ArenaTime!

Headed out to the arena today to get a little bit of jumping in, seeing as I have no shows this weekend and pretty much have no idea what to do with myself when I have a 'free' weekend. The myler combination is working nicely with Neo - it's not perfect, but I think that combined with schooling we're going to get some really good results with it. Today Neo went without a saddle so that I could work on trying to keep my lower leg steady. His trot is so easy to ride, but his canter can be a bit more bouncy - however with the myler I found it was easier to check him and get his mind back on task if he started to lose focus. I took the curb rein off the myler in case I got left behind or balanced myself on the reins at all as I don't want him to lose any confidence.

He was really kind over his fence and was really giving me a nice steady ride - with his canter not altering once he saw the fence (meaning we were always able to meet the jumps at the stride I had picked and not have an arguement over it).

Into the bounce, and out of the bounce - cute Neo:

I am pretty happy with my legs and stoked with how Neo went today. I still need to do something about the stiffness through my shoulder - I think I will have to see when Mum is next free and get some time on the lunge with no reins. But hey, baby steps and I won't get bored having nothing to work on this winter! There is always more to improve.

Coco was a little superstar today. She has taken to being a little nappy since the dressage day - but after a good growl she was fine. I just need to be mindful of it and give her lots of practise going away from the other horses and the truck so that she doesn't start to think it's ok to try to sneak out the arena gate!

She jumped really well today - I think she is more comfortable in her landing with the front shoes on too. She has rock hard hooves, and can be shoeless without any issues - but with jumping and doing more work it's nice to make them as comfy as possible.

Coco was awesome with all of the fillers as well - she doesn't worry about them at all! I am trying to eye up some eventing starts for her - maybe a run at intro and then into pretraining. Go Cocopony.

Xev didn't do much today. She has been feeling the hard ground, so I've been making an effort to not overdo things. But I wanted to do some jumping and get her jumping from a nice long bowling stride as we've been getting in under things a little just lately. So we did a bit of work through the bounce:

And some related fences just working on meeting the jump at the right spot. I also rode her in the myler combo just to see what it was like on her, but I think she is much happier in her french link or comfort snaffle - all good to know.

So a very easy day for Xev - she didn't even break a sweat! Thanks to Swifty for coming out to take pics and put jumps up for me, and Nick for coming out to pay the arena fee :)