Two-Point October - Baseline and Observation

So L and Hillary's Two-Point October got off to a rough start (PS: If you aren't doing it and want to torture yourself, these are the ladies to talk to!).

I had planned to ride in the new saddle on Friday to check it out, go to the barn Saturday to time my baseline, and then start actually improving this week.  You know what they say about the best laid plans!

Well, on Friday my boss told me that I had to come to work on Sunday, and then I discovered in my agenda that I had an appointment Saturday afternoon.  "That's ok," I said to myself.  "I will wake up ridiculously early and go to the barn on Saturday morning to time my baseline."

Little did I know that there were lessons on Saturday mornings at my barn.  Well, I knew, but I thought there were just one set of lessons.  Nope.  There are two.  As in, there are lessons that go on in the outdoor and lessons that go on in the indoor.  This just goes to show how many mornings I am actually at the barn since Walker and I have been here since May.

I made it out to the barn today though and got the following baseline:

I know.  I don't believe it either.

In fact, my first baseline was 4:15 (!).  I actually did this stupid thing three times to get an accurate baseline.  First time was 4:15, second was 3:30 something, and then I got this.  

The first time Walker and I got into a mini argument mid-two point and my leg kept slipping back.  I think there is a lot to be said on quality of two-point vs time you can hold it.  For instance, I did this at all three gaits (mostly because Walker was like "what the hell is she doing - let's canter now") and noticed that my ability to two-point (and the quality of it) really changed at different gaits.  

I had the calf muscles to "hold" it but not the calf muscles to hold it pretty, if you know what I mean.  If there had been actual jumps, I probably would have fell down back into the saddle (and I did fall down several times when Clumsy McClumsy tripped and sent me half flying down his freakish long QH neck - but that's another story).  

So I think I'm going to use the shortest time because that was the time where I really focused on getting a good quality two-point instead of just holding on for the ride.

This should be a very interesting month!

PS: Everyone go check out Lauren's great contest!