Learning to Stop Riding

There are a TON of clinicians coming into the area this fall and I'm so excited.

Over the mountains at a nearby barn, Olivia LaGoy-Weltz comes in 1-2x per year to give lessons. She's a stunning rider, and a really great trainer too. I rode with her a few years ago on Rico, you can read about my lesson here. This last weekend, I found myself with two options for Sunday after my ride. First, to go try not to spend money at the Stanford tack sale. Second, to go audit the lessons. Both were enticing but I need to spend money on tack like I need a hole in the head, so I zipped over the hill to the clinic.

Pictures from my clinic a couple years ago, because Rico is so
much fun to look at

I watched four lessons before I was starving and had to get something to eat before I fainted. I wish I had brought snacks since there were three more lessons to watch! Olivia is intense, she taught straight through starting at 7:45am and ending at 6pm. I asked her about it and she said that she was too nice to say no to people.

I caught the end of the first lesson I watched and it was a good one for me to watch, I really regretted not getting done with TC earlier. The rider had the EXACT crookedness I have and was even riding a gray horse. I smiled, despite having that really horrible day with TC, because I just know that he's going to be the horse with the amateur or junior rider riding with the fancy clinician and just doing his work like a good not bolting not crazy animal. One day...

The rider tipped off her right seat bone and wanted to overconnect on the left rein, allowing her right hand and arm to come forward. So errr maybe she's just me from the future riding TC from the future.

I immediately took a few notes before the lesson ended while she was in left lead canter (also my harder canter direction)-

When the outside seat bone comes off, first check the outside arm, it's hard to tip off the seatbone if the arm is back and down. Think of the upper arms being as part of the upper body, rather than hinging at the shoulder. Let the arm hang straight down and almost think about the elbows being behind your body.

At the canter, make the outside seat bone match the outside hind leg, meaning it should come down before the inside seat bone.  When my doppelganger tipped off her outside seat bone, the seat bone would land after the outside hind leg. So then when she pushed him into the bridle, her timing was off and it actually pushed the horse more to the outside because the balance is already going that way.

My leg was so pretty when Rico was forward

The next rider was on a PSG horse, and it was SUPER fun to watch. Olivia had some really interesting things to say, since the horse was quite hot and very similar to TC. The main issue was that sometimes the horse feels trapped (hey mine feels trapped sometimes) and acts up (hey mine does that).

Olivia's main advice was this: with a horse who feels trapped, don't ask for collection until you have forward, even if the forward feels way way too forward and the horse feels like it's in a First level outline. If the horse is 75% forward and you collect 100%, you're putting a quarter more pressure than you should on the horse and that's a problem.

This really spoke to me at a very low level with TC's balking. When I'm riding a horse, I think of making a channel with my aids, driving the horse through a tube almost (this is my own way of visualizing it, FYI, Olivia would probably have a better way of putting it). As the horse gets older and more trained, the tube can be smaller, more precise. Only allowed to go forward when straight and collected and engaged and etc. When the horse is young, the tube is big, they can go forward this way or that, as long as it's generally in the direction you want.

Tension arises when you try to push the horse into a tube that is too small. If the horse doesn't think they have somewhere to go, then they will go wherever they think they can (so maybe upwards), or try to bust through the aids. TC does both.

Olivia trying to make me ride better

Another thing that came out of that lesson that is going to be relevant in the future is that collection cannot happen with tension. Obviously. But as you go to collect the canter, energy is required. And if the horse has a tense response to the remain more active aids (leg/whip/etc), asking the horse to stay active and collected is not necessarily the right thing to do.

Sometimes you have to let the horse get behind the aids (especially a horse like this horse, who again I feel like is similar to TC) to allow the canter to have more collection in it. She really emphasized that sometimes you have to compromise on the responsiveness of the horse to get their body tone (tension) to lower. Pick moments when you can say react quicker damnit, but you can't jazz the horse up all the time if he carries any tension.

TC hasn't gotten to a point where tension is caused by anything other than his spookiness and bolting. But this was really good information, and made me feel better about what I'm doing. I've been yelled at so many times to not nag that I worry sometimes that I'm teaching TC to be behind my leg. But honestly, he's so damn forward and willing, that I sort of let myself get away with it. So validation. But I still shouldn't nag.

So much half pass that day

The last thing I got out of the lessons came from the last lesson I watched (the third lesson was GREAT, but I was chatting with people for a lot of it and it was a lead change lesson, TC is far from doing changes and I'm pretty good at them already).

This rider wanted to do too much for their horse. They had a really funny exchange, where Olivia said "I want you to be patient and I want it RIGHT NOW." That's honestly how I feel about my damn horse in the cross ties- BE PATIENT DAMN IT! I don't have patience for his impatience.

Olivia's main advice was to just stop. Don't ride, let the horse carry himself without rider influence for a bit so you can evaluate how things are going and choose to add to the gait later. This is huge, and I think one of my strengths. I tend to feel like horses are way greener and crooked than they appear to be because I'm lazy and refuse to work hard to keep a horse together. I love TC because you literally just sit there and ride him quietly. No holding him, no shoving with the seat, no tap tap tapping with the whip, no nagging (well, other than what I mentioned before). Just get out of his way and let him do what he's going to do.

I'm so grateful I rode him like that from the get go, and honestly it wasn't all me- he's not the sort of horse you can push around very easily, so I probably couldn't have held him together even if I tried. Olivia really drove it home that you absolutely have to be able to ride neutrally before you can make positive changes to the horse. Yes. I love that. Also love validation.

It's really hard to be neutral though, I was teaching a lesson on it just last night. My rider is relearning to sit the trot and tends to want to balance on the reins (but not in the way you're thinking- basically if you can't drop the reins at any given point and stay balanced, newsflash, you're balancing on the connection even if you're not leaning back against it) and grip with the leg to hold herself on. If the balance isn't perfection, there is no neutral riding. Ugh dressage is hard.

Equal opportunity tipping

So much more happened at the clinic that I just can't quite remember or hasn't sunken in yet. It was a GREAT clinic though, and I highly recommend her both for riding and auditing. I learned so much and can't wait to get to the point where I can apply all of it to TC. And obviously can't wait until I can ride with her, even if most of the lesson is telling me to get out of his way and sit down on my right seat bone.

Things I Hate Because of TC

Today I'm going to deviate from my normal ride recaps (because even I get bored by those) and give you a list of things that TC makes me hate irrationally. None of these are serious, by the way, I feel compelled to say that.

