Tired Me, Perfect Pony

I have not been sleeping much lately (yay!) (no!), so when I went to ride this morning, I was barely functional. Fortunately, I'd already planned out what to do, so I just had to follow my internal directions and go from there.

It's a little easier than it sounds.

I decided to have another jump day and set an exercise for Izzy that would help balance and relax her coming in to the jump, but still moderate her launch/gallop away from it.

As you see, three trot poles to a 2' mini oxer with a placing pole on the far side.

I settled for a quick warmup in two point. The less I rode, the less likely I was to do something completely stupid, right?

I also modified our equipment. Last time, I had her in the figure eight bridle with her most favorite big, thick bit and a running martingale.

This time I switched to a thinner bit (still loose-ring, double jointed) and dispensed with the martingale. I used our plain cavesson bridle because it didn't have a bit on it, so it was the simplest. I felt like Izzy was getting heavy in my hands and leaning into the martingale last time we jumped, so I wanted to change things up. The thinner bit should encourage her to take a little less contact.

Plus, since this is the first gymnastic-style exercise we've done in months, I put her usual open fronts and bells on, but added wraps in the back. Generally, it's the rider's fault if the horse's hind legs hit a fence, and I didn't want to 'punish' her if that happened.

Look how shiny she is. :-)

After our warmup, I pointed at the jump and trotted in. Izzy took me forward to it, but seemed a little surprised by the question and drifted left before and after the fence. I petted her, and we came around again. This time, Ms. Mare leaped into the canter right before the trot poles and proved that yes, you can canter trot poles without touching a single one of them and still jump well.

Hm. Again.

She trotted in, nice, light, forward, jumped, and cantered away in a nice balance.

I halted, told her what a wonderful girl she was, and jumped off. Total ride time was less than 10 minutes, but she did exactly what I wanted her too.

Admit it. You're jealous of my incredibly awesome and talented Pony Mare. I mean, I would be if I were you. She's that good.