A Giant B

Here's a blurry picture from our jump clinic a while back.  I'm not falling off, I'm hugging my pony (when I first typed hugging, I hit the 'l' and it came out 'huggling' which made me giggle.  Like it was a cross between a hug and a snuggle.  I think I need more coffee....)

Last night I would have also hugged my pony.  Except that she was so fiercely crabby, she probably would have tried to bite me.

The good news is that we had forward.  It was a crabby, angry forward with a lot of bucking and kicking but it was forward.  I'll be curious to see if she ends up going into heat this week for her first strong heat of the season.  She was ANGRY about my leg yesterday, especially when I moved it back.  She threatened and kicked and tried to break my nose with her head.  I wasn't intimidated at all though and we worked through it and got a few strides of awesome, straight, belly lifted canter.

I do wish that I could remain more organized when she has a hissy fit.  I throw my elbows out to use the whip, my legs come up and off as she bucks and kicks.  It's not pretty and I'm trying to remain calm and keep steady, but I know I'm throwing the reins away while I try to organize my body. 

I'm working a lot on keeping my legs back underneath me and pushing down.  I tend to raise them when I sit, which then takes them off her side.  So she's getting on and off leg contact, which I think is part of what makes her less confident.

I played around with this on Sunday, by riding her towards the spooky end and focusing on keeping my legs long and wrapped around her.  I felt her tense up, her head came up but we kept going forward.  She was hesitant, but she didn't stop and spin this time.  So, I think giving her a steadier feel of my legs will really increase her confidence.

She's also still shedding like crazy.  I go home covered in horse hair and sneezing my head off.  It's so bad I have to take a shower right when I get home or my eyes will itch all night.  Ugh.  I can't wait until the shedding is over.