The BEST lesson

 So I have been pretty quiet on the serious riding front.  Uno went to the trainers for my surgery, then promptly dumped me the first ride back.  I wasn't really cleared to jump and had very questionable grip strength so we were really having dressage lessons with a few cross rails at the end.  The dressage work made his hamstring very sore.  It seems to be part of having such a dense muscly horse.  As he progresses through the work, he needs a lot of recovery days or he gets body sore.

Watching our neighbor work on the pen.  Look at that THICK neck.

I also forgot that this is the time of year that he usually gets a break and some muscle relaxers.  We had two slow weeks and a round on muscle relaxers.  Yesterday, I went out for a lesson with 0 expectations of anything exciting.  I just wanted to hop around a jump a few little things. Mission more than accomplished.

I know everything looks little from far away, but we did real jumping.

We jumped a few small things, then Trainer dared up to jump a filler that was very scary.  It was basically just a set of vertical bars that were a bit over 2 feet tall.  I asked to trot it and she said sure.  The whole time I trotted around I kept tell Uno that I was very scared and whatever he did to do it gently.  

Mom - I iz BEST boi

Let me tell you - the 'cut off' lightbulb from a month ago has been the best change in my riding life.  I line up, ensure that whatever gait we are in is soft and balanced, then 4 - 6 strides out I grab my neck strap and push my hands forward.  At that point it is Uno's job to suss out what needs to be done to get us safely over the jump.  

So we trotted around the corner - I lined up - Grabbed my strap - and Uno peeked at it, patted the ground with his feet and softly popped over.  This led to us jumping a jump that has been haunting us for over a year - the brick wall.  And it was easy!!!  We then went around and jumped a course of some little and some Maiden jumps.  The scary brick wall and a big oxer set up from the lesson before us (the girl rides BN), and Uno just popped everything softly and calm.  

Uno's thing is being GOOD!

I will be riding this high for the rest of the week.