95ish Friday and Saturday, maybe only 85 on Sunday. Despite the searing heat, it hailed from minutes 4-6 of my cross country ride (with a 0% chance of rain) and just before I show jumped (2% chance).
The negative is we got 4th, after being tied for 5th after dressage and cross country.
The positives were:
- I felt that our dressage was much, much stronger than last year, even if the score didn't reflect it. I think the pictures showed it too. I could tell it was a picture of a trot lengthening and a canter lengthening just by Charlie.
- Charlie saved my bacon once in cross country and once in show jumping. He is an honest gentleman.
- I was very, very, very nervous about cross country after the first time I walked it. After the second time, I was still pretty nervous. The third walk was with John, and that made me feel a lot better. The fourth walk was a half walk and it was just to cement what John had told me.
- I watched the upper level riders and it was surprising how difficult a time they had. It made me feel better that even they make mistakes.
- Charlie was an absolute rock star in show jumping. I did pretty well (there is a photo of my head looking at the next fence from the center of the air over the fence - go me), until the triple, and then somehow I just completely fell apart over the first fence, stood straight up to get out of Charlie's way over the center over, and then Charlie the champ finished up on his own with me hanging on his mouth. Thank god for all those grids with John and Charlie just dutifully doing his job, unlike some of the bad horses we saw.
- The cross country had a big wide table (fence 5), then an angled three log into the water, out a ramp, to an angled ramp, two strides, down bank. I was on Charlie's neck in the water, and so again, like a true workhorse, he just took us through the ramp and down bank as smooth as could be.
He is a super, duper horse.
Then we had a HUGE trakhener, a few giant log piles, a "lion trap", and then an uphill with a hard left turn to an up bank, one stride, log pile. He did them all like he just loved his job.
I can't say enough good things about what a good boy he was. He is an amazing horse.
I wore my dressage jacket even though they were waived, and we messed up the halt, but he did really well for 8 minutes of warm up. I did a super light warm up for cross country and I was worried about the heat, 420 mpm, and 6 minutes, but then we were fast! 5:23 instead of 6:01.
I hung up a fly sheet for shade the end of the second day, and had a little battery powered fan going. He got sweaty just standing in the stall and didn't eat as much as normal, but peed and pooped pretty well.
It was fun. I think I'll need to do training again next year, but that was my original thought anyway. 1 year BN, 2 years N, 2 years T, and then 3-4 years P.
The good part was I had even more time to think between the fences and in the dressage movements, I had a little better working knowledge about what the course was asking for and how to work it, and I felt like we did a really good job together, even with the hiccups in getting started with the show season this year.
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Monday, June 29, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Dressage with draw reins
In preparation for Inavale (fingers crossed), we rode in draw reins today. It was 84 out, and Charlie was a bit of a slug again. I feel bad - I should have him skinnier and in better shape before asking him to work in this heat, but I never expected it would get this hot this early in the season, and the last couple months got away from me.
We worked on 10 meter circles down the centerline, changing direction. Then we did quarter line to quarter line 10 meter circles. Wait - those are the same thing.
Then we picked up the canter from the quarter line, which was really, really difficult to do. John said he expects in warm up, in a big grassy field with no wall, Charlie will kind of ignore my aids and not really pay attention. So he recommended that kind of precision in picking up the correct canter when it sort of surprises him.
Then we did some lengthening, at both trot and canter. At first, this was difficult to really get Charlie going, but after the 10 meter circles, we got the most amazing lengthened trot yet, and then some really nice canter as well.
The draw reins really help, although I tend to let them slip.
We also worked on a 10 meter circle on Charlie's bend. It is asking with the inside leg (next to the girth!) and then at the same time, half halting with the outside hand. There is also asking him to leg yield to the outside while on the 10 meter circle, except for then the outside hand holds him and he doesn't really leg yield out.
John said it was a bit overdone, so that the show will feel like less.
As we were leaving, he talked a bit about the styles of showing, how 4* horses average competition lifespan is now 2 years, but the average age of an Olympic horse is 17 and it used to be 9. He said it used to be very difficult to get a 9 in dressage, and then suddenly it got much easier. He said it is also much more difficult for the horses going advanced and above because they have to have considerable collection for dressage, but then they can't collect like that to get over the cross country fences, so they have to know to listen to the collection for dressage but the same aid means something different for cross country. It was really interesting.
