I had another longing session yesterday where I was longed, sans hands and stirrups while I attempted to find my quiet, happy place. I must say that Brego is quite the bouncy boy, and my quiet, happy place wore a little raw. Alas, I think my sitting trot was stronger and I felt more grounded in the canter.
We finished with me riding off the longe and cantering figure eights with a 4 step simple change through the center. Brego caught on quickly and although the transitions were not the smoothest, I could really control his bend through the change. He was also pretty snappy picking up the new lead.
Today it was hot and humid. Brego was sweating before I even pulled him out of the field. So I took a longer than normal amount of time to warm him up at the walk. He was very stiff to the left, his bad side, from his work yesterday. So I did a little bending work at the trot, but didn't push it. Today's goal was to jump a 2'9" course to see what classes I would be entering at the hunter show this weekend.
I asked that the two outside lines of the course be set to 2'6" and the inside lines, including two oxers set to 2'9". Well it turns out that the two oxers were set to 3', but it made no difference to Brego.
I cantered a nice courtesy circle struggling to remember my hunter etiquette from the darkest reaches of my mottled brain. The outside line rode well, with Brego getting his lead. The first inside line we got close, but he just wrapped around the poles and didn't touch them. On the next outside line, we actually got our spot, but I guess I just stopped riding. Brego took care of everything. The final inside line with the 3' oxer was awesome. I saw the distance about a mile out and Brego was cantering so slooooow, but we just nailed it. He has definitely gotten stronger where he can canter so slow and balanced and just LAUNCH over fences. Between my ducking and his huge jump, I bumped his withers with my chest over the oxer. I need to sit up and learn to ride that much power.
My leg seems to be more effective, but I still rotate it out quite a bit. Next time I school fences, it is all about fixing my leg again. Today I really focused on getting him around a course. He obviously gets around a course just fine, I need to focus on riding him better. He deserves it. :)
In other news, Brego was devastated to hear of Roxie's new boyfriend. He made a point of hanging out with his new girlfriend, Rosie. Rosie is a gorgeous Belgian out of the PMU trade. As I walked away, I could have sworn she said "I, Rosie, love my new boyfriend, Brego."
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