A picture's worth a thousand words...

Didn't want to ride today.  Feeling all sorts of unmotivated.  Sadly since acknowledging to myself that this summer is going to be all about schooling and involve very little competing, my ambition has been noticeably absent *sigh*   Riding just to ride is *tons* of fun -- outside on a warm summer night or a crisp fall day or with friends.  Much less so alone, on a cold snowy day when winter should be long since over, and we're still indoors going in circles.

So I had this great plan -- it involved a book, a fire place, and a cat curled up on my lap.  But then those rude beasts Dedication and Work Ethic, aided by their boss Guilt simply wouldn't leave me alone *sigh*  So I dragged my sorry seat up into the saddle.

Where my barely-broke greenbean promptly made me laugh at her mad dash down the long side away from the scary jump.  hahaha I am having *way* more fun with this horse now than I was a couple months ago.  So that alone made getting on worthwhile.  Shortly after I'd mounted Amy came in, ostensibly to jump crew (THANKS AMY!) but, unbeknownst to me, she also had her camera with her.  As a result, this story comes with pictures!  Woohoo!

Warming up :)

Lexi was being remarkably good about the fact that the gymnastic was right next to said scary jumps.  Only looked very briefly the first time or two and then completely focused on the jumping game (which she seems to really enjoy. Sweet!).  If I'm counting correctly, this would make for her fourth time jumping.

So we built up the jumping slowly, as you might expect, until eventually we had a bounce (her first ever!  Yeah!), one stride to a vert, one stride to an oxer.  She was none-to-sure about that bounce at first, but she figured it out and was hoping through the whole thing reasonably well.

Things were going really well, but we were jumping toward the viewing lounge and at one point as we were cantering away from the last fence, somebody caught her attention in the lounge and was good for a quick spin.  No big deal, it's a baby move.  Got her going forward again and didn't think anything of it.  Until our next line...

Jumped in no problem...

Focused on the last fence

Clearing the oxer with a bit more space than technically necessary :)

Nice, forward, reasonably balanced landing -
by this point I should've clued in to her focus...

So the world is good right?  We've finished the line.  All is well.  And then...

OMG!!!!   *insert screeching breaks sound here*

Was there something truly horrifying in the viewing lounge?  Nope, empty.  And her focus was definitely not there...  Was it the scary jumps?  No - they're way behind us at this point...   So why the drama?  There was...  *gasp*  A line of dirt.  In the, well, dirt.  hahaha Oh dear is it ever going to be a fun summer.  The quick spin from the round before left a skid mark in the dirt and it was *NOT* to be crossed.   Too funny.  So we eventually walked over it a few times and then Amy kicked more dirt over the dirt, easily erasing said line since my goal of the day was fun jumping stuff, not bravery training.

Did it a few more times just to remind her that she could, in fact, canter away from the jump without being eaten, and finished on that.  I sense ditches and water are going to make for some fun stories >;-P  But some day...  Some day, she'll be a super star :)

Chillin'