Today I took a long lunch and went to the Culbertsons to school their ring. The Fadels joined Alexis, Mere and I. (Katie and Mom was there too). I have told Anna this but I really miss them being at the barn.
Aaron was kind enough to load Cook up and trailer her over by himself since I was at work. When I got there, she was calmly munching hay. Alexis and I were the first set to ride in. (Thanks, A, for riding in with me and for getting all my tack loaded).
Mere, Kevin, and Caroline were all out to push me over jumps. It was very, very ‘yay’ to have a whole cheering section. The Culbertsons have a rolltop that I freaked over as soon as I got there. I’m really glad that Mere encouraged me to do it.
So now, it’s time to talk about the best part! The Mare of the Hour! Cook was so frickin awesome! She was beyond “good”. She was willing and energetic …. careful and she was trying to listen to what I was saying if when I was giving mixed signals. She was so well behaved at every aspect. I tacked her calmly, she walked around the ring (that she had never been in) calmly and flatted nicely. She didn’t look at anything twice. She was thinking the whole time and engaged. I cannot have asked for any better behavior from her.
It was just lovely. I can’t even tell u how much fun I had. I am still HIGH from being out there. I can’t even calm down. My right foot was numb and shaky from the fatigue of riding and I was still wanted more.
Today has been the BEST day. Thanks, Benita. Everything was perfect :-)
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Just for blogging diary purposes, just wanna mention what was good and what was bad.
Good - WATCH my LEG. It’s pretty dern still. It doesn’t move, even over the jump. It’s closed and it’s still.
Well I made progress on what Mere and I worked on in last lesson - my reins weren’t all loopy. In fact, in some of the video, I’m holding her back too much. I seem to have decent contact with her mouth.
I was brave-ish. I didn’t refuse to jump anything and I didn’t say Cook doesn’t like oxers or rolltops. I conquered the rolltop!! I’m so glad I went over. I’m not big on jumping things I have never jumped before.
I seem to be relatively thinking and responding. I was actually planning my next move and looking for my next jump instead of being a passenger on Cook.
The comment was made to me that I am actually prettier when I’m on course versus ‘trying’ to be pretty over a particular jump. I find that sometimes when I concentrate on fixing 1 thing, I let 4 other things fall apart.
Unlike when I schooled with Ash and Lauren, I don’t seem to be standing up in my stirrups over un-settling jumps. I was told specifically to close my hip angle and we’ll see when I DL-ed the video but from the video I have seen… it looks better than the schooling pics. I don’t look like I am about to be launched off her back. (this one might move into the bad section if I find otherwise.) 
Bad - Same problems I always have. trouble finding the spots. CLOSE MY FINGERS. CLOSE MY FINGERS. UGH. I’m a loser. I can’t get the simplest thing. I tried to wear gloves to hide it! It didn’t work!! Too active before the jump. Jumping ahead, throwing my body over the jump. blah blah blah. geez.
I didn’t get any still pics of me, but I’m grateful to Caroline for videotaping. This is good for me to watch and discuss. I may post a snippet of a line or the 2nd course. Maybe. Depends on how bad it looks. :-)
UPDATE:
I found 2 snips of video that are ok.
The first one is here. I am schooling an oxer. This is just a 17 sec clip.
The second one (14 megs so might take a while to DL) is here. Its’ me doing a course. In the middle of the course, Cook does a flying change to get the correct lead but I broke her down because I thought she was on the wrong lead. Oh well. dern it.
Pictures from today will be posted in a folder called Culbertons Schooling 4-14-06. Check tomorrow. Here is a pic of Alexis on Cook’s love, Lincoln.
Nice job, Alexis.
