I skipped Tuesday's lesson because Nilla's leg looked like a giant sausage. She was actually sound so I probably should have ridden her, but I'm lazy so...
My husband was working on a 3 jump bending line pattern. The first jump is in the middle and then there are two jumps set on a bending line. This way you can swap which direction to bend towards. Then you can do a nice circle around to the other jump and reverse over the first jump.
They started doing the exercise as poles and then moved to small crossrails. Shasta was pretty enthused about even the poles.
The first time the jump was set as a crossrail, she was especially exuberant.
She did eventually settle down and start taking the jumps easier.
At this point, the lesson was interrupted by a mom and baby deer walking along the road on the outside of the arena. Actually, the lesson continued, but I spent a few minutes trying to get pictures of the baby fawn who kept hiding in the foliage.
I did finally get a shot. Last year there were twin fawns at the barn and they were adorable, but I never got a picture of them.
At this point, my husband moved on to doing just the two bending jumps in a circle. It's all about bending and flexing to keep Shasta from racing.
I think I've actually had my husband do both of these exercises before. The Y bending line one is especially good for a horse like Shasta as switching up the direction keeps her from anticipating. He'll need to practice this before the next lesson.
After the lesson, the vet showed up to give Nilla and Shasta their Strangles booster. We also bought some more tri-dex to give to both Nilla and Shasta. Nilla for her leg and Shasta for a swelling near her girth line. We also got a bottle of Ace and Nilla's getting drugged for her next long trailer ride. I'm not a fan of drugging horses, but I really can't keep going with Nilla rubbing huge chunks of hair and skin off every time we go somewhere. We'll have to see how it goes.
Labels: Horseback Riding Lesson, Shasta
