Oh glorious (lesson) day!!

I first must say, even at the risk of sounding like a complete creep, I LOVE Karen!  She is of the coolest kind.  She is an amazing rider and horsemen.  I am so glad to know her!  I hope I never scare her off with my overly enthusiastic, non stop gabbing when I am around her.  Then there is Hampton, who is Steady's bestest traveling buddy.  He is also such a kind horse who is going to love Eventing.  He surprised me this time with his jump!  He is one awesome horse!

On to the lesson and to not being so creepy.  First thing Lee Ann said when she saw Steady was, " doesn't he look good?!"  I got lots of comments about good he is looking!!!  It only took almost 2 years and probably years off my life because of the worrying and stress but The Dude(OMG I think just came up with a show name for Steady!  It couldn't be more perfect for him.  You know? The Dude?  From The Big Lebowski!) is finally looking like an event horse and not a wirey, TB, track horse!  Yay!

She also quickly pointed out that Steady and I argue too much.  She couldn't be more right.  I need to just tell him where he needs to be and stay there until he comlpies.  Instead of going back and forth trying to convince him to listen to me.  Point well made and spot on.  So we spent the majority of the lesson with her showing me how not to get into an arguement with my horse.

Steady trying to get me to argue with him like normal and kind pissed I am not .

 After some ugliness and by ugliness I mean he came within inches of kicking Lee Ann!  I was mortified and am so glad he did not make contact because I could have never shown my face at CAF again.  She inturn started to beat him, mind you, she had just had me take my foot out my stirrup and she had my reins so I was atop a horse getting a beating and feeling incredibly concerned I was about to meet the ground.  Unfortunately though Lee Ann was not armed with a whip and could not suffiently beat him the way he deserved.  He deserved to have is ass beat, trust me and he got off too easy. Fortunately for me I did stay on.

Lee Ann at the controls.  Ever ridden a horse while someone on the ground was steering and kicking your horse?  Trust me, it is a strange feeling. 

Other than that he was really working for me.  Not getting right off the bat what I was wanting.  Understandable considering he is used to me always feeding into these arguments of ours but he kept working until he got it.  That damn horse is so athletic it is sickening. Karen said that she even saw Steady take a few piaffe steps while Lee Ann had the controls.  Oh that makes me day dream about his abilities with someone as good as Karen.  If she were closer I would for sure be paying her to ride him.  But when he got the concept, and I got him to take consistent contact, oh my goodness, it was smooth as buttah!  The contact was just there.  It wasn't there and gone and there and gone like we have so often.  It was just there and if felt so fricken cool and what we got accomplished in those few minutes I am confident that we can repeat this at home.

 This is just yummy.

Lee Ann pointed out the obvious by saying his left is his bad side.  Yup sure is.  My second light bulb moment after learning how not to engage in these arguments with him was "it is always the right rein with him".  OH well that makes sense.  She said that could very well change quickly with consistent work on it but right now it is always the right rein.  Once I figured that out we got straightness.  Such a good lesson!  It was a beautiful day.  We rode outside on December 18th in Indiana!  I even had to remove my jacket after a few minutes of riding. 

The day got even better by then going out to lunch with Karen and my other bestest horsey buddy Susan.  We talked and ate and talked some more.  I didn't end up pulling out of CAF until just at dark but I had a full heart and a smile on my face.  Karen helped me load The Dude onto the trailer and I would LOVE to have her there with every time we load.  She is just so damn good with horses and she did exactly what Steady needs.  I have had SO many people offer to help me load him and only one other person other than Karen have actually been a help.  Everyone else within a minute start getting loud and obnoxious trying to get him in.  Trust me if you try to get crazy with him he will get way crazier and his crazy can out last my crazy and that is say A LOT cause I am pretty fricken crazy.

Videos to come but with so much Christmas stuff going on it may take a few days to get them all uploaded.