After a few times through, Phoenix and I walked around a little and Chris set up poles. Phoenix and I walked through the first time and Chris helped us work on the middle turn that always bites us in the butt at YPBRA. I need to urge her to the left and then turn her with my right hand into the turn. I never really do the one handed thing because I don't have full control of Phoenix neck reining (she isn't fully trained at it) and I have to keep running through the poles after my turn. The next time we trotted and we took more time to continue re-doing that one turn so that it didn't suck.
Chris had me lope (try to slowly lope) through the pattern before Phoenix and I quite. I ran her up the poles and she turned well and bucked between the first 2 poles, so I pulled back to stop her (that is what Chris had me do to let Phoenix know that bucking is not ok) but for some reason Phoenix reared up and I fell off her backwards. It happened so fast that I couldn't tell you what happened exactly but I do remember being scared that Phoenix was going to fall backwards on me because I've seen it happen to other racers and the idea of a large horse crushing me (especially after the whole rib break incident) wasn't too inviting.
Luckily Phoenix kind of stumbled sideways and somehow regained her balance. Then she proceeded to run down the arena and stand by the other riders. I got lucky and was ok, just a little shaken up and a small bruise on my back end. I still can't believe that Phoenix did that and I know that something must have happened because she has never done that before. At best, during one 4H show that she was especially bratty she did a small rear that was only like halfway up, but this was a full blown rear that almost caused her to fall and I can't help but wonder if I did something that caused her to blow up.
Phoenix, luckily also unhurt, was totally fine when I remounted her and of course we had to finish a successful pattern at the lope to help our confidence and end on a good note. But since she kept bucking after that first turn, Chris had me lope her in a circle until she was listening better and then run the pattern from the left instead of the right. I am considering running her from the left in competition because our bad turn is first and last instead of that weird middle turn, but I also want to be able to get Phoenix to where she can do it either way so we'll see.
We worked on turns a few more times and then walked the pattern neck reining to cool Phoenix off. I uncinched Phoenix facing the poles and led her out of the arena to take off her gear and brush her down. Emily checked to make sure I was ok and helped me untack and brush Phoenix. When we were all loaded up and ready to go, Phoenix just hopped into the trailer and we took her home to finish the rest of her dinner in her stall.
Though not quite what expected, Tuesday turned out to be a great day! School didn't start till 12 due to testing so I was able to go to the ranch in the morning. Originally I planned to go on a trail ride with Jenny but due to a discovery, that didn't happen. I groomed Phoenix down and had Jenny look her over when she got there to make sure Phoenix didn't pop anything out of place or whatever after her crazy rear yesterday. Though Phoenix was sound and everything looked good, Jenny found bumps under Phoenix's belly along where her cinch goes. I had previously brought those up to Melissa and we settled on them probably being bug bites, though they were pretty big.
Turns out that Phoenix is allergic to her new cinch, which is causing her to break out in hives. Kim commented that she noticed some after I started using it and that she should've brought it up but didn't think about it. Though it is a pain since the cinch was expensive and I might not get a refund due to have been riding in it, I'm glad we figured out what it was so we could let those go away before I rode her again.
Now it made since why Phoenix kept trying to nip me when I was currying her cinch spot that was still there from lesson due to not hosing her off afterwards. I thought she was just being a butt, but she was trying to tell me that it hurt her. I feel bad for riding her with it for the last few days and realized that, though we will never be 100% sure if this was actually the cause or not, the pain of the hives being rubbed by the cinch could've eventually hurt her enough that she resorted to rearing and might even be why she started bucking.
Long story short, I had to give Phoenix a few days off to let the reaction disappear and buy her a new cinch, otherwise, the reaction would not go away and would eventually rub them into open sores, which hurt more and take longer to heal.
So instead of riding my girl, I lunged her. After I finished lunging her, Jenny put her gelding in with Phoenix and lunged both of them. It was not only super cool that Jenny could get both of them listening, but she could get her horse to stop and stand waiting for her on the outside while she worked Phoenix. She worked with Phoenix until she respected her and asked to come in. It took a few times till Phoenix would stop asking to come in instead of just coming in, but after a little while she seemed to understand what Jenny wanted.
When Jenny was done, she had both horses following her and listening to her cues. It was really cool and she explained what she had done so I would understand it. She also told me I have good groundwork skills and that I just need to learn more so that I can accomplish a purpose instead of just lunging to lunge.
Jenny then let me hop up on her 17hh paint gelding bareback with halter and lead rope reins. He was super awesome and even waited alongside the fence for me to climb up and slide over on his back. I was nervous at first that Phoenix would keep messing with us but Jenny explained that when she had put her horse in, she had pushed Phoenix away and established him as the dominant one, so Phoenix should leave him alone. I was still a tad bit nervous, but Jenny was right and Phoenix just stood in a corner.
Jenny's gelding was super fun to ride and he neck reined and rode two handed, so I messed around with both and Jenny helped me to work on my position. I needed to bring my knees forward a little and to grip with my calves, but relax my feet. At first this greatly confused me because there is always a huge emphasis on heels down, so I pushed my heels down hard, which also helped me to lock into a grip on the horse, but Jenny explained that I was to tight and I needed to loosen so I gripped more with my calves and moved with the horse instead of being locked in a position.
I worked on my position and rode the gelding (I can't recall his name) in a walk and trot in both directions. He listened well and the only real problem I had was everytime I passed Phoenix he wanted to stop and go into her, so I had to fight with him to keep going, which was a little hard in just a halter but I got him to continue on. Though he had a large stride, I loved it and I worked on rollbacks with him due to his responsiveness. He is so good that if you are in the wrong position or unbalanced, that he would stop and not let you go faster.
I really wanted to get him into a lope, but he just wouldn't go any faster than a trot, which Jenny explained as him not trusting that I will stay with him due to not being super balanced on him and he really only lopes with her. After a few more attempts, he got tired and so I walked him a few laps and then dismounted and let him loose to play with Phoenix.
Phoenix and the gelding messed around with eachother for a little while and Phoenix even challenged his dominance a few times before Jenny had to take him back to her barn. After they left, I gave Phoenix a bath since I still had a good amount of time. Phoenix needed the bath and she felt so smooth and looked so shiny afterwards. I was also able to scrub those scabby spots on her hind legs and comb out her mane and tail.
After she dried, I put her up and it was time for me to go to school. Later I realized something. Today was the first day I rode without a helmet. I hopped up on Jenny's gelding with my cowboy hat on, though it eventually fell off due to being too large. Then I just rode with my hair free. I noticed that I wasn't even nervous about it and this again brought up the huge discussion that my dad and I previously had about helmets and how I was old enough to decide for myself. I'm still not sure what I want to do but I have time and helmets so it will all work out.
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