I've been out to the born a bit more this week than usual- Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Due to crazy winds and power outages there was no school on Thursday or Friday, letting me spend a lot of time at the barn.
Tuesday, since I had school, I only had time to ride Rush. She was extremely spooky, more so than she usually is. By the end she had calmed down considerably but I didn't want to push it and opted not to do any poles/crosspoles that lesson.
Wednesday I rode Rush, Brie, and Willie. I started with Rush, lunging her first before hopping on. That hack was actually average (average, with rush? never!). She was semi-responsive at the trot and canter, without any mad headlong dashes where I can't slow her down, but she was spooky and did take off a few times. I have yet to feel her canter be as smooth as it was on Sunday.
Next I got Brie out- oh, Brie. I attempted to lunge her, which she was particularly insistent that I not do. I KNOW she knows how to lunge; I've seen her do it. Yet she kept swinging her butt out and turning to face me. After she reared a few times towards me I gave it up and chased her around in the turn out. Brie is a particularly unsettling horse to ride- she's not responsive to leg and she gets angry very easily. She likes to travel sideways, completely ignoring leg pressure. When I nudge her with my heel she moves off of it, but gets annoyed. It's hard to describe how she feels to ride- you feel very loose and uncoordinated and out of control. Anyways, she managed to buck me off. I stayed on for about five, but my center of gravity was pitched out towards the left and I knew I couldn't stay on much longer. We were headed for a standard, and I decided to let go before I landed on top of the standard. That would have hurt MUCH more than crashing into the side. I lay there stunned for a minute or two, just staying still so I could catalogue what hurt and how badly. I also knew if I moved I would probably cry. I've got a huge bruise on my upper thigh and hip, and some pain near my shoulder, but other than that I'm okay. Remarkably it hurt much more the day it happened than the day afterward.
I'm not looking forward to getting on Brie again, because I've seen her do this before. I'm not sure what is pushing her buttons but I do know that she has absolutely no respect for humans on the ground, so I'll be working with her on that before I think about hopping on again. She injured herself somehow in the aftermath- after I fell she went galloping around the ring, then jumped over the half-closed gate and ran around the barn. Then the BO/Brie's owner decided she needed a turn out, and turned her out in the riding ring, where she proceeded to gallop around once and then jump out again. I think she probably hurt herself jumping out, because the entrance to the ring is on a slope. For now I'll be grooming her, maybe hand walking depending on how her leg is.
I hobbled around for a bit after that, then got on Willie and hacked him around for 15 minutes. Riding actually felt better than walking at that point, thank goodness. The thing I love about Willie is that riding him feels like going home. We know each other so well that I can ride him off of seat and leg alone, which is a pretty amazing feeling.
Back to the barn on Friday, since my leg hadn't stiffened up. There's a pretty nasty bruise and the muscles are tender, but it doesn't hurt when I walk. I lunged Rush, then hopped up on her. I focused on circles and staying at an even pace throughout them since she likes to.. rush through them. I made a circle in every corner of the ring, both directions. She was much more supple to the left, so I'm going to start spending a bit more time riding/lunging to the right to try and get her evenly developed. Instead of spending 10 minutes cantering nonstop, I did trot/canter transitions because quite frankly her downward transition is terrifying and half the time I can't stop myself from knocking her in the mouth because she's so jarring. I only did these to the right because another lesson was taking place and by the time they finished she was practically cooled out. I walked her around during the lesson practicing halting on voice command, while sitting deep and squeezing with my inner thighs. She knows the command for trot, and I'm teaching her canter, but WHOA has to be there as well because she's a little tugboat when it comes to stopping.
I was going to ride Willie again, but I really missed jumping to I decided to get on Status for a lesson. He was pretty good, although I could tell how tired I was. I try to take a lesson at least every two weeks because I do get into bad habits. From this lesson I got the input that I was too stiff through the shoulder and neck (although some of this may be attributed to my fall) and too busy with my hands, so I'll work on that.