• That horse in turnout itching its leg. 
• Anyone cantering their horse in the same arena as us. 
• People who assume that TC is the most advanced horse I've ever ridden in my life and think that I could use some help from them, their trainer, their therapist, their friend, or this one book they must have read in the 1980s. 
• Pigeons in the rafters fighting, having sex, or whatever they're doing up there that's MAKING ALL THAT DAMN NOISE SHUT UP.
• The feathers that slowly float down to the ground from said pigeon fornication that cause my horse to strike out at them.
• The wind that assists these feathers in popping up again at us after they've landed on the ground.
• The one damn horse who explodes in turnout every time we're in the round pen. Fuck that horse. 
• Anyone trotting or cantering their horse near TC who is going in the same direction and about the same speed. TC has basically no thoroughbred in him, but is pretty convinced that it's a race and WE HAVE TO GO RIGHT NOW!
• People who leave cones out in the arena. TC must think that running them over is his sole purpose in life the way that he becomes a bit unrideable as we pass them.
• You, standing right there, for some reason you're spooking my horse despite doing nothing at all. Heaven forbid you MOVE. 
• Anyone driving, even if it's very slowly and across the ranch from us. Double hatred if it's someone driving a trailer. 
• The person who left the chair in the arena for TC to sniff, knock over, and then spook at. Uh, not my fault at all for letting him, right?
• People who kiss or cluck to their horses while riding. I do it too, that's the damn problem. 
• Anyone who hits their horse or in any way disciplines their horse near us. TC uses it as evidence that I've joined a Horse Beating Club and we're at our first meeting. 
• Western saddles make too much noise, I'm just saying. But English horses go too fast. All I'm asking for is an English horse going at the speed of a Western horse, mmmkay?
• Anyone expecting me to have a casual conversation over the music blasting on my headphones so I'll stop spooking at all the stuff I think might spook my horse.  
• Anyone judging me for watching horrible television shows or listening to Harry Potter on my phone while tacking up, riding, walking around, or sobbing loudly in my tack room because I COULD HAVE GONE TO EUROPE AND BOUGHT A BETTER HORSE THIS YEAR WITH ALL THE VET BILLS AND BOARD BILLS AND TRAINING BILLS I'VE PAID. But my horse is okay I guess. 

Please tell me I'm not alone. Who/what does your horse (or did your horse) make you hate?

Suddenly Good Lateral Work

Tuesday was a great day with the pony, even if he tried to ruin it a little bit by screaming at nothing the whole time. I was fairly determined to just have a normal ride on my normal horse without worrying about his dumb injury or dumb behavior.

He looks more muscular in person, horse does not photograph well
or owner is delusional

We started in the covered arena alone. He was kind of a dingbat at first, trotting around wildly. I buckled down and put him right to work, doing just enough in trot to get to the point where I could canter him. He's always better (and I'm always more confident/competent) after a good long canter. So we got all of our cantering out in the beginning.

After that, I just rode my fucking horse. He screamed a lot and threatened to bolt a few times, but other than that he was great!

With all the talk of showing with my clients (and awesome friends who are joining us for at least one of the shows!) recently, I've been getting excited about my future with TC in the show ring. Most of my rated dressage show experience has been on Rico, so getting another horse on there would be great. I'm mildly obsessed with scores. I'm really hoping that we'll be solidly in the 70s at Training and First, and obviously will taper off after that. But I'd be happy with anything above 65 at those levels.

With that in mind, TC and I went to work on some of the movements that we need to be schooling. I tend to go overboard with basics, trying to perfect the connection and engagement before doing any movements. It's not a bad thing, but sometimes you just need a good fun movement day!

Relaxed young horse = best young horse

I started off in our trot work by riding a couple of leg yields. They were ACTUALLY GOOD. What the hell? He hasn't done any real leg yields for like ten months. We've done a lot of work in hand at the walk, but nothing really undersaddle in the trot. To the left the leg yield was basically show ready, just needed to keep him a little rounder, he tends to get over his right shoulder, so that makes him prop up against the bit a little. To the right, the leg yield just wasn't steep enough. It's hard for him to really shift his weight that way.

Being a little surprised by how good the leg yields were, I tried shoulder-in. Once again, to the left it was basically show ready, with the same issue happening in the bridle, but good angle and bend. To the right, we really lacked bend. I know some of that is my right seat bone refusing to make contact with the saddle and my right shoulder wanting to come forward. Gah, need to grab a lesson with my trainer soon!

After all that great work, I decided to look at the rest of the trot work from Training/First (except the stretchy work, because he kept screaming and shaking his head. Going to perfect that in the round pen first). He used to be the worst at centerlines and halts, so we worked on those. That was all fine. He figured out quickly that he should be straight and trot off right away. We lost throughness in the downward, but he stayed surprisingly connected in the upward. Would not have guessed that.

Mirror selfies were hard to take because of
where the sun was

We did some fifteen meter trot circles on a figure-8, which were good. The left one wants to get real big, and the change of direction had questionable geometry for a while, but in the end, we had some really good work for it being the first time really working on circles smaller than twenty meters.

Then we moved on to a couple of lengthenings in trot. He is still learning the difference between lengthening his trot and propping up because he thinks I mean canter. He only tried to canter once though! I think it helped that I aimed him at a horse who had come into the arena. He is still figuring the lengthening out, and I'm not pushing it because of his injury, but hot damn he's going to have a good one! After the lengthening, his trot had a lot more cadence to it, so we're going to be doing a lot of short lengthenings I think.

At the very end, we did some walk trot transitions, which were awesome. He stayed a lot more connected and only offered the weird balking thing once.

TC: SISTER! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!
Bella: no

The ride gave me a lot of hope while also showing me how far we still have to go, mostly in the canter. I could get him through First level fairly easily at the trot right now, but the canter is still very much below Training level. I still have to take it a little slow at the canter for his rehab, but I'm going to try to push the canter a bit more in the next few rides and see whether we can make some progress there.

Raising My Standards

Monday's ride was a decent one. I found out that Sunday's ride was decent because BRH trainer mistook my request for working on walking around the ranch to mean do that and also ride him in the arena. So TC didn't really get a day off. I meant for Monday to be a light day but it turned out to not be a light day. So I guess TC doesn't get days off. Honestly, he's not anywhere close to heavy work yet, and he'd probably be happiest with seven moderate rides a week rather than five hard ones and two days off.

No TC pictures because I totally forgot to take
them, but I did ride Rico in the pasture next door!

