It was a dark and stormy...day

A little bit of rain cannot dismay my excitement for our first lesson but those who know 'Dea know this is not 'Dea weather. With an estimated high of 52 degrees and much rain this is not conducive to a soft, supple 'Dea to start with. An 's' word that does come to mind would be sproing-y. Weather that makes for a happy 'Dea is hot, very hot with perhaps a light breeze to keep bugs away. Either way the hotter the better. Which is why I choose to do our training in June, with the expectation of mostly good weather to work in.

How do we get through the winter you ask? Several things, the first and most important would be the heated indoor, without that I don't think my butt would be in the saddle from late November to April. Then comes the electric blanket (on high) to heat up her back/hind end muscles as much as possible while I groom and get ready. Finally a quarter sheet to ride in and a Back on Track saddle pad. Next horse I get I will definitely be trying in the winter. Way too much work!

'Dea has several

I arrive at Pam's at a semi-reasonable time for my lesson after having to wait on my road due to construction. Which looked pretty much like this for 10 minutes.

Hey, um guys can I get through?

It is as cold and rainy at the barn as it is at my house. 'Dea appears in good spirits as I walk down the aisle she is completely covered in shavings from the tip of her forelock to her tail. Apparently after having her stall cleaned she promptly laid down for a good snooze. We tack up and it is into the indoor for our getting to know you's lesson. 

I'm actually really glad I decided to blog this because it will be a great way to (hopefully) keep track of what we worked on. I'm not sure the best way to document the exercises so this might change. I'll list out what we worked on chronologically in the lesson. 

I will do my best to describe what we worked on/talked about but I am in no way a trainer so enter at your own risk!

• At the trot to the right: off the rail, always to keep her honest to the left rein.
• At the trot to the left: slight haunches in but keep the shoulders straight with the right rein, all the way around the ring no cheating on the short sides.
• Down centerline in trot in slight haunches in to leg yield off the left leg to the rail then keep the haunches in position. Shoulders to lead with more forward, get the trot cooking. KEEP the haunches in at the rail! Repeat until shoulders come up and trot gains lift in front. Change direction and repeat to the right.
• At the trot to the right: ride a square keeping the left rein close to the base of the neck, open the right rein in the turn asking with your right leg to step the hind legs out. Change direction and repeat to the right.
• Once 'squares' are good, ride a leg yield off left leg 3-5 strides into the school then turn right using 'square' aids. Move the shoulders and use that right leg to move the hind legs out in the turn.
• Canter left lead ~18m circle (ie get the heck away from the rail missy!) haunches in/shoulders out from the right leg. Forever, no breaking. This was incredibly hard.
• Canter right lead ~18m circles shoulders out a bit easier since she wants to travel with her haunches to the right naturally.
• Transition back to the trot (take your time) and enjoy your fleeting longside of lifted shoulders and front end moving out. Keep in shoulder out off the rail!

Phew! I tried not to act too exhausted but it probably didn't work. We (and by we I mean I) was working really hard. Canter is the bane of our existence and Pam talked about how we need to get her front end up so she stops somersaulting over herself. 'Dea gets blocked at the base of her neck so there is a definite disconnect there. Pam says she's got a good set of kickers we just have to get her powerful hind legs to work with the front instead of just running out to Texas. Cantering in haunches in/shoulders out position will help by getting the push off leg underneath her body that will in turn lift her up through the diagonal pair and the lead leg/shoulder. I could definitely feel it in the easier direction to the right but it was much harder to the left as she'd much rather break to the trot then manipulate her body that way. We did get it to the left but only for a few strides or so. 

I was told to eat my Wheaties and we'll be back at it tomorrow. After my lesson I took 'Dea out to walk around the outdoor. She was fairly good after announcing to the bench that she was a dangerous fire breathing dragon. After a time or two she decided it was much better to do her western pleasure impersonation so she could sneak bites of grass.

In case you were curious this is what the quarter sheets do in their off-season. As modeled by our cat, Calamity aka the friach. 

The friach