He said again not to warm up for 15 minutes - to get out there, get immediately to work, and then stop so I don't wear him out. He said check on how many riders are ahead, because sometimes they get really far behind and in the heat, I do not want to overwarm up Charlie.
We worked on 10 meter circles down the centerline, changing direction. Then we did quarter line to quarter line 10 meter circles. Wait - those are the same thing.
Then we picked up the canter from the quarter line, which was really, really difficult to do. John said he expects in warm up, in a big grassy field with no wall, Charlie will kind of ignore my aids and not really pay attention. So he recommended that kind of precision in picking up the correct canter when it sort of surprises him.
Then we did some lengthening, at both trot and canter. At first, this was difficult to really get Charlie going, but after the 10 meter circles, we got the most amazing lengthened trot yet, and then some really nice canter as well.
The draw reins really help, although I tend to let them slip.
We also worked on a 10 meter circle on Charlie's bend. It is asking with the inside leg (next to the girth!) and then at the same time, half halting with the outside hand. There is also asking him to leg yield to the outside while on the 10 meter circle, except for then the outside hand holds him and he doesn't really leg yield out.
John said it was a bit overdone, so that the show will feel like less.
As we were leaving, he talked a bit about the styles of showing, how 4* horses average competition lifespan is now 2 years, but the average age of an Olympic horse is 17 and it used to be 9. He said it used to be very difficult to get a 9 in dressage, and then suddenly it got much easier. He said it is also much more difficult for the horses going advanced and above because they have to have considerable collection for dressage, but then they can't collect like that to get over the cross country fences, so they have to know to listen to the collection for dressage but the same aid means something different for cross country. It was really interesting.
He said again not to warm up for 15 minutes - to get out there, get immediately to work, and then stop so I don't wear him out. He said check on how many riders are ahead, because sometimes they get really far behind and in the heat, I do not want to overwarm up Charlie.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Jump lesson with a quindrille (?)
I was fortunate enough to have two lessons with John this week; one dressage and one jump. It was pretty warm today, and warm up was like riding a hunk of concrete. Not only could I not get Charlie to bend, but he was essentially utterly non-responsive to my leg as well and heavy on my hand.
John had us do work on a circle, with a bend to the outside, make the circle smaller, bend to the inside while keeping everything else the same, and then leg yield back out. What this does is get Charlie bending around my leg, and then lifting through his shoulders, without just going around the ring fighting with him. Charlie and I are both stubborn, I think.
But jumping felt the same - it was like riding a downhill sled with no gas in it towards each fence. John had an oxer with a left turn to a brick wall with a right turn back to the oxer. I rode him to each fence whomping my legs on and off. I was pouring sweat and panting, but it felt like I was riding a sack of potatoes. I don't know if it was the heat or what.
Then we added in the row of five fences with a single stride between each. These were a bit more interesting because the first couple were a little bumpy, but the last two were always great regardless of how the first two started. (the one in the middle was just the middle) John said I was looking too long at the first fence, but sometimes I would also get us on a bit of an angle, but Charlie the champ would get us through anyway. The last two were really nice - he would round up and it just felt correct.
We did this a couple directions, and he finally whacked the brick wall oxer pretty good, and after that, he was a little less casual about picking up his own legs.
For the lead change, John says I get the front pretty consistently if I remember to turn my head the way I want to go. The back isn't changing, and John says to try to remember to put my outside leg on. As I type this, I'm pretty sure I'm putting my inside leg on, so I'll have to try to watch that next time.
I was also riding with my short crop, after months and months of riding with the super long crop. I hated it, so it was good to practice with John because I probably won't jump again before the show (fingers crossed we make it to this one).
It is supposed to be 101 next Saturday on cross country day.
I put standing wraps on Charlie when we got back to the barn, but I got too anxious about them sagging, him getting tangled in them, and then panicking and killing himself in the night, so we went back out and took them off. They were on for about four hours, but I didn't really see any difference.
John says for the heat, give electrolytes and cut the warm up in about half. (15 minutes instead of 30) I figure we also won't worry so much about making the time cross country because I don't want to fry him for show jumping.
It was a good lesson because I'd way rather ride with John in the heat before I ride in the show at the heat, but it was also kind of frustrating because I just didn't feel like I had him going.
