Flying Changes on Grady

Check out this web page about Lindsay...

http://www.medalequestrian.com/Lindsey%20Haugen,%20medal_equestrian_foundation.htm

I have been very busy trying to catch up with school. Last week I did the minimum amount of homework that I could get away with so that I wouldn't have to worry about it during the show... I pushed all of my 2 week projects to this week, so I've been very busy!!

On Monday I had a jumping lesson on Sackett and that went pretty well, but it was hard. We worked on jumping on angles and after sharp turns. It was pretty hectic and not that smooth, but it got more organized towards the end.

Tuesday morning it was POURING out. I decided that I wanted to ride anyways, so I rode Isis around the field. She was excellent and I had a good ride. My underwear got soaked though.

This morning I rode Isis again and she was brilliant. Positively excellent. I had been having some issues with her last week. Let me tell you, I can tell a difference in my riding when Lindsay has been coaching me alot. Last week she coached me four days in a row with the show. She made me very aware of my hand position, because I tend to let the reins go too long and hold my hands too close to my body. She has been trying to get me to shorten my reins and hold my hands out in front of me. I think I finally got the message and it has made a HUGE difference in Isis!! It puts you in just the right spot to play with the reins and get the horse to soften without pulling. Lindsay is a model of that hand position!!

Today I jumped Grady. We were in the indoor because of all the rain... Grady really doesn't like the indoor, but when he's jumping he more or less forgets about his issues. We actually worked on flying changes over ground poles and HE GOT THEM! Like, right away. Like, it wasn't even a challenge to get him to do them. We did serpentines and figure eights with flying changes and he did them clean almost every time. It was very encouraging to do something inherently difficult but have it not be difficult at all. I guess Grady just does them naturally!! Rocky eventually built the jumps up higher so that by the end they were roughly 2 feet. Rocky got on him at the end and did the exercise a couple times so that I could see his jump. He's got a SUPER jump!! I'll have to get pictures of her jumping him sometime.