Lesson days are a little hectic - Molly gets off the bus at 3:15 and we REALLY need to leave by 3:30 in order for her to get Treeners out of the field and tacked up on time - we're usually late but so it everyone else. The bottom line is that 4pm really doesn't work for us. In fact, K gets taken out of school early in order to get there somewhat on time. However, that seems to be the only slot they have available for us - it used to be a 4:30 slot, but over the winter it changed and now we really have to hustle to make it work. Unfortunately, neither of my kids are good about hustling... Tim ALWAYS takes off his shoes and loses one just as Molly walks in the door from school. Molly, needs to rifle through her drawers to look for the one pair of breeches that are usually in the wash - she has like 6 pair, but the ones she wants each week (and it differs from week to week) are the ones that are NOT in her drawer. So, she has no choice but to throw all of the breeches on the floor - yell at me that she can't find the ones she wants and then watch TV until I start yelling that we're late - Meanwhile, Tim starts yelling that he's not going to the "stupid barn" because he's watching something and is not going to miss it - Calgon - take me away!
Once we get there, things are much more mellow - we need to tack up quick, but I'm pretty good with that and Molly and I seem to be able to work off of each other. Hopefully, Tim stays in the car and watches a DVD. At 5, he really has not interest nor sense around horses and just doesn't get it that he has to be careful.
Finally, everyone is up and the lesson starts - I can breathe again. Just writing this has made my chest tighten with the stress!
Since some of the shows with mini stirrup ask you to actually jump a course (4 jumps usually once around the outside), Molly is doing regular courses in her lessons - today she did diagonal, diagonal, outside, outside. 8 jumps in total. That's a lot to put together when you have only been jumping for a few months - all winter it was really only single jumps because our indoor is a little small. So, 8 jumps in a row in a big ring is a big accomplishment. Treenie is not the most honest pony in the world either - you absolutely MUST sit up and steer - if you hang out in your 2-point and loop the reins you can bet she'll duck out. I've seen this enough times that I can pretty much tell 3 strides out if she's going to jump or run out. Molly too will figure this out some day - we all keep telling her to "sit up and steer!" but it seems to fall on deaf ears. I'm afraid she is going to have to learn by hitting the ground a few times. Right now, she thinks she is too cool because she can get over these jumps - it make take several attempts, but she does get over them. It would be nice if she got over them on the FIRST try. Miss Treenie can really jump when she wants to - actually, once she gets going she is a very cute little jumper ...
2 comments:
I hadn't started riding yet at 8, but I highly doubt that I would have been fearless! Those are such good pictures of Molly and Treenie! Molly really gets better every time she rides!
Wow, those pictures are not just cute but very good. They are coming along. Funny how the pony can jump that big but will duck out if she can.
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