John also said to keep his head up more. He said Charlie was actually coming into the jump ok, but I'd let his head drop. I need to follow up with him on that one. I thought I understood it at the time but now that I'm writing it, I'm not sure I do. He also wanted to know where my list of questions was, which was hilarious. If I hadn't had such an incredibly terrible bad start to the day, I probably would have had one, but I was wiped out and just grateful to be riding outside in the sun and not at work.
John reminded me he doesn't like to jump them unless they've done dressage the day before, which I try to do, but I had a meeting last night and there wasn't any way to squeeze in a ride too.
John had us do work on a circle, with a bend to the outside, make the circle smaller, bend to the inside while keeping everything else the same, and then leg yield back out. What this does is get Charlie bending around my leg, and then lifting through his shoulders, without just going around the ring fighting with him. Charlie and I are both stubborn, I think.
But jumping felt the same - it was like riding a downhill sled with no gas in it towards each fence. John had an oxer with a left turn to a brick wall with a right turn back to the oxer. I rode him to each fence whomping my legs on and off. I was pouring sweat and panting, but it felt like I was riding a sack of potatoes. I don't know if it was the heat or what.
Then we added in the row of five fences with a single stride between each. These were a bit more interesting because the first couple were a little bumpy, but the last two were always great regardless of how the first two started. (the one in the middle was just the middle) John said I was looking too long at the first fence, but sometimes I would also get us on a bit of an angle, but Charlie the champ would get us through anyway. The last two were really nice - he would round up and it just felt correct.
We did this a couple directions, and he finally whacked the brick wall oxer pretty good, and after that, he was a little less casual about picking up his own legs.
For the lead change, John says I get the front pretty consistently if I remember to turn my head the way I want to go. The back isn't changing, and John says to try to remember to put my outside leg on. As I type this, I'm pretty sure I'm putting my inside leg on, so I'll have to try to watch that next time.
I was also riding with my short crop, after months and months of riding with the super long crop. I hated it, so it was good to practice with John because I probably won't jump again before the show (fingers crossed we make it to this one).
It is supposed to be 101 next Saturday on cross country day.
I put standing wraps on Charlie when we got back to the barn, but I got too anxious about them sagging, him getting tangled in them, and then panicking and killing himself in the night, so we went back out and took them off. They were on for about four hours, but I didn't really see any difference.
John says for the heat, give electrolytes and cut the warm up in about half. (15 minutes instead of 30) I figure we also won't worry so much about making the time cross country because I don't want to fry him for show jumping.
It was a good lesson because I'd way rather ride with John in the heat before I ride in the show at the heat, but it was also kind of frustrating because I just didn't feel like I had him going.
John also said to keep his head up more. He said Charlie was actually coming into the jump ok, but I'd let his head drop. I need to follow up with him on that one. I thought I understood it at the time but now that I'm writing it, I'm not sure I do. He also wanted to know where my list of questions was, which was hilarious. If I hadn't had such an incredibly terrible bad start to the day, I probably would have had one, but I was wiped out and just grateful to be riding outside in the sun and not at work.
John reminded me he doesn't like to jump them unless they've done dressage the day before, which I try to do, but I had a meeting last night and there wasn't any way to squeeze in a ride too.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
3 loop serpentine at trot and canter
We didn't get to compete at Aspen because Charlie was ridiculously lame on Friday. By Monday, he was back to normal. No heat, no swelling, nothing I could find. Per Dr. W's instructions, I gave him standing wraps, bute, stall rest, and cold hosing for three days, and the fourth day was just stall rest and then I got on him.
Then today we went to John's, where I still couldn't feel anything. After my lesson, we watched a couple others, and Charlie did feel a little stiff as we walked off, so I'm wondering if it is not a foot but like a pulled muscle?
I asked John to look at his wind puffs and he said yes, indeed, they were wind puffs. I told him I was anxious because Charlie never had them before and he said Charlie was never really working before.
During our lesson, we worked on more exercises that I can do at home. They are designed to avoid frustration, where I am asking Charlie for the same thing in the same movement and not getting it. They are supposed to keep Charlie sharp and responsive, making him naturally engaged instead of me trying to force him into it.
The exercises were:
10 meter circle to quarter line, leg yield to wall
4 loop serpentines (10 meter half circles), then deep into corner, outside rein, inside rein, then forward down the long side
3 loop serpentine to quarter line, leg yield to X, leg yield back to quarter line (and vice versa, leg yield to B or E, then back to quarter line)
3 loop serpentine at canter
By the end, Charlie was naturally lifted (although it helped that he has had essentially five days off).
