Thursday, February 17, 2011

Jumping in the Rain


So I finally got my tooth pain all sorted out. Turns out I got dry socket which is fairly common after wisdom tooth extractions. Also VERY painful though. My dentist packed the socked with some gauze soaked in clove oil which works magically and tastes horrid!

Gatsby and I had a jumping lesson scheduled for yesterday and I was SO disappointed when I saw that it was supposed to rain all week:( That is, until I remembered that two of the arenas at our new barn are covered!!! Unfortunately Gatsby had had the last two days off due to dentist appointments (mine, not his) so he was very fresh and frisky when I got on yesterday. Alexis helped me work him through this in our warm up and encouraged me not to be such a passive rider. Basically I am a little too quiet and this actually makes him more high-strung. When I really put my leg on and tell him what I want he relaxes almost instantly.

We worked him back and forth over a probably 3' vertical and I worked on keeping him straight and keeping the same canter stride to the fence. It took us a few tries but we did get some LOVELY jumps out of him. I also realized that when he is truly straight he feels crooked to me!! I guess that means we just have more to work on than I originally though:) After the vertical we moved on to a small course of a vertical, a star burst looking fence, and a one stride cross-rail to an oxer. Gats jumped all of these beautifully and out of stride and didn't even look and the scarier ones!! I could not be more pleased with my horse!! I rode our last couple course with a huge smile on my face.

Today Gatsby is getting new shoes and tomorrow I have a work event so I won't be able to ride but I am confident we can pick up where we left off on Saturday.

In other news, I just found out today that my time off request to go to Japan was approved!! I spoke with one of the managers I support about how important the trip is to me and he made it happen! I am beyond excited. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the beast while I am gone.

Outside the Golden Pavilion in '06

2 comments:

  1. OH snap, I got dry sockets and it ssuuuuuuucked for about 2 weeks. I still have the sunken holes in my mouth and it hurt so bad!
    Its funny, my horse likes me to be passive jumping, but 'aggressive' in dressage.
    How long will you be in Japan?

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  2. It's weird, with Gatsby I kind of have to be aggressive up to a point and then leave him alone to the fence.
    I'm going to be in Japan for a week, i am beyond excited!!

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