In which we sweated a lot and learned some stuff

The stars aligned and I was able to get out for a lesson at the fabulous Come Again Farm. 

I got tacked up and hacked around on part of the cross country field while the lesson before me (full of Training level riders) finished up with an enormous gymnastic.  Turns out it was our gymnastic too!

Annie and I were faced with a sea of poles and she jigged and jogged and scrabbled all over the place, eventually I learned how to be a steady rider to help my horse be steady and the poles started to form fences.  The gymnastic ended up being 3 canter poles, about 3 strides, 3 more canter poles, then a small step over fence, over a placing pole, to a one stride.  Phew.  The poles were both helpful and a hinderence.  If we weren't moving forward enough we stepped all over the poles and took down the jumps.  If we moved at a forward pace then it was like the poles weren't even there.  This was a difficult exercise for me as I tend to sit like a passenger when faced with an issue.  I had to be confident, supportive, and stear with my legs and not my reins. 

Then we added a few fences after the gymnastic, they were small fences but the first one was off a turn and my eye needs work so we got there wonky a few times. 

After that we moved onto a simple plank fence which Annie stopped at several times.  She was tired and I guess I thought if I just sat there like a lump she'd jump it.  Nope.  Then we jumped our first impressive filler fence, and finished it all off around to a very big to me vertical which jumped like it was nothing. 

All in all I was very satisfied  (and very tired) with my lesson.  I made lots of mistakes but with the instruction I was able to learn from those mistakes and get it right a few times. 


Here's a picture of us over the filler fence.  My leg has slipped back during her effort, but it felt pretty solid over most of the gymnastic so that was good.