Sienna goes to Mary's...

So took Miss Si for a dressage lesson yesterday. First time to M's farm and *windy*. Like hurricane windy except bright and sunny out :) Took her off the trailer and she was bouncing. So we went to graze for a bit (amazing how food can take the edge off :) and even then it was nibble-nibble GIRAFFE nibble-nibble GIRAFFE hahaha. Tacking her up was an adventure and a half. Wind was so strong I was having a nightmare of a time getting the saddle pads organized, and then once I was set, getting them on the spinning horse (cause on driveway now, no grass) was another challenge. hahaha eventually basically just plopped it all on however and then manipulated the pads etc w/ the aid of the saddle weight holding them in place.

There was a lesson going on in the indoor that I didn't want to bring Si into in spinny mode so we lunged in the outdoor ring for a bit first. Well "lunge" in the run-around-in-circles sense of the word. On the plus side, she couldn't care less about the white-fence-of-doom. On the down side, the judge's platform (not actually a 'booth' in this ring, but same general concept) was clearly housing demons. Could be that we ride our test on Sat in the 10x30 ring in an attempt to avoid either a - jumping OUT of the ring, and b - the scary judges. hahaha but we shall see :)

Anyways when I finally got her to the point that she was both a -- properly tacked up and b - calm enough to trot we went into the ring. The ring that has giant mirrors along the short side. hahaha gotta admit I LOVE those mirrors. Insta-position fix. Or "oh god I just can't watch" as the case may be :) It was interesting to see just how contorted my little horse could make herself to avoid going straight. Kinda impressive really. Right back to story -- meeting the mirrors was pathetically undramatic. She grew a little and looked but it didn't even rate a snort. hahaha ah well. The fact that the pony trotting around clearly couldn't care less probably helped :) Lunged her in a half-hearted fashion "just-in-case" and she just trotted around on speed. Very ADD but not bad. N I know from experience this doesn't go away on the lunge line so got on her. And she walked. WOOHOO! Months of tediously boring *always* walk when I get on seems to be paying off. It was the kind of walk I'd *like* to get in the dressage ring. hahaha if only I could get it w/o tension.

Trotting around at the start was ummmm well the word "inattentive" was used *g* Mostly we were back on the track. Turn the short end see the LOOONNGGG path the the other end and GO! hahaha but, in her defense, she did keep it to a trot so significant improvement over a few mths ago. Ignored the big mirrors at the end but felt the need to check herself out in the short side mirror every time. hahaha classic.

Got the "Don't let her be a baby" lecture which I've certainly heard before and was entirely warranted. Cause sure enough, while green, she's NOT a baby. She was not shying at anything or particularly concerned, just high. So why shouldn't she work? This is a big part of why I go for lessons :) So somebody can remind me not to be an idiot. Sure enough very quickly after *I* smartened up and actually asked her to do something, she settled and worked really well. Mental note made. Right up there with "ride the horse you *want* to have".

hahaha at one point we were just using one end of the ring n M made some comment about how circles don't traditionally have corners (can just see her rolling her eyes -- eventers *sigh* -- hahaha she's remarkably tolerant w/ us :) when it occurs to me that while I was just hovering at one end of the ring, she was actually expecting me to be circling. oops :) Something got lost in the DQ=Eventer translation. Gotta admit I forgot that a couple more times throughout the lesson, but in general I did make an effort to actually ride a circle as opposed to just "stay at this end". N we only crashed into the wall once. >;-P Yeah, that wasn't one of our better moments. *rolling eyes*

In general though Miss Si was great. She tried really hard. Our transitions are still ummmm a *little* dodgy hahaha as in "please don't watch this" (I'm pretty sure I actually said that :) but it will get better. W/T was coming by the end. T/C still pretty iffy. hahaha ah well - just 2 marks right? I personally was thrilled just to have the right lead -- but again, part of why I go to said lessons (and esp jump lessons); I need the outside view of what she *should* be doing. Something being good "for her" is not good enough anymore -- we're at the point where it has to just be good. No qualifications. But I still mentally see the spinny, starving, OTTB of 6 mths ago and so am ecstatic about almost everything.

Have to admit, much as I absolutely loved riding M's superstar horse the last time I took a lesson there, this one was a whole lot more challenging. N therefore entertaining :)

Alright -- now to take the better parts of the lesson and apply them this wkdn. hahaha sure, np.