The last little bit of Florida has just been a blur of packing trying to get everything and everyone organized to go to the fork, Pennsylvania and home to Canada! If we were just going straight home it would be easy just stuff it all in, but trying to have things in the right order so what we need for the show is at the front followed by Pennsylvania etc. is the tricky part.
I celebrated my birthday soon after arriving in Florida in January and when Morag asked me what I wanted I knew right away! Morag very generously gave me the gift of a lesson with Bruce. Only then the joke is it took me the whole winter to get brave enough to actually have the lesson. We were quite busy and I kept feeling I wasn’t quite ready for a Bruce lesson, but Monday was the day, and Riley and I had a great time.
We started with some flatwork in the dressage ring with all the emphasis being on having Riley in front of the leg and very much on the aids – lots and lots of rapid fire transitions not only between gaits, but movements half pass here leg yield here canter trot canter… As much as this sharpens the horse, I had to work hard to keep up mentally and being very accurate with my aids. I had some trouble with the counter canter circles and Bruce reminded me that it’s not fair to ask the horse to look left if I am still looking right, or vice versa. Then we moved over to the jumping field, and began with jumping a single jump on a circle. This probably took the longest of everything as I find I am still
Getting to know Riley and it took me a few repetitions of this basic exercise before I remembered what the right canter feels like. Bruce emphasized keeping him round and soft to the base. From that we moved onto an oxer with placing poles which emphasized that concept of riding forward to the first pole but in a very round through canter. Then we did some work on a line of two oxers two strides apart, then a line that begin with a vertical three strides to a Liverpool four strides to an oxer. I’d had the chance to watch all sorts of different horses jump this line earlier, but I have been known to lack awareness of striding, but this time I was really pleased I felt I knew exactly where we were when we landed and whether any lengthening or shortening of stride was necessary.
Next on the list was a triple combination vertical two strides to another vertical then one stride to an oxer. This line was very much at my challenge height and I had trouble being brave enough to keep the same quality canter as we had used for the smaller jumps – I was very much inclined to gun it a bit which made poor Riley’s job in the two stride a bit difficult. Bruce mentioned that my eye was improving and I tried to work on balancing him for the two strides without detracting from his jump or freezing on his mouth which is my current favourite fault. To finish we did a little course that incorporated some
Bounces as well as the oxers and placing poles that we had used earlier. Riley was so patient with me I gave him whole handfuls of treats after I am a huge believer in bribery! 🙂 Now we are off to the Fork. Bruce is already up there coaching Nilson and all four horses seem to have Thursday dressage times so it will be busy for sure. I’m sad to leave Florida there is literally never a dull moment and I love the busyness but I am looking forward to my own bed. 🙂
~ Anne Marie