On Monday my initial plan was to just have that ride count for his day off and have BRH trainer get on TC's babysitter and help me ride him around the ranch. We went down the road on the other side of the turnouts, where we hadn't been before- he was totally cool with that. And then we tried to go behind the riding school, which is the only place we haven't been yet.

The (handicapped) riding school is sort of its own thing. It has two arenas where they do lessons and it has their own private turnouts for their horses. So they really don't come bother us at all. But we bother them, since there's a trail behind the two pastures back there. TC got more and more on edge walking down there. Ugh.

We got back to the farthest place on the ranch and decided to walk in circles around our pony friend there to give TC something to do. I should have gone right first, but I went left and TC threatened to abandon his friend and bolt home. And then his friend made that call on her own and bolted home because of a tractor (tractor didn't bother TC but you better believe that his friend bolting did). I had this moment of OH MY GOD THIS IS HOW I AM GOING TO DIE because TC obviously followed. Luckily our babysitter found her brain and I stopped TC but hopped off and did some ground work. I did get back on there to make him work undersaddle, but then got off and led him back. No need to be a hero. He's really perfected this feeling where you're not quite sure whether he's going to bolt or rear. So I'm a bit at a loss of what to do when he's like that. Oh well, he's really not giving me that feeling too often.

Such a good pony

We walked back home and I got on at the mounting block. BRH trainer and I talked about TC, since I was feeling a little discouraged. It's just sometimes so much out of the blue and I really miss my super lazy horse since a lot of this nuttiness comes from pent up energy.

BRH trainer said that TC was a fairly confident and relaxed horse (news to me, but I guess he can see into the future), but that means that he switches his brain off while we're wandering around so things tend to catch him by surprise. Like when we were leading back and I saw that there was a new pile of stuff near the trail course, so led TC up to it. He didn't notice it until it was a foot away and then he JUMPED away from it like it had jumped out at him. Had he seen it initially, he might not have overreacted like that.

We made a plan for Wednesday- we're going to take him back to that spot but in hand instead (still with his babysitter- I might make BRH trainer lead him and so I can ride the haffie and actually have fun) and hopefully that will help his confidence.

He insisted on going down this trail, which led
to a dead end so we had to turn around

After getting back to the barn, we headed to the covered arena. And then TC was just so damn perfect.

After a questionable start, BRH trainer and I talked a bit about training TC, how I tend to want to take it a bit too slow with him. I don't really expect as much out of him as I should. I think it's because TC has such a great work ethic that I just assume that he's trying his best all the time so give him the benefit of the doubt. I also don't want to make work so un-fun that he loses that work ethic. But TC has always been the sort of horse that you can pack the pressure on and he just steps up and does his job and is happy about it. That's why I bought him, so I should try to enjoy it.

To the right I made sure that the connection was perfect all the time. I don't want him to be the sort of ride where you have to saw his face down out of the air, but I could be better with my timing to prevent his looking from affecting the throughness. We had some amazing trot work to the right after I put more pressure on him about that.

Ahh the arena where so much happened just a
couple years ago

To the left, I really addressed the straightness. Part of my issue is that I make it harder on him by spiraling the circle in too much. So then I push his haunches to the outside, which is incorrect since I'm just teaching him to step out with his outside hind leg. Ugh. Instead I need to bring the shoulder in to match the haunches, then ride the circle larger. After that short discussion with myself, as well as a few very firm half halts on the right side, TC and I had some REALLY good work. Sure enough, more pressure just meant a better horse.

The canter right was excellent. He still pops off the bit into the canter, but immediately comes round and stays that way until he gets tired and breaks. Eventually I need to address the breaking, but for now I'm just trying to use it as an opportunity to work on transitions. He's getting quite prompt and really the next step is just getting them rounder and having me sit the trot into them (I'm still asking from the posting trot).

The canter left was fine. I had it out with him about the transition once, which resulted in a buck, then shuffling, counter canter, and being very crooked. Once in the canter, I was able to ride him much straighter from my outside aids because of all the work we had done in the trot. It's still so crooked, but for the first time I felt like the straightness at least was somewhat accessible.

We ended with some more really great straight trot work and then a lot of wandering around the arena talking about this fall and next spring.

The other neighbors put in a track to ride their
ATVs on... I want to ride it on my all terrain horse

My students are getting excited about fall shows and initially my plan was to not show TC until April or May, do mostly clinics and local field trips. But since they want to do some overnight shows, I realized that I was going to be paying someone to ride TC, when I could just throw him in the trailer and bring him with. It's maybe a touch more expensive to take him vs leaving him at home, but it's much better for him.

So even though TC's first rated show won't be until next year, his first rated show experience will be at one to three of the shows this fall! September 11 we might be spending the day hanging out in the stalls at Yarra Yarra. October 29th and 30th TC will spend the night at Greenville. And November 11-13th, TC will be spending the weekend at Starr Vaughn (and it sounds like we're going to have an epic blogger showcation that weekend too!! Email/text me if you're going and you can stable with us). Before that, we're going to hit Gilroy Gaits, which TC has been to before, so BRH trainer can talk me through what he thinks I should do when I take TC to these shows.

So (possibly) four show grounds before the end of the year! Then next spring we'll do some more of these non-compete shows when I coach clients and then I'll pick the facility that he seems to be quietest at and we'll show sometime in the spring or summer next year! I told BRH trainer that I'd rather wait until he's going solidly at First or Second and just start his show career at those levels than go have a shitty show at Training and have it go on his record (I'm done with schooling shows and their questionable judges I think lol). The horse is quite unrideable when he's tight in his back and off the bit.

Looking down on the ranch, it looks so little

We have a long way to go before I'm ready to take him to a show and put pressure on me to compete him- he needs to tolerate horses coming in and out of the arena, he needs to be better at the canter, he needs to be good in new places, he needs a stretch circle, I need boots and a jacket... lots of things to do. And quite a while to do them! I have a feeling we'll hit some good momentum going off the property within the next year and then he'll settle into showing quite well.

Once as he figures out that everyone at a horse show is there to see him perform, he'll buckle down and be a good boy real quick.

Couch Installation

Friday I was in a bit of a rush. I had been coaching at the dressage show in the morning, then zipped down, had just over an hour and a half to ride before I had to run home, pack an overnight bag, shower, and jump back in the car to go pick up my SIL and get on a plane! My brother's college band, who I used to fly down to see on a regular basis about five years ago, was having a reunion show that night!

