I haven’t been blogging much. Honestly life has been busy and sucky and I haven’t felt like it. The weather in SEPA has been ugly and rainy and hot and humid and gross. And I temporarily moved to Atlanta for a conference. And I really haven’t had much content and too much content. And who knows?
Sometimes kids detonate fireworks in your mailbox…
I had a fabulous lesson 2 weeks ago and a great one the week before that. But, 2 weeks ago I didn’t get around to blogging because I left the next day for a conference and by the time I got back (conference was energy sucking), I forgot all of the details. But I remember Ranger being incredible. And I rode inside. Because rain.
Sometimes your husband falls through the ceiling… And stuff isn’t properly framed.
Last night I finally had another lesson and the weather held out for a lesson outside! My back has been KILLING me (why? no clue), but improved enough not to cancel. I was thrilled to see Ranger. He was happy to get treats. He works for food.
And your horse is really gross.
After some warm up on my own (ow my back), we did a little more trotting, some halts (thank you Ranger for halting with you head up and making me look good). And circles. To the left our tiny circles were LOVELY. To the right, my hip was stiff as a board (strange because my other hip was killing me on Saturday/Sunday when I could barely walk) and we had to circle a couple times before our attempt was deemed acceptable.
Jiminy got a new fly mask!
That said, cantering was lovely. Flowy forward canter. One left to right flying change (SO MUCH EASIER OUTSIDE) then flowy right lead canter. A quick right to left flying change, being careful not to ask him to speed up until we hit the center of the ring. And then we walked. Such a good boy.
Devon 3 and under lead line insanity.
We started off working on a figure-eight over the log jump. So, we cantered in left lead, turned right in the air, cantered back over it, turned left in the air, then continued back over it the same way we initially approached it. We did this 4-5 times. Other than being directionally challenged while this exercise was explained to me, I actually really enjoyed this. Ranger was slightly confused as everything was new to him as it was a new course so today was the first time for everything. I rarely get to be the first one to jump him over the course. So much more fun.
New course!
Next we cantered right lead over our inside single (stone pillars going away from the road) and then continued around to the inside line (blue and while standards starting with the TINY brown pole). The tricky part was that the line comes up VERY quickly so if you don’t look as you’re landing, you’ll miss it. That said, my issue was the jump was tiny and Ranger didn’t care so I had to almost over ride the in of the line. The other issue was the first time I failed to realize where the inside single was and I turned first looking at the out of the inside line… then I correctly but had the wrong canter and Ranger was a bit heavy… Take 2, Ranger was better but wanted to be strong (though he listened PERFECTLY WELL). Take 3, we had a lovely canter to the inside single and I just touched my fingers to the reins once to lift him up and he stopped his attempts to be heavy. The inside line was perfect as well and I FINALLY got effort for the baby in (the out was actually a significant jump). This time we continued around to the outside single which was light and perfect. Ranger thought for a moment about being heavy, felt my finger tug (seriously, that was ALL it took) and got right off his front end. THIS HORSE IS PERFECT.
We took a short break (humid as hell) before ending with the inside single (stone pillars jumped the opposite way–heading towards the road rather than towards the in gate) around to a bending line. To get to the first jump you had to go between these 2 stone pillars basically going close to the the outside one around what could also be jumped as a single on the outside. We jumped everything perfectly the first time and ended there. My trainer was convinced he’d be wiggly, but there was no wiggles from him at all. He was just on. Perfect horse.
Simply the best.
Because Ranger works for food, he was stuffed with peppermints before I turned him and his friends out… Evidently I made him wait too long for treats. I slacked on my treat giving duty. Oh well, sorry Ranger. I owe you.
Three Chestnuts 
is that one lead liner SIDE SADDLE? OMG. That is a lot of kids.
Since i knew about the black cloud over you none of these photos shocks me and it esp doesnt shock me that riding Ranger last nite made you feel better YAY!
Glad you had a nice ride 😉
Yes, lead liner SIDE SADDLE. That pony’s first time side saddle. Good boy Jack! I know the pony, not the kid. And of course Ranger is perfection.
oh man that lead line class….. insanity for sure!! wowza….. anyway sorry life hasn’t been super bright and chipper lately, this rain is a real downer too. but thank god for Ranger, right? sounds like the perfect lesson!
Lead line is an experience. There was a child in younger lead line IN A BASKET. There was also a child who dismounted and ran away and tried to exit the ring before being dragged back in during the line up. Lead line is hilarious.
Ranger however is awesome and can cure all dark clouds, even if only temporarily. But today is June… Hopefully things will look up?
OMG so many leadline kids. WOW. So glad your lesson with Ranger was really good! He sounds like such a perfect boy 😀
He really is perfect. My next horse needs to be a ranger. Seriously. Personality. Perfection. Everything. Lead line kids? Craziness! It’s such an experience!
That is way too many kids! Wyatt did one lead line class on Gem last fall and there were maybe 5 kids total. It was still a cluster. I hope things brighten up for you soon!
Oh it’s insane but Devon lead line is something else!