Lisa's Blog post # 45

Twenty-twelve!  That’s fun to say, isn’t it?  God willing, twenty-twelve is going to be the year of my and High Cotton’s big eventing debut! 

It will be my second competition – I did one after my first event but the cross country phase was rained out so I don’t count it – and it will be Cotton’s 4^th USEA recognized.  We have quite a bit of work to do if it’s really going to happen.  And the clock is ticking!

Jim came out and filmed my ride yesterday.  I was pretty disappointed by what I saw – we have so much work to do!  But I can give this good report – goal #2 Learn how to ride Cotton in his dressage snaffle so we can make it through a dressage test has a big fat check next to it!

Our flat work is still very below average but Cotton can make it through a test in his snaffle without being hollow the entire time and he can canter a full circle on his left lead without switching and I can stop him after he canters a full circle on his right lead without him blowing through my aids – that’s good enough for me!  (For now)

As we continue our conditioning I am going to have to focus on his left hind leg.  We galloped a little bit yesterday and he is still so unbalanced on his right lead that he goes faster and faster to catch himself.  FYI - your reins have to be pretty short for the pulley rein to work.

I also tried working on his canter after a few jumps.  Lesley had lessons going on in the stadium so we went over the tiny baby jump that was set up in the field.  I learned that he still needs his bubble bit over jumps – even baby jumps – because he was hard to stop afterwards.  My plan was to jump, halt right away and canter again so he will learn to land with the expectation of needing to be collected – or off his forehand - and obey my direction.   Looking back on it, I guess I should have been tougher on him, shortened my reins and forced the halt but I didn’t want to revisit my habit of pulling on him so I saved it for another day with the proper equipment. 

Any comments Lesley?! 

We have 4 more months to go – it’s supposed to take 6 months to get a horse in shape.  We are up to walking the steep hill 11 times and trotting its slightly less steep next door neighbor about 3 times after that.  We are doing more and more canter work, leg yields and lateral exercises, too.   I just must find a way to kick my bad position habits once and for all – hunched shoulders, collapsed hips, open fingers…

blah, blah, blah.