There were four of us in the group today, and we were absolutely freezing our butts off. It was so cold that in the hour my car was covered in ice again! It meant some painful hands and feet today, making me really want to head to Stockley to invest in some warmer gloves. I can't actually get anymore socks on than I did and have my foot fit in my boot, so I'm going to have to work out a different tactic there. I think I saw some battery heated socks on Amazon the other day...
We started off with flatwork, and Simon brought out the poles straight away. We did some shallow loops and changes of rein in trot, then called myself and Amie into the middle. Audrey and Lauren then got to canter down one long side a few times on each rein. They were both doing quite well, I could tell neither of them had really cantered much though. They both had really good seats so I'm sure they'll be great within a few weeks! Me and Amie then got to go out whilst Audrey and Lauren rested. I found out Bally is much happier on the left rein than the right. On the left rein she transitions really nicely and is very forward. She was very easy to get into the canter. On the right rein she struggles a bit and broke into trot quite a lot. It was so good to finally be cantering though! I know I do it on Bruno, but it's nice to do it on different horses and with the motivation of someone there telling you to do it. She was quite fast in the canter (it felt pretty fast anyway), but I felt like I sat it nicely. My feet need a bit more discipline to stay down in those stirrups though, they're always flapping about again now, so frustrating! We had about three canters on each rein, then had a rest. Simon put up three 1 foot cross poles and we all went out and did them in trot. Bally occasionally cantered but she mostly treated them like trot poles.
Amie then did them a few more times by herself with Charlie. Bless Charlie, he always did the first two as trot poles, then at the last jump he'd prick his ears and give a nice little hop over them! Amie got left behind quite a bit on that last jump haha!
Then Simon put up the jumps, bought Amie back to the middle and sent out Lauren and Audrey. They were both doing really well, Lauren had Sultan cantering the line of jumps every time! I think we are pretty similar level wise, it's really nice to watch her.
Then me and Bally went out to do the triple on our own a few times. I say a few times, it felt like a million times! I got to the point where my muscles were telling me "No more! Please, no more!", but Simon kept pushing me on. I really enjoyed myself, she does love a jump! I got left behind a couple of times because I have a bad habit of jumping ahead. I found though when I looked straight ahead and didn't focus on the jump, my upper body waited for her to come to me and it all flowed so much better. I'll have to really try hard to remember it for next time!
I can't wait till next week now!
xx
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