After work I prepped myself for another cram session for the show. Having finished college & graduate school, I seriously thought I was done "shoving information down my throat last minute." Such was not the case.
Things we worked on & How'd they go?
Quiet Transitions - Fair... some were great, some were ickie yuck
Jumping - One fence trot in, great. I tried setting rails on the diagonal, 6 strides apart, but when I got up on Ransom, saw how close #1 was to the corner, and how close up #2 looked, I couldn't muster the courage. More on this in a bit
Flying changes - Curious. I'm sure he has them; I mean, what show jumper doesn't at those heights he was jumping? Ain't any way that big monster doesn't have a flying change cue. Could I find it? Nah... What I did do - simple changes with 2-3 strides of trot in between. Now THOSE he had figured out. It took us a while, and he did toss in some counter-canter when he got sick of changing direction & leads.
Turns on Forehand & Haunches - Not so bad. A bit of bickering, but they were slowly getting better.
Now, back to the jump... Neighbor's cows were off in the distance when I got to the arena. They were grazing quietly, so after some lookie lookie, I pushed Ransom into a working walk & trot. He settled down. The cows walked lazily over to our fence line, and all but one wandered back behind the trees. One remaining courageous cow came towards the little bit of pasture between the fence line & the near trees, saw the herd had changed their mind, and waddled over to join them. No panic attacks for the pony, nor his Momma. A good deal! With that one last cow walking up to its buddies, I did get some good working trot in, and some jumps facing away from that pasture. No big deals, no issues, no spooking. Fantastic!
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