He loves mirror selfies

I hopped on TC and headed to the covered arena after a short walk around the ranch, trying to be efficient. When we got in there, there was just one western horse jogging along on the rail, so I figured we'd be okay. Love me a good quiet western horse. TC was distracted by him at first, but I got him back to me. Just as I started trotting, another horse came in, which was distracting again. Then another. The last horse was ridden by someone who I've been recommended not to ride with, and seeing him plus TC finally losing it and bolting made me think that longeing was probably a better idea if I wanted to have a good ride and keep it short. 

TC was wild on the longe line. I had to really lay into him about bolting. The bolt-stop I had installed a few weeks ago was completely gone so we worked on that. I was thinking about it, and the bolting seems to be slightly related to the bit- he definitely didn't bolt as much in the "more severe" french link, which is still a mild bit but much narrower. I'm not a huge fan of how he feels in the connection in that bit, so I really want to find something in between them. 

I decided to work on transitions on the longe line. Like I said last week, BRH trainer pointed out that one of TC's main issues is that he gets all bunched up in transitions, which has led to some balking and may be related to some of the bolting. Sure enough, on the longe line, he gets bunched up too. I decided to install a few voice commands so that I could reinforce my aids undersaddle too. He got better and better with the transitions, and I also installed "trot on," which, to TC's surprise, didn't mean "shake your head and run around like an idiot."

I hopped on in the end and just did the same thing undersaddle. The transitions were SO much better and there was only one time where I put my leg on and he tried to balk instead of going forward. 

After our ride on Friday

Saturday I was gone all day. It was so nice to have a pony-free day- I haven't had one of those since before TC came in. Initially I had wanted to just give TC a day off and ask someone to feed him, but since I only took two lessons this week, I asked if BRH trainer would just get on and walk him around the ranch. One of my major goals is to be able to hop on TC bareback and wander around the ranch on a loose rein while posting to instagram and texting people. That's... not going to happen for a very long time. But the first step is getting him really comfortable walking around the ranch. 

BRH trainer is really good at getting horses quiet around the ranch. He hops on for about thirty or forty minutes and wanders all over, addressing any major issues. That's perfect for a day off for TC. I want to do most of the arena riding at this point (though the horses-entering-and-leaving bolts may need to be ridden out by him) just because I'm having so much fun with the dressage training, but there's no reason for me to just give him a day off when I can get someone on him (and already paid for help 3x/week).

He was looking so beefy

Sunday morning I was exhausted but pulled myself out of bed and headed to teach lessons and ride a client's super fun horse. By the time I got to TC though, I was feeling good. It was probably the chai latte in the morning and the boba tea (which also has caffeine) in the afternoon.

I was unreasonably worried about TC getting ridden when I was gone. On the drive down I imagined his leg blowing up or me finding that he hadn't been ridden. But nothing to worry about, his leg looked as normal as it usually looks and I found just enough of my stuff out of place to know that BRH trainer had ridden him. I'll find out today how he was, I try not to be one of THOSE clients even though I don't mind them.

I grabbed longeing stuff and wanted to start with redoing my Friday longe with him to make sure that the transitions work had stayed in there. First though, I hopped on him and wandered to the field and back. TC was great wandering around, I'm really curious to see what BRH trainer did with him, since he felt a lot more confident and really relaxed about everything. I talked to a friend for a while and he just hung out, didn't scream for his sister when he saw him, generally just felt better! Good pony.

Siri is on to me... I know I'm way behind
the times with Siri jokes but I only just got
a phone in the last few months with Siri

We headed to the round pen and did some work on the line at first. He was really good! Only hopped into the trot once and only accidentally cantered twice (sometimes when you ask him to trot more forward, he canters, I'm teaching him the difference).

He was also great undersaddle in there. We did some turns on the forehand and mini leg yields before trotting. All of that was great, though he tries to push forward while doing the turns on the forehand, so gets a bit on the muscle. As he gets better at it and more coordinated, that will improve.

The trot was nothing to write home about, the small circle just doesn't do him any favors. We worked on straightness to the left, really focusing on pushing him up into the left rein rather than opening it and pulling him straight. Hey look, I'm learnding. It was somewhat successful, though I must have looked like a bit of a spaz trying to keep my left hand in check. After a short amount of trotting, we walked over to the covered. (OH and we opened the gate while mounted too, go us).

There was a lady in there leading her horse through some cones that were set up like pole bending, but other than that, we were alone. I started in walk again, I really want immediate access to that big prowling walk that he has and it was much easier to get now that his tiny brain is understanding that leg on doesn't always mean change gaits (which sometimes leads to him bunching up and wiggling).

Then we trotted. And what a difference that work on the longe line made! He didn't balk at all, just... trotted. Good pony!

She does this every day

I was super boring and just trotted him around in circles avoiding our arena mate. I really appreciate it when another horse is in there, especially a nice calm western horse. Sometimes it makes me want to trade mine in for a nice calm western horse. The connection was great, super steady most of the time, but sometimes wanting to get a little curled. That's okay, I think it's mostly a strength thing since it gets worse toward the end of our rides. He responds well when I just push him forward so I'm not concerned about it yet. Ugh cannot wait for our first dressage lesson.

We headed into canter to the right first and it was just great. Super quiet. Really relaxed, well, as relaxed as a horse who is constantly trying to strike at anything floating down from the rafters can be. Weirdo. He wasn't as round at the canter as he has been recently, but again that roundness isn't all that great anyway since I still can't get access to the part of his back right behind the withers/under the saddle, so I'm fine that he was a little more up.

The left lead was okay. In the first circle, the other rider (who had gotten on right as I was starting to do my canter work) started cantering toward us. She wasn't at ALL going to run into us- she gave us a lot of room, but TC certainly thought that she was and he got real excited about that. He shook his head and went to struck out at the horse. I had to pull him back to trot for a bit and then try again. Luckily she seemed unphased by our antics, and her horse just quietly cantered along.

Hanging out after our ride

In my last post, I talked a bit about the issue of keeping him from wagging and letting him be crooked vs straightening him and have him wag his head, which was still present on Sunday's ride. I've come to a conclusion on that by the way.

I'm going to let him be crooked and focus on connection. Why? Because straightness is above connection on the training scale. And because if he's not stepping into the left rein enough at the trot, the oscillation of his neck at the canter is of course going to cause head wagging if I try to straighten him with the right rein. Until he's even on both reins, he'll head wag.

So for now, I'm ignoring the straightness at the canter and just letting him gain miles in our canter work. And then at the trot I'm going to work to get him even on both reins and to teach him the aid for the straightness that doesn't involve more right rein. As he gets better at that, the canter will fix itself. Shout out to Kate for letting me talk that out on Friday.

