Last week, Lesson 12, Rocky

Last Sunday (the day after the show) I got up early and rode both Rocky (still a little off due to a stone bruise) and Sweetie. Sweetie was great as always, and we trotted over a few fences and she was much more under control - it was easier to post the trot to keep her slow before takeoff. She has been really pulling me to the jumps, so it was nice for her to be more relaxed about it.

On Weds., I had Lesson 12 on Simon! I had two main things I wanted to work on with Simon - 1) using my body instead of my hands to control his speed, and 2) releasing better/not having "chicken wings" (where my elbows stick out when we go over fences. These were both lessons from the show. When we started trotting over fences, I found myself too focused on fixing things, and had to calm down and stop thinking so much. Once I relaxed, we had a group of really nice fences, did about half a course beautifully and quit.

This morning, I rode Rocky. I was hoping his stone bruise had resolved and I was lucky! For the first time in about 2 months, Rocky was completely sound, and energetic! (He had another issue in a back leg about 2 months ago that now looks like an abcess came out at his coronary line on that foot.) Anyways, it was SO fun to ride Rocky today! He had more energy at the trot than he has had in years it seems (I guess he's slowly getting back in shape, and of course, being sound makes a world of difference, too!) I love riding his huge, suspending trot. Oh, my gosh... it is just amazingly wonderful. I then asked him to canter, and although I got a few strides, he wasn't very willing to go into the canter so I dismounted and got my lunge line out and we lunged both directions at the canter until we got 3 nice transitions each way. I worked him pretty hard, but it's important to get it right. I got back on him and walked him out, and decided not to ask for the canter under saddle today again since he needed to cool out.

It is so good to have Rocky back sound again! We talked this morning after my ride about the possibility of taking Rocky to Kim's for boarding/training for a few months. We'll have to see what we can afford... I really hope to be able to take him to some shows next year, and that's the best way to get started!

After all, his show name is "Visions of Fame!" :)