John said that unless there is swelling, from now on he goes to the show and if he is lame, he gets bute. He said that some abscesses can come and go, so the foot is tender if they step on a rock, but then they get over it, and it ebbs and flows until the abscess is done working its way out.
Then we watched one of his students on her young former racehorse. There were some antics from the horse that made me realize how much I am lacking in the control and balance department. Then I watched a novice rider's jump lesson, and her horse lacked forward, so it was very helpful to watch her working on that.
As always, a great lesson with John that made my entire day.
I volunteered at Aspen for 1 1/2 of the days. I worked mostly show jumping, and it was helpful to see the variety of riding styles (and personalities). I walked the cross country course, and that was a huge relief. There was a hard left turn to a roll top with a few strides to a log with a down bank into the water (first water combination) and I think one other slightly tricky combination, but other than that, I knew what the course was asking for and at least technically, I knew how to ride it (I think). Nothing looked too scary or too hard, so Training is probably exactly right for this year ... if we can just get going. I am very anxious that I am such a horrible horsekeeper that I am ruining Charlie. Thank god for having John around to check in on him.
Then today we went to John's, where I still couldn't feel anything. After my lesson, we watched a couple others, and Charlie did feel a little stiff as we walked off, so I'm wondering if it is not a foot but like a pulled muscle?
I asked John to look at his wind puffs and he said yes, indeed, they were wind puffs. I told him I was anxious because Charlie never had them before and he said Charlie was never really working before.
During our lesson, we worked on more exercises that I can do at home. They are designed to avoid frustration, where I am asking Charlie for the same thing in the same movement and not getting it. They are supposed to keep Charlie sharp and responsive, making him naturally engaged instead of me trying to force him into it.
The exercises were:
10 meter circle to quarter line, leg yield to wall
4 loop serpentines (10 meter half circles), then deep into corner, outside rein, inside rein, then forward down the long side
3 loop serpentine to quarter line, leg yield to X, leg yield back to quarter line (and vice versa, leg yield to B or E, then back to quarter line)
3 loop serpentine at canter
By the end, Charlie was naturally lifted (although it helped that he has had essentially five days off).
John said that unless there is swelling, from now on he goes to the show and if he is lame, he gets bute. He said that some abscesses can come and go, so the foot is tender if they step on a rock, but then they get over it, and it ebbs and flows until the abscess is done working its way out.
Then we watched one of his students on her young former racehorse. There were some antics from the horse that made me realize how much I am lacking in the control and balance department. Then I watched a novice rider's jump lesson, and her horse lacked forward, so it was very helpful to watch her working on that.
As always, a great lesson with John that made my entire day.
I volunteered at Aspen for 1 1/2 of the days. I worked mostly show jumping, and it was helpful to see the variety of riding styles (and personalities). I walked the cross country course, and that was a huge relief. There was a hard left turn to a roll top with a few strides to a log with a down bank into the water (first water combination) and I think one other slightly tricky combination, but other than that, I knew what the course was asking for and at least technically, I knew how to ride it (I think). Nothing looked too scary or too hard, so Training is probably exactly right for this year ... if we can just get going. I am very anxious that I am such a horrible horsekeeper that I am ruining Charlie. Thank god for having John around to check in on him.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Show prep dressage lesson with John
Today we practiced Test A in the proper size arena. John had a handful (exactly the number I could handle) of really great suggestions for improvement:
First - wait to turn left until "G" (between H & M) - I have been starting to think about it closer to X.
Second - use some inside leg (almost a bit of leg yield) on the 15 meter circles to keep them from being square.
Third - to get the deep corner, which comes out into the lengthened trot, warm up with bent to the outside on the corner, bend inside on the short edge, bend outside on the corner. Do this a few times, then just hint at bend to the outside while keeping the inside bend. After a few times of this, Charlie could go deep in the corner and it gave me so much extra space to come out of it and start lengthening.
Fourth - it isn't a "progressive lengthening", just lengthen. So once I have it, don't keep stretching it out, otherwise I haven't done the movement.
Fifth - at the end of the stretchy trot circle, leg yield a couple of steps back to the short side before coming back to trot to walk. Otherwise, the combination of lengthen, stretch, trot, walk, free walk makes Charlie sluggish - more sluggish - most sluggish.