In the end I made him take some mirror selfies and then I hopped off of him to make him stand by the mounting block for a while. I really want this horse to be an excellent couch and very patient. More often than not my dressage trainer is late and I loved that Rico would let me park him behind the mounting block while I sat on it and watched lessons. TC is turning into an excellent couch. Honestly he just likes to be doing stuff that isn't standing in his stall waiting for me to show up. 

Minor Setbacks

Thursday I was struggling a bit myself (one best friend is no longer a friend and one best friend is moving away... the wrong friend moved lol), which always means that anything TC does will not be well received. So as I got on him and saw BRH trainer, I requested a lesson. Our lessons are sort of random right now, I have him in part time training, which is three days a week, but we have no set days. I've been sticking with three lessons a week, although today I might skip a lesson and have BRH trainer ride TC around the ranch on Saturday, since I'm out of town.

I left him in the wash rack for a while, he was not amused

TC was kind of obnoxious around the ranch- very spooky and bolted a couple of times, including a bolt about his own grain, which I had left outside my tack locker. We got in the arena and he was just a dingbat. Spooking at everything, including someone standing near the fence (who asked me "what is he afraid of?" and I said "you" but then she looked confused and I said "you're doing nothing and it's scaring him") so I just hopped off, did some ground work, then taught him to be good standing around waiting for a trainer, since it's something I do regularly with my dressage trainer who can be a bit late.

BRH trainer got there and I dumped on him about the horse. Why is he so bad sometimes and why is he then so good later? Why can't he just be good every day? (see how my mental status wasn't 100% that day? lol I really need to get more sleep). Yah the answer is that he's a young horse and some weeks are going to be worse than others. The last two days have been rough because his sister moved in and he's obsessed with her, or maybe the few days last week were only good because it was a hundred degrees and he's better in the heat.

We started off by trotting next to our haffie babysitter and all TC wanted to do was harass her. He was not at all focused on me, but I guess he was at least focused on something that wasn't outside the arena, so that was good?

He was upset because someone scraping the ground with a rake
behind him

Eventually TC did calm down after a couple of threats and head shaking. Other than the bolts we had earlier, he really was fine in the arena, just tense and a bit rude.

The trot work was pretty good from the get go because of our babysitter, but I told BRH trainer about the balking we had experienced the day before in that one location before TC bolted. There's no reason for it and I told him that I knew I needed to be more firm and just smack him, but that when he gets behind me, it's just really hard to feel like I can do that without him erupting in an explosion, buck, or rear.

BRH trainer told me to just be firm in my insistence. Don't pick a fight with him by smacking him and causing him to act up, but don't let up. He said he felt that in his rides on TC from the beginning- when you put your leg on him and ask him to go, he gets all bunched up in his shoulders and wiggles before he responds. This is just that problem being magnified by the one spot in the arena (I think it's because he can see out the gate to horses in the cross ties). So he had me do some transitions and told me to never let TC get behind my leg, that definitely helped.

Got to see the BEST horse today too

As is our new usual, the canter felt pretty great. We went right first, which is (forever) the better direction. The mechanic is still wrong in the throughness, which is probably caused by the side reins since they don't allow true oscillation (not even sliding side reins do, nothing can give the same elasticity that a rider can). So he's got his head down but doesn't want to use his back just yet. I'm still pleased that the head is somewhat down though, yay!

The left lead actually was okay once as BRH trainer talked me through the transition. The same balky shit happening in trot is making the canter transition bad. You ask him to canter and he's like HOLD ON I NEED TO DO THIS and throws himself sideways, so you keep asking and he's like WAIT ALMOST DONE. Then he physically can't move forward and he just hops up and down. Shut him down with the rein and it feels like a rear is around the corner, shut him down with the leg and it feels like he might buck. So I didn't know what to do- force bad behavior and get after him for it, or wait it out, hoping that as he gets stronger, he'll be more compliant? He's not a naughty horse, he genuinely wants to work, so my first instinct is never to get after him unless he's obviously being bad or dangerous.

BRH trainer said that was fine, and that I should give it a little more time before turning it into a fight. Just like in trot, it stems from his own issues in strength, balance, and straightness, so as much as we'd probably beat on an older horse who "knows better," we should give TC the benefit of the doubt right now. He's only been cantering a month since rehab. If he still does this in several months or if it escalates, then sure we can

So cute

Getting TC more forward in trot did lead to some good work in the canter to the left. I can't figure out what to do with him in it though. He gets quite crooked, so I want to correct that. But he also starts to head wag pretty badly when I do go to correct it. BRH trainer said what I know Tracey would say and what I would say too- horse needs to step up into the left rein- but I also feel like he just can't right now.

So do I ride him as straight as I can (basically force him to the left rein by crowding him with my aids on the right) and ignore the head wagging, fix it later (it's not a hard fix)? Or do I just canter him around crooked but with him steady in the bridle and then work to push him to the left rein in the trot to install the buttons? Understanding that riding him crooked would mean that I might struggle with the crookedness for longer (harder problem to fix than head wagging IMO)?

I dunno. There's no right answer I don't think. Other than to just be a better rider and do both simultaneously. But that's not happening on its own! I might try to talk to Tracey on Tuesday and ask her about it.

I love how much the spot behind his withers has filled in

We ended with some amazing trot work left, with me working to put him into the left rein. He felt super in the contact and like a real life Training level horse that I could go in and get an 8 on his trot work with. His changes of direction were completely perfect and relaxed, he was over tracking like mad (he better, his back is super short), and he was sensitive to my weight changes and use of my core to keep him from curling.

Damn. When he's good he's so fun! And when he's bad, well, I just need to accept that shit happens. I told BRH trainer at the end of the ride "one day I'm going to wake up and realize it's been a month since we had a truly bad ride with bolting and spooking and real naughtiness. But that day I'm going to be frustrated that his leg yield isn't steep enough or his pirouettes aren't tight enough or he drops out from under me in the piaffe to passage transition, and I probably won't be all that much happier than I am today." Ain't that the truth.

Good and Ugly

Wednesday was simultaneously a really good day and kind of a crappy day. Mostly it was just very much a young horse day.

TC came out and was in a mood. One of my barn mates walked by and said that TC had been trotting back and forth in his paddock because his half sister came into the barn (nowhere near him, but he heard her whinny). Did not want to know about that. So in the back of my head, I was worrying about that. I asked where the horse was, and the lady said she was in the barn. I decided to avoid the barn and walk around it for warm up instead.

