Remember? Yes!



Right!



So, I was AFK for a few days.  You may not have noticed…  But I sure did!
I was farm-sitting for a friend of mine, and this time I had an added responsibility…  In addition to the normal chores involved with cats, chickens, and horses, her main mare has been recovering from a suspensory injury.  She’s now rehabbing, which means daily trot work!  This mare is a fancy warmblood, and I got to ride her EVERY DAY while I was there!
My darling husband was nice enough to take about 10 seconds of video as I trotted her up the driveway, but it is forever locked in the recesses of his phone until he actually sends that to me…

 



what farm sitting looks like...


I had a darling girl ride the Fancy Pony for me while I was away, and I know FP had a great time being doted on.

FP and I have been rather dressage focused after my last round of spine injections, hence the sudden discovery that she had outgrown my dressage saddle.  Last night we returned to the jumps with a more elastic canter and balanced transitions.  We reacquainted ourselves with the bounce, worked through the one-stride, and worked once again over the baby-corner.
You may recall our work over the corner once before, when she saw it for the first time.  Coach gave me the option to trot it first, or to canter it.  I opted to see where we were and canter it out of the previous course work.

She remembered the corner! She rocked it!



just like I rocked my purple potatoes!

 The one-stride has certainly been under-utelized in our training, so far, and I just know Coach is going to rememdy that!
The first time through, I could feel myself ducking my shoulders in the middle.  Why in the middle?  I haven't figured that out yet.
I was feeling pretty comfortable with the chip coming out of the one-stride, but Coach wanted me to fix it.  To be honest, I wasn't even feeling it...  So, I fixed it!
...and ducked more than I wanted on the way out...

Coach said, "You're naturally going to close more over the bigger fences!  It's no big deal.  You didn't collapse on her."
Oh, OK!

We did it the last time as part of the entire course to end with the corner, and we even got the lead change!  AND a straight exit!

My pony is awesome!  I even told her so!
She knows she is a rock star.

I'm feeling very confident about CROSS COUNTRY SCHOOLING!
Tomorrow!!

Hopefully there will be photographic evidence.  You guys need to see this girl in action!