Sixth - use a bit of inside hand to try to keep Charlie from tilting his head so much.
Seventh - in the warm up, do a canter, lengthen, trot, immediately lengthen the trot. Do this down the long side just before we go in. It gives Charlie a jazzed up trot to start out.
Eighth - I can either sit or post (yay! I can sit!) but don't switch half way in a movement. Definitely post the first trot lengthen. If Charlie is sluggish, sit the second one. A few of the movements are kind of obvious, like lengthen the trot, stretchy circle, trot, walk - that is all posting.
John had us do a few more exercises, lengthening the canter to lengthened trot and doing some leg yield at the trot and canter (!). Charlie actually felt really great to me, and I'd be really happy if he felt that good at the show.
First - wait to turn left until "G" (between H & M) - I have been starting to think about it closer to X.
Second - use some inside leg (almost a bit of leg yield) on the 15 meter circles to keep them from being square.
Third - to get the deep corner, which comes out into the lengthened trot, warm up with bent to the outside on the corner, bend inside on the short edge, bend outside on the corner. Do this a few times, then just hint at bend to the outside while keeping the inside bend. After a few times of this, Charlie could go deep in the corner and it gave me so much extra space to come out of it and start lengthening.
Fourth - it isn't a "progressive lengthening", just lengthen. So once I have it, don't keep stretching it out, otherwise I haven't done the movement.
Fifth - at the end of the stretchy trot circle, leg yield a couple of steps back to the short side before coming back to trot to walk. Otherwise, the combination of lengthen, stretch, trot, walk, free walk makes Charlie sluggish - more sluggish - most sluggish.
Sixth - use a bit of inside hand to try to keep Charlie from tilting his head so much.
Seventh - in the warm up, do a canter, lengthen, trot, immediately lengthen the trot. Do this down the long side just before we go in. It gives Charlie a jazzed up trot to start out.
Eighth - I can either sit or post (yay! I can sit!) but don't switch half way in a movement. Definitely post the first trot lengthen. If Charlie is sluggish, sit the second one. A few of the movements are kind of obvious, like lengthen the trot, stretchy circle, trot, walk - that is all posting.
John had us do a few more exercises, lengthening the canter to lengthened trot and doing some leg yield at the trot and canter (!). Charlie actually felt really great to me, and I'd be really happy if he felt that good at the show.
Saturday, June 06, 2015
Jump lesson with John
We had a mid-morning lesson in our unseasonably warm weather. Marc Grandia and some of his students (including Triangle) were also at Caber schooling. We got quite sweaty, even though we were done by 10:30!
It was a good lesson. To begin with, yesterday when I practiced the dressage test, I noticed that our stretchy circle was much improved (without me actively working on it!). Charlie's balance is better, so the "ball" that is the center of balance is staying under his shoulders instead of going forward under his nose when he stretches down. Half way around the first circle, I realized he wasn't racing forward on his forehand like we've been battling. I also noticed that our canter to trot transition at X - while not perfect - is now a canter to sitting trot transition and not a canter to flying in the air posting trot transition like it was last year. Those two things made me feel a lot better for about 10 seconds, until my second thought was that maybe we were doing something so much worse than last year that they feel better when they're actually quite worse. I'll know by next Friday.
In my lesson with John, he suggested that during the trot warm up, I do some small serpentines, just to get Charlie used to working off of my leg each direction and paying attention.
Our main takeaway from the fences was twofold:
First, use the outside rein to steer him to the fence. If I hang on it, and we drag around the corner, we don't have enough time to get the "go" back to the fence.
Second, use that "go". If I have enough forward energy, we can add a short stride or launch, but if I don't have the energy, it is a flat launch that risks a rail.
I could NOT get the lead changes at all, and John said to try once (use outside rein in a half halt) and then just ignore it and focus on the go, during the show jumping part of the test. This was kind of depressing because I spent a lot of time this winter working on changes, but I haven't done it recently.
Although it was a pretty good ride, I was also then immediately down because I use my big long whip - the non-regulation dressage whip - and I got a lot of my forward "go" from that whip. This is so I don't lock on with my legs, and I've been working myself off of my legs onto the whip. But that whip does me NO good in a jump test, when I have my little jump bat. I have to ask John about that on Wednesday.
