. It seems Fawkes has some serious personality! I love those horses that have a bad day and you can't help but laugh at their shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteYes, pathetic bucking horses are a blessing! Esp when they have other somewhat questionable talents (ad hoc reining maneuvers). And yeah, you have to love a silly, opinionated critter :)
Delete