Day 2 of Nicole Cobb Clinic: AKA Another Attack

Not sure why I have t-rex arms.

I got the the barn that Bacon was staying at extra early to check on her and make sure she would be feeling good enough to do the second day of the clinic. I threw her on the lunge and she was back to her crazy leaping self. No soreness or stiffness to be seen! I tacked her up and she could probably tell I was super nervous again so she got a little antsy herself. Sorry mare.

Tense pony and rider.

I hopped on and got her moving once we unloaded and she was quite strong again. Nothing bad, but she was certainly ready to go. We warmed up slowly, as I tried to stay out of the way on the riders that were at the tail end of their clinic time. Nicole got us started with a trot oval and having us sit the trot, speed up the trot, collect the trot, etc and then do the same with the canter. I was already pretty tired after that, so I knew it was going to be a tricky day.

Going through the gymnastic.

Next, we had to trot into a cross rail, rollback right at the canter, break down to trot and turn right over the cross rail again, rollback left at the canter and then stop straight. Bacon and I actually did that quite well. But Nicole wanted me to change my seat to try and close my hip angle more to help Bacon have a softer landing, but still keep contact with the saddle. It was very difficult for me to do, but I tried.

Weee gymnastics.

We did the same exercise again but at the canter, and did quite well. Bacon got her leads too (for the most part), so that was nice! My memory is not the greatest, but I know we ran through the gymnastic line a time or two as well. She was better going through there this time too. And then we started to string some jumps together.

The orange vertical was our best jump every time.

Canter orange vertical, go right and canter triple one stride line and stop straight. It wasn't the prettiest, but our jump to the orange vertical was so nice compared to Friday, where I really had to establish everything before hand and try to get her to keep that same pace. On Sunday, she just did it.We ran through just the triple one more time to make sure my position was ok over it because I had kind of lost it the first time through. She just basically cantered over the jumps.

The middle of the tiny triple.

We don't care about flowers.

flowers are dumb.

We then did left turn canter over xrail, right roll back to a four stride oxer to vertical (which she got crooked in and took down a rail), left turn over a brick wall and then stop straight. We discussed the rail and discussed the ride, but it wasn't too bad. We then did left turn to xrail, right roll back and through the triple line to over the brick wall to the four stride line and left rollback over the xrail again. That was actually quite a nice ride. Bacon was very straight through the four stride this time, came up a little short on the brick wall and a little long over the xrail, but overall it was very nice!

Entering the four stride.

And there goes our top rail. Whoops.

And then came the last course. And I was TIRED. But I wasn't done and I wanted to keep going. I am not even sure what it was supposed to be, because once I started, it was like everything kept getting darker, but there will still a circle of light. Pretty sure I jumped the 3'3" oxer backwards. I just kept jumping jumps and then my body quit and I couldn't breath anymore. That's right. I had ANOTHER asthma attack during a clinic.

Jumping the oxer the correct direction.

Jumping it the wrong way...

I kept trying to form the sign for my inhaler with my hands and Linds took off to grab it. Some people knew exactly what was happening. And then some were very confused. My hubs came up and tried to give me water. NOPE. Give me that sweet steroid gas for my lungs please. The next rider went while I recovered and Nicole came over to check on me. All I could really do to explain was say "I have Lyme disease. I get tired very easily." She asked if I wanted to try again, at least a simpler version and I said yes.

Coming in short on the brick wall.

The last course was orange vertical, right to the four stride line (with the big oxer) and then left over the brick wall. We got it done, even though we were a tad crooked into the four stride, but it felt nice to get one more course in. I felt so dumb. I don't know why I didn't alert her of my ailments before hand, but we talked about it afterwards. She basically said that I didn't quit, my body did. Mentally, I was still game, and sometimes that just happens. Can't help but feel like a goon though. Next time, I will alert all clinicians. My horse was good though, and we very tiredly went home afterwards. And I continued some more horsey fun for the day.

Over the big oxer. Again. Notice the exhausted terrible body position.