It was only a pretty good ride because I felt all discombobulated and jerky, unlike how I felt when we went and rode at Rainbow last weekend. I think it is nerves, especially with all the people around.
We started with a little cross rail and then a vertical. Then John went straight to what is hardest for me, a hard right hand circle - an oxer and a vertical, each maybe on a 30 meter circle. I bombed it several times in a row, with Charlie scooping his legs up to deer leap over the fence while I kept missing the lines, and then John told me to use my outside rein to steer and it all cleared up.
Then we did a few small courses, and the same thing - as long as I kept him forward, especially out of the turns, we did ok, even if he had to deer jump a couple. It made me really appreciate Charlie - he is definitely the better of the two of us.
John set up a few 3'3" but nothing bigger I don't think. We also did a couple combinations at an angle - coming in over the first fence and staying on a straight line so the second fence was an angle (or vice versa) - one show jump, one cross country combination like that.
I realized part of why I like John's lessons so much are he lets me make the mistake, tells me what to fix, lets me feel how the fix worked like magic, then explains why the fix works magic. It cements using the fix in my head so much better than if he told me ahead of time how to ride it because I can feel it working.
I asked him if he'd tell me if I wasn't ready to go training, and he said yes.
I also asked him about the wind puffs and he said when I've given Charlie a hard work out, that night to wrap his legs to help with that.
It was a good lesson. To begin with, yesterday when I practiced the dressage test, I noticed that our stretchy circle was much improved (without me actively working on it!). Charlie's balance is better, so the "ball" that is the center of balance is staying under his shoulders instead of going forward under his nose when he stretches down. Half way around the first circle, I realized he wasn't racing forward on his forehand like we've been battling. I also noticed that our canter to trot transition at X - while not perfect - is now a canter to sitting trot transition and not a canter to flying in the air posting trot transition like it was last year. Those two things made me feel a lot better for about 10 seconds, until my second thought was that maybe we were doing something so much worse than last year that they feel better when they're actually quite worse. I'll know by next Friday.
In my lesson with John, he suggested that during the trot warm up, I do some small serpentines, just to get Charlie used to working off of my leg each direction and paying attention.
Our main takeaway from the fences was twofold:
First, use the outside rein to steer him to the fence. If I hang on it, and we drag around the corner, we don't have enough time to get the "go" back to the fence.
Second, use that "go". If I have enough forward energy, we can add a short stride or launch, but if I don't have the energy, it is a flat launch that risks a rail.
I could NOT get the lead changes at all, and John said to try once (use outside rein in a half halt) and then just ignore it and focus on the go, during the show jumping part of the test. This was kind of depressing because I spent a lot of time this winter working on changes, but I haven't done it recently.
Although it was a pretty good ride, I was also then immediately down because I use my big long whip - the non-regulation dressage whip - and I got a lot of my forward "go" from that whip. This is so I don't lock on with my legs, and I've been working myself off of my legs onto the whip. But that whip does me NO good in a jump test, when I have my little jump bat. I have to ask John about that on Wednesday.
It was only a pretty good ride because I felt all discombobulated and jerky, unlike how I felt when we went and rode at Rainbow last weekend. I think it is nerves, especially with all the people around.
We started with a little cross rail and then a vertical. Then John went straight to what is hardest for me, a hard right hand circle - an oxer and a vertical, each maybe on a 30 meter circle. I bombed it several times in a row, with Charlie scooping his legs up to deer leap over the fence while I kept missing the lines, and then John told me to use my outside rein to steer and it all cleared up.
Then we did a few small courses, and the same thing - as long as I kept him forward, especially out of the turns, we did ok, even if he had to deer jump a couple. It made me really appreciate Charlie - he is definitely the better of the two of us.
John set up a few 3'3" but nothing bigger I don't think. We also did a couple combinations at an angle - coming in over the first fence and staying on a straight line so the second fence was an angle (or vice versa) - one show jump, one cross country combination like that.
I realized part of why I like John's lessons so much are he lets me make the mistake, tells me what to fix, lets me feel how the fix worked like magic, then explains why the fix works magic. It cements using the fix in my head so much better than if he told me ahead of time how to ride it because I can feel it working.
I asked him if he'd tell me if I wasn't ready to go training, and he said yes.
I also asked him about the wind puffs and he said when I've given Charlie a hard work out, that night to wrap his legs to help with that.
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