Lesson Recap: If it Can Go Wrong .....

Oh whoops I threw photos in a draft for a lesson post and then forgot it was there! Last Sunday I hauled down for a lesson with TrainerK - TrainerB was kicking butt in KY at finals so unavailable :) it's working out well to have both of them on speed dial and I am thrilled about all the lessons lately! The weather ended up being GORGEOUS and Emmy and I had a great lesson.

 

It didn't get off to an auspicious start - DH was working on the truck all day Saturday on something that should have been an easy fix but turned into a rabbit hole of "why the fuck is the truck doing this?" With LONGBOI down, I needed to find another option. There are A LOT of hills between here and TrainerK's, so I did not trust our small truck (a Chevy from a year with notoriously shitty brake lines that has had many issues over the years) and I reallllly didn't want to drive the diesel (it's a manual so MISERABLE for drives like that). The friend who was riding along offered to bring down her truck and trailer but I just felt guilty about that, so I kept brainstorming. I finally gave in and texted my mom to see if I could borrow her truck/trailer - she wanted DH to change the oil in her truck anyway so I figured everybody would win there 🤣 that ended up working so I got up at the ass crack of dawn Sunday morning to go pick up her rig. 

We ran through the 2nd level lateral work and it's super accessible, I just need to get more comfortable in it 

When the canter is good, it's great. When I move my hips at all, she starts throwing flying changes everywhere 🤣

Got home and got it packed, DH changed the oil and rotated the tires, and then somehow I managed to hit the hitch trying to get re-hooked and knocked it off the block. Awesome. Then when DH brought a jack out to help me pick it up, he pointed out the ball on my mom's truck was not the right size for the trailer 🥴 good thing I didn't lose the trailer between her house and mine, and that I hadn't put a horse in it yet 🫠 got that sorted out, got Emmy loaded, and got on the road! Only to hit horrible traffic and be stuck at a standstill for like half an hour, eating up all the extra time I budgeted for the drive /getting tacked and putting me at TrainerK's farm AS the lesson was due to start. It ended up being okay, she had some crises of her own that day (when I texted her that I was stuck in traffic she said that's okay you should miss the fire department 😬 everyone was safe, thankfully!), so the delayed lesson worked out. 

After her husband got done making fun of my clip job (it is fairly bad 🤣), we got to work! I had previously told her I wanted to show Emmy 2nd next year, so we worked a lot on the individual pieces I need to be able to manage at 2nd. Sitting the trot is getting easier, although as always, definitely room to improve! Emmy is fabulous at shoulder in/haunches in, I just need more work on my clarity of aids and consistency. (She finds them boring, wants to know when I'll be ready for real half passes 🤣🤣)

The canter work was... Exciting 🤣 my friend hasn't seen me take a lesson on Emmy in a few months and she didn't know we are currently the flying change hot mess express lol. It's okay to the left (mostly), but to the right I struggle with my hips (as TrainerK identified in lesson one as the reason I have struggled with right lead canter for more than a decade now) and the more dressage work we do the sharper Emmy gets, and when I move my hips at all she says "change? YES MA'AM!" very enthusiastically lol. So. I will learn to keep my body parts under my control or die trying! Emmy was a bit stiff in the canter, although it got better and peaked, and then she got tired. At my last lesson with TrainerK/the obstacle clinic, both she and Tim commented that Emmy looked like her stifles were bothering her a bit - not in a "run out and inject this" way, but in a "be more mindful of her conditioning and fitness" way. Of course she was doing great all summer because we did a ton of riding up and down hills, and that's less of an option for the winter, but I have been working on her fitness as much as I can and TrainerK did note we had made some progress, so I'll just keep on keepin' on. The Pivo has been shit at tracking lately so the video of the changes isn't great and I have no idea how clean they were, but TrainerK was quite enthusiastic about them so I'll assume they were passable lol. 

We did jokingly discuss aiming Ruby at 2nd for my bronze scores and skipping Emmy to 3rd (since she's capable lol) but in the long run it'll be better for everyone if I can solidify the 2nd level stuff on Emmy (for me, she has zero problems lol). Then hopefully that will help me successfully get Ruby there eventually as well! 

Most of the Pivo screenshots are to the right because the Pivo sits in the left corner but I swear we track left in lessons as well 🤣

The lesson running behind meant we got back on the road later than I wanted (and the GPS took me a new a stupid way home, gross), so we got back after dark. Fucking time change man, I hate it. Blessedly, DH had gotten all the chores done so I just got to settle in for the evening and snuggle the doggos! 

And eat this delicious popcorn he noticed me eyeballing at Tractor Supply so he picked me up a bag 🤣

And he got my last two insulated bucket holders installed! 

So now all my occupied stalls have insulated buckets for the winter 😁

With the truck being such a question mark right now, I'm not sure when my next lesson will be. But I have my homework - lots of SI/HI and ALLLLLLLL the hills to make sure we're keeping Emmy as fit as possible so the canter work is easier for her.