Thursday, June 26, 2014

This week's Lucy update

Lucy has been a busy girl. She went to a schooling two-phase over the weekend. The dressage "left a lot to be desired", as Morgan put it. I laughed...I speak Lucy-ese well enough to know that means Lucy was a bad girl. Morgan said it just wasn't her day and she felt very tense. However, in the jumping phase, she was excellent and the most rideable that she has been over a course. So that's great news!

Yesterday I went to Apple Knoll again to see her jump in their jumper night rounds. Morgan decided to skip 2'3" and go straight to 2'6". She warmed Lucy up just lightly, and then let her chill out while they waited for their turn in what ended up being a monster of a class. Seriously, it took over an hour and a half to get through all the 2'6" rounds. Lucy stood there half asleep on the buckle, a hind leg resting, not caring about anything. It was good for her to relax because when it was her turn, she was very chill (for her) and did a super job. Morgan was very pleased!

Here is the video:



They didn't place but jumped clean and Morgan felt that was one of her best rounds so far. Check out that super handy turn during the jump off. FANCY!

Next was 2'9"and thanks to just doing the 2'6", Lucy was quite awake. She sure enjoys herself when jumping lol. Morgan did a great job. One thing I can clearly see improving is Lucy's willingness to come back underneath herself if she gets strung out. When I tried jumping her, she'd get so strong and strung out and when I tried to package her back together a bit, she would just get pissed off and that's when the tantrums would happen. I saw none of that at all this week, which was refreshing.

She is also getting very careful with her feet; not like she was disorganized before, but it's like she's making a connection between speed and her ability to get her feet out of the way of the poles in time.

This was another big class with some very competitive horses, but Lucy took home 7th place!! I was so happy for Morgan.



8 comments:

  1. Yay Lucy. My she is a happy jumper. :)

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  2. Nice pictures! She looks great!

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  3. She has her knees up to her eyeballs in that video!!

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  4. oh my gosh I rode at AKF all through college.. hadn't thought about it in years but what a flashback to see pics and videos! Man I wish I still had a facility like that... Lucy looks great!!!!

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    1. Small world! Where did you go to school? Somewhere in the Boston area?

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  5. So glad this is working out so well.

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