Monday Funtime!

Today's Monday Funtime went amazing! Hercules was such a good boy! He was so calm in the beginning like his head was actually screwed on just right. He wasn't all excited until we started jumping the jump course.

Beginning

I started warming him up in the indoor while I was waiting for my instructor to come in a start my lesson. I started with a few trots changing the direction a few times going across the center of the ring. Also I did do some of the "standing in my stirrups" exercises from the Ryan Minor clinic. I am so grateful I was able to do that clinic because I learned a lot from it. But back to the beginning, I also worked on riding with a loser rein to test him to see if he would listen and surprisingly he did. We worked on halt-back-trot sequences which went really well. After that we did a few canters in both directions. Lastly, I did a hand gallop to get some energy out of him and then I walked him around the indoor on a loose rein only using my legs to direct him in the direction we were going and also to keep him on the rail.

Lesson

During our lesson, we worked inside and outside. We started with trotting, while doing the halt-back-trot sequences which helped him understand that at certain times, I wanted to stop. I tried doing a canter down the long sides and trot down the short sides as well. He got a bit quick and would canter down the short sides but we are going to work on that next week. He did so good inside, so we decided to go outside. We went out to the ring and surprisingly he wasn't as vocal as he usually was until we started jumping. So, we trotted around and then jumped a cross rail on the right side of the ring coming home, then jumped a cross rail and then a lattice jump going away, then lastly I cantered around the jump on the right side then went towards the middle where there was another lattice jump. He refused the last one but I just made him go over it again and then he jumped it. When we took the last lattice jump, he sort of over jumped it, maybe over-jumped it. He started to get a bit excited so we switched things around because he started to get ahead of himself. So we went away over the cross rail on the right side, over the lattice and the cross rail, but we didn't go over the last lattice until the second time around. When we went over the first lattice, he jumped the fence a stride to early, then he took off running for dear life for the barn so that he could have his dinner. But alas, he could not have it yet. So I walked him around and then just let him stand still for a while with Kitchie as she and I talked about Hercules. She can tell that I am utterly in love with this horse and that I fit him really well. If Hercules was for sale, I would buy him in a heartbeat. I already let one horse that I fell utterly in love with go to another person. If I ever find a horse that I fall utterly in love with, I will not let them go.