He looks better than he did last year, but that's not saying much,
he is still so freakishly awkward

So I walked around the barn and immediately found ourselves staring at the mare. TC got SO excited and hauled me over there. The mare looked at him, then walked to the very end of the turnout paddock and ignored him. TC wasn't very happy about me wanting to leave the area, so I got off, did some ground work, and took him back to the cross ties to get on again and walk around the barn the other direction.

We avoided the mare but he was so on edge wandering around. Someone was in our round pen and three people were in the covered, so I headed into the arena feeling apprehensive.

And I rode that way. Because I'm dumb.

I walked around for a while and then trotted to the left. He was being a complete brat in this one area of the arena. For some reason he whinnies and balks every time he passes this one spot. I knew I should hit him, I knew I should kick him, I knew I should ride him forward, but I didn't. I just sort of ignored it and was coached against my will by the trainer there who likes to make me want to run her over with my dumb horse.

SISTER! She gave zero fucks about him. She is
SO dappled, I hope he looks like that next year!

After doing everything wrong, it was not surprising to me when TC bolted. While TC took off, I said outloud "are you serious right now?" and trainer started yelling at me about whether I had longed him and maybe I should longe him and why didn't I longe him.

I got him stopped but the damn longe conversation switched the flip in my head and I stopped letting the damn horse take advantage of me because I do not want to have to prep that horse. Fuck that horse. He will go forward and he will be good and if he isn't and if I fall, I'm taking him down with me.

And then we had the BEST ride ever. Because I need about sixty more lessons from TC on the subject of RIDE THE FUCKING HORSE before I actually do it from the get go.

The ride was so good though. We worked on transitions at first, and they were actually good to the left. Normally he struggles that way, like not only is the transition shit, but the trot is shit for a good circle or two afterward. But both directions he stayed round and relaxed over his back and picked up quite a rideable trot! Excellent!

Meet Wally my best cat friend at the barn

About this time, my uninvited trainer exited the arena, TC got a bit upset about that horse, but luckily there were two AMAZING western horses in there going nice and slow and only trotting so I focused him on them and we shared a circle.

I put him in canter because he was getting all upity and made him canter to the right until he broke twice. It reminds me of my meta analysis in grad school about children being satiated to an item so they'd stop screeching for it. I made him canter until he thought that cantering wasn't that fun.

The canter felt GREAT after we had some bucking threats. At first I was a bit tense to the right, mostly because I was still riding like crap (but RIDING this time, progress is good) and then I slowly started to sit down and ride better. He's offering roundness that way and is surprisingly well connected.

To the left, the canter is real bad. He's trying to come on the bit, but he's just crap at it. It's my fault too, in hopes of getting him to steer, I would pull on the inside rein and then release. So he's learned to head wag. Ugh. I'm certain I can fix it with more miles, but it annoys me because it feels like a new-ish problem. But I know that it's not true- he was just tense and braced before. As he starts to relax he can actually respond to the rein aids and so it's not him who needs to change, it's me. But without steering it's harder to keep both reins even. Thanks TC for the lesson, will be fixing that soon.

So derpy right now

Back in trot and I felt like I had my sort of trained horse back. I looked in the mirror and saw a horse I barely recognized in comparison to even a year ago. He was forward- so forward that my leg could hang quietly but not tense or overreactive to my aids. He was so steady on the contact, which was incredibly light. He was straight (?!?!?!), and easy to maneuver with my outside rein and thigh. And best of all, you couldn't tell that he would be the sort of horse who would think to retract his neck EVER. Actually I was riding him too out with his neck (which I'm cool with).

I decided to just do a pattern on him- across the diagonal, down the long side, across the diagonal, down the longside, etc. He's really good about changing directions, but does lose a tiny bit of rhythm sometimes or will get a little bit on the muscle, especially when going from right to left. So that was good to work with. We also had to dodge the other rider, which I'm really happy we were able to do, since a lot of the time riding him with other people is either me slamming on the brakes or the other rider having to dodge me.

Hanging out in the covered like a grown up horse

In the end I let him stand in the middle with the western horses (who had stopped to talk). I want him to be good about standing around, which he already is for the most part. I can't stand horses that won't let you use them as a couch! He was happy to stand there and be told how great he was. I don't blame him.

Unfortunately after I put him back, he was running around because of his damn sister. I hope he gets over it soon. But I mean if he can't handle cantering three steps in his paddock and turning around, cantering three steps back, et cetera, I don't really know how he's going to do canter pirouettes and passage one day. But still, STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

I wrote about Tuesday's ride yesterday but obviously didn't post about it. It was a boring post. Mostly, TC was just really fucking good. Not as good as he was in this ride by the end, but much better than this ride in the beginning.

Taking the Time

After how well TC did on Saturday, I was super excited to ride him on Sunday. I headed out in the morning before doing a round of shopping for various brother's-wedding-related clothes/shoes.

As I was grooming TC, I saw someone was riding in the round pen. It was my rehab buddy! She has a young horse with a tendon injury too (I guess TC's is a ligament), so we commiserate sometimes. Most of the time we ride at different times so don't have to share, but Sunday I was going to have to wait.

Being so patient

It was getting hot, so part of me wanted to go into the covered, but one of my friends had been in there for a while. First, she's not a fan of riding with horses who might bolt straight at her (I wonder why), and second she was in there for a while and I didn't want to ride with someone else in the arena, lest TC get attached to the horse and then get upset when the horse left.

So I decided to hop on him and wander around the barn. I found a spot to stand and talk to one of my friends where I could see the round pen. TC is getting so good at letting me talk to people. We chatted until the round pen was open. But then I saw other friend walk by... Hmmmm.

I wandered over to the covered arena, no longe and no round pen work prior, and decided that if it was a bad day, I'd just get off and go to the round pen.

TC was PERFECT. No bolting, no bucking, no rearing, only a bit of whinnying and head shaking.

He looks weirdly light in this picture

He was a bit lazy feeling, and I'm not sure why. It could have been the heat, it could have been that he was a touch nervous and had a tiny bit of tension over his back, it could be that I AM BREAKING HIM AND HE IS GOING TO DIE, it could be that I was wondering why he was being lazy rather than riding him forward.

So that meant that he wasn't quite as steady on the contact as he normally is. But that's okay.

We warmed up by doing figures all over the arena. Figure-8s, circles in varying locations, going across the diagonal. It was super fun! I still keep him away from the far ends of the arena. One of the short sides is in the sun, so fuck that, it's too hot to ride in the sun. The other short side has the gate, where TC seems to aim himself for when he bolts. So also fuck that. But there's still plenty of space in the middle to ride.

