Finally!

Finally made it back out to the barn last night!
Tommy was pretty good, carried a crop with him this time. Not with the intention of needing it, but my trainer had suggested having one in hand when he's being super unresponsive. Tried that, it seemed to work and he picked up the pace a bit. Didn't have to use it of coarse, it's just a bit of motivation for him I suppose.
However, when we got to the actual jumping portion of the lesson, he may have been a bit too quick. So had to do some extra work holding him back. I don't know if I'd rather have him go slightly to quick, or be flat and slow. Thinking quick because it's easier to hold him back than it is to have him flop around the coarse.... Anyone have an opinion?

Not that quick was brilliant yesterday either. I'll try and show you what the coarse looked like so my rambling will make sense.
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Okay, so the two diagonal jumps in the corners were a bit farther out from the wall and on a bit more of an angle, but that's the best I can do.
During the warm up we went over the dotted vertical on the left side and then went to the diagonal in the corner closest to it.
I'm not sure exactly why we ran out because we weren't really going to fast and the corner jump was tiny. It may have been because he was used in a lesson the day before and did the same thing, so it was a bit of learned behaviour, but whatever. He ran out to the right.
 My friend was in the lesson as well, as soon as we came back to a trot, she calls out "What was the crap Chris?!". Not being nasty or anything, just her usual loud and sarcastic self, my trainer said she was thinking the same thing, not to mention so was I.
Anyway he ran out once more but after that we got it. When we did the whole coarse it wasn't brilliant, he didn't have much respect for a few of the jumps, but the ones that did work, were great.

He's lost some fitness over his time off and was breathing harder than usual, so going to do some work on getting that back. Unfortunately he hasn't gained much weight back since he got his teeth done, which is disappointing because we thought it would make a difference, so he's getting some grain and supplement mix after jumping work. This will hopefully help a lot, since what he's getting, my coach once described as 'cheese burgers for horses'.

As far as my losing weight goes, yesterday was also my first day back in the gym. Did kick boxing with my trainer, it was great but my back is sore from the twisting motions, but it's all good. She's teaching a kick boxing class on Sunday, so I'm planning on going to that, but we'll see.

Also, general psychology didn't suck ass as much as I'd anticipated! We've started on a partner project that will end up in a presentation. Sadly. But I've found someone to work with and she's not a dumb ass!! Very pleased. I had my share of dumb ass partners last semester in social I think. So, yeah. Mmm, last thing, one of the most amazing songs EVER! Bigger Than Us by White Lies. It's amazing. The video is weird, but the song is great.