I then wanted to work on walk-trot transitions. I was telling my friend who also rides with Tracey that I just KNOW that my first lesson is going to be filled with them. No reason to take a lesson until I fix them, lest we spent 45 minutes doing them (how much do you want to bet that it takes me FOREVER to perfect these things before my first lesson, and we STILL work on them the whole time because I've done them wrong?). So we worked on straightness and roundness in the transitions. I think it's just a strength thing. Especially to the left- it takes him a while to get straight and round at all gaits in that direction in general. So obviously that weakness will be magnified in the transition.

We got some good ones to the right though! It's the much easier direction for him at this point. He still wants to hop into trot though. But again that will go away as he gets stronger.

I love the silver bits in his mane coming through

I had it out a little bit with him about the canter transitions too. I don't mind that he's crooked and tense in the canter. What I do mind is that when I go to pick up the canter, he insists on cantering sideways for the first five steps. That's annoying. So I wouldn't let him canter sideways. So he wouldn't canter. So I'd make him canter. So he'd pick up the counter canter. So I'd make him counter canter (hey it's never too early right? I mean it's too early but he doesn't know that). So... he decided that cantering in a somewhat straight line wasn't that bad.

The canter once again felt GREAT. I can really push it forward over the ground and into my hand (versus in the past always feeling like I was being dragged forward). To the right I can get super soft in my hand and follow the oscillation of his neck a bit better. Yay! Because that allows me to work on the quality of the canter. To the left I'm still having to rescue him from his own crookedness a bit too much. He just needs miles in canter, and I'm still restricting him in amount of cantering, probably for another couple of weeks. I want him at full work well before October 1st (vet said he could do full work right away but I disagreed).

We ended with some wandering around in the arena. He really likes mirror selfies. After his Saturday ride, I parked him by the mirror to take pictures of us. On Sunday when we were walking around, he parked himself by the mirror. And he actually let me post to instagram from his back for the first time!

Another awesome thing about the ride was that I walked him around the ranch a little bit afterward. I mostly either get off and lead him around or I walk him just straight back to the cross ties. I wandered around and found some people to talk to. It felt like I was on Rico again. Just hanging out.

Are you smiling?

Monday's ride just wasn't. I had been super paranoid about TC's leg over the weekend after he had been so quiet. I'm not really sure if anything is going on, very likely nothing. This happened with Rico too, where I would convince myself he was lame and then he was fine. It's not a new feeling, but it's also not fun.

In addition to my paranoia, the woodchipper was there so we couldn't use the covered, the footing in the round pen was questionable, and TC had been great for two days. All that meant that I chose to do a mostly-walk ride. Sort of a day off for a horse who wants to murder me the day after his days off.

We took our time (hand) walking around the ranch. I took him in the covered and he was actually okay until he wasn't. I don't blame him, it was a lot to ask of him. He calmed down and we wandered elsewhere. We got back into the show ring, where last time he bolted and dragged me (in hand) across the arena. He was fine in there but the footing was quite deep so we left. We went to the trail course and he was fine there, he tried to drag me to the minis again but I saw BRH trainer and wanted to freak out at him about TC's leg. He made me feel better and told me to stop using my palm and fingers to determine warmth. Use the back of my hand. Woops, I remember being told that at one point.

 This popped up on facebook and it's just so true

I wasn't sure what to do (the entire day was me struggling to make decisions so not surprising) so I decided to take him to the round pen and just ride the damn horse. But when I saw the footing, I decided to longe him for just enough time to get a video so I could send it to my vet if necessary. I made the poor horse stand while I ignored him and sat on the mounting block to look at his legs frame by frame.

News flash, horse isn't lame (did anyone expect him to be?). Doesn't mean he's not going to be lame or the tiniest bit of difference between his legs isn't a sign of problems to come. But he wasn't lame that day. However, the footing still wasn't good so I hopped on but stayed in walk.

There's plenty to do in walk. Like when you try to halt TC on the bit, he thinks that you mean walk very slowly and he does just that until you pull him to a halt. Let him come up off the bit and he halts just great. Poor confused pony. The rein back is becoming less like pony wrestling, he even stays on the bit during it! But the steps aren't the clearest. He hesitates as he steps back and drags his back feet. Just needs more repetition on that. It's improved so much, but there's still so far to go (story of my time with this horse!).

He got his face washed for the first time (I've
been spraying it, but never put soap on him)

We have a turn on the haunches worthy of Second level to the left. Yah it surprised me too. I saw it in the mirror the other day in the covered and was like DAMN. So we worked the haunches in to the right to get that side better. He just makes it too large that way. To the left the main straightness issue is due to him not wanting to engage his left hind. So we did some turns on the forehand, focusing on roundness and coming off that left leg appropriately.

We ended with some free walk. He's getting good at prowling along in the medium walk (I just need to make sure I'm making him do it every day) but the second I get him low like a free walk, he gets uncomfortable being so forward. So just time for that too.

He takes a drink after his ride so I get these crappy conformation
shots. I need to do a day where I bathe him and fight with him to get
him to stand square so I can ACTUALLY get a conformation shot.

It was a great ride. I'm most proud of him for being so patient when I made him stand with me while I was sitting down looking at his legs in the video. He just seems to be settling into life these days. I say this before riding on Tuesday, so maybe he'll be nuts, but I'm just so enjoying him. And I think that's where the paranoia is coming from.

When he was being a jerk, my backup plan for him (which doesn't include me continuing with ownership of him if I can help it) didn't make me thaaaat sad. Like whatever I wasted money but I can just save this year and buy something better suited to me in the spring, something not so young and dumb. But now when he's showing me the horse I knew he could be when I bought him... I just want so desperately for him to stay sound. Maybe he'll be bad again this week and I won't care as much!

Best Laid Plans

My plan had been to ride on Friday, then give TC Saturday off, but my schedule shuffled around enough where I was able to ride on Saturday, so Friday turned into TC's day off. Which was good, TC had worked hard and was body sore on Thursday anyway.

We went into the covered round pen, which is where
we will probably be longeing in the winter. TC was
very skeptical 

I had a bit of extra time after coaching at the show, so I mostly wanted to do barn chores. My tack was getting beyond where I like to keep it cleanliness-wise. My saddle tends to look real nasty when there's even a few specks of dirt on it. And poor TC- his bit wasn't super clean.

So I did all that and then grabbed TC for some grooming. While I pulled his mane, BO came over and chatted with me. She told me all about the awesome clinicians (and some, er, not great ones) who were coming to the area in the fall. It made me itch for a dressage lesson so much! But alas I sort of know what I'm doing at this level and I think I need to wait to branch out with clinicians until TC is better in new places. Plus I really want to ride with Tracey first. I'm hoping for one or two lessons with her this fall once TC is ready!

I also have some plans to maybe take him as a non-compete horse to some shows this fall, but it will all depend on finances since I think the couple lessons will take priority. As much as that will help me out a lot with feeling prepared to show him in the spring (hopefully), I just plain love lessons. So we'll see! Hopefully I'll be able to do a bit of both.

Very tall by the riding school...

After grooming, I was considering riding, but my tack was so clean and crazy trainer was afoot so I decided to take TC on a walk around the ranch. I really wanted to get him back toward the riding school- there's a trail back behind it that I always loved riding on with Rico. It's really not a very exciting trail, but that trail and the long driveway by the turnouts are the only places TC hasn't been yet.

The riding school has some mini horses and a mini donkey, so we wandered over to see them first. TC grew up next to mini horses and has been around donkeys all his life, so he wasn't too impressed. They all walked up to sniff noses and all TC wanted to do with them was play. He tried nipping them and I had to pull him away. Poor little ponies.

We tried wandering down behind the riding school but then TC grew several hands and I looked down at my tennis shoes and in a rare moment of intelligence, turned around. Instead, we headed down another aisle to some other mini donks! TC has seen them before, but we walked up and sniffed noses with them too.

To end our walk, we walked by the scene of the rear from last week. No drama this time, mostly because the horses were being quiet in turnout. Good pony!

Awww new friends

Friday night and almost all day Saturday I was busy, meaning that I didn't get to TC's barn until closer to 5 on Saturday evening. I was curious as to how this would go, I used to ride him at night (in the dark!) in the fall, but for the most part, I've been riding him in the mornings. Mostly because it gets real windy at the barn starting at 2, but also because most of the time I work in the afternoons/evenings.

There was no one in sight, which wasn't great for me. Friday night there was some not-TC-related drama in my life and my mind was still reeling from that. So no one to distract me with conversation. But also no one to complain about me putting Netflix on my phone and blasting it at myself. It helped distract me a bit.

Maybe too much of a distraction, since I got him all tacked up and I forgot his neck strap and longeing stuff in the tack room. It was so hot (and the wind just felt like a heater blowing in my face) that I just figured I'd get on. Whatever. There is longeing stuff out by the round pen if I really needed it.

We lasted five minutes in the round pen doing trot work with lots of head shaking and me yelling at TC to knock it off before I felt like I was going to burst into flames in the heat. Bleh. Across the way I saw the covered arena... it was empty.

Mirror selfies!

We walked over when I decided that I'd rather deal with some shit in the nice cool covered arena than have a good ride in the scorching round pen.

The heat meant that the couple of bolts he offered were half assed. Like what a pony does to a small child to get them to pull back on the reins so they can stop. He'd be trotting along and all of a sudden he's like HELL YEAH HERE WE GO ah fuck it's so hot maybe not. We had a few moments where he really looked at something and I had to remind myself to ride the horse. A couple times I just taught myself out loud. Put your leg on Megan. Ride like a jumper. You're safest going forward even though you think you're not. Damnit, just RIDE THE FUCKING HORSE. I'm not a nice instructor to myself, but it reset my brain and I was able to buckle down and just ride.

After a lot of circling, I realized that the arena meant FREEDOM. I could work on anything I wanted! So... and get ready for this... we worked on figure-8s. But it was so much fun! At first it was mostly just drunken wobbling, but then TC got into the groove of it and I was able to switch the bend with my seat and thigh alone, with a little give on the outside rein. He stayed right on the aids and fairly straight.

Mini donks!

We returned to the circle for the canter work. He's so much easier to canter in the arena, mostly because him falling out isn't putting me at risk of losing my leg to the fence, so turning doesn't feel so dire. And being on a larger circle really helps him balance, though the round pen is about 20 meters so we do need to eventually feel comfortable on a circle that size. The first canter transition to the left resulted in him cantering sideways away from my left leg down the entire long side. Erm. Cantering is hard. Eventually I got him on a circle-like shape and he actually came onto the bit! It was amazing, though it reminded me of teaching in Davis when Nicole unlocked the canter and said "this is scary!" because he really started to relax over his back and the first thing I thought was this is kind of awesome but really scary. Nothing happened, but damn the horse has a big canter!

To the right, his canter felt even better! He's still trying to convince me to sit in the hole to the left, but it's taking less of a correction on my part to stay to the right. He even kept his shit together enough for me to use the mirrors. And man, there's a fourth level horse at the barn with a similar canter to TC's and TC looked like that horse on his very worst day. That's progress!

There was a fire like two blocks from Rico!
Luckily it was contained fairly quickly so all is well

He was quite round to the right. It was a bit low and curled, but I'm happy to take anything other than hollow right now. He's only down there because he's not strong enough to carry himself quite yet. He dives into my hand for balance, then curls because the bit is too strong. I'm going to work at finding a bit this week, this is getting ridiculous. I mean it's ridiculous in itself that the horse is so sensitive that he can't handle a 16mm french link. I don't think Rico would consider that a bit, probably just a lifesaver... But TC wants his 20+mm double jointed bit. And it's becoming fairly apparent that whatever TC wants, TC gets.

But that CANTER! It felt like a normal canter, like I could sit down into it and RIDE it rather than cantering just because the dressage levels dictate that we canter. I'm now so excited to start working on the quality of the canter (not good!) and the quality of the transitions (not good!) and the connection (not as bad as it once was!) and the straightness (so bad!). It's sometimes so funny to think that in the future I'll be working on canter pirouettes, because right now we can't even canter in the vicinity of the arena that we want to canter in.

SO CUTE

All in all it was a great couple of days with TC. I'm feeling really good about how he's going right now. We're almost half way through the three month waiting period for his injury. I've been thinking about it less and less at times, but other times I feel so overwhelmed by it. If I want to get another ultrasound, I need to call my vet fairly soon and make an appointment for early October. He didn't think it was necessary but I'm not sure. Part of me is nervous that he'll find something or that the injury will be slightly worse or whatever. The other part of me thinks that I'd rather find it out then rather than later in the winter when the horse explodes in turnout and breaks himself again. We'll see.

I'm doing my best to still just take it one day at a time and not get too worried about the future. And these were a great couple of days!