Mirror Mirror

Normally on the weekdays, I don't get to ride in front of the mirrors. The reason being, is that I pull into the barn juuuust as the water truck goes into the arena. When my fellow morning boarder was still around, she insisted that the guys then go get the tractor to drag it and have it ready by 8am, which is right when I start my ride, so that was perfect. Now that she's gone, the guys like to go water a few other arenas and then drag the covered ring around 9am, which is when I'm getting off.

I'm a bit nomadic now then, in the mornings, finding arenas that I don't get kicked out of by the water truck. This has been fine in itself, I don't mind switching arenas unless I'm in a major hurry (normally not too much- he gets lighter rides on the mornings that I have 10am meetings). But I have missed the mirrors! The last weekend I was in town for was in mid-September, and the next weekend I'm in town for isn't until mid-October.

Look at his dapples! And his white face that he
sticks in the dust every day

Well, yesterday with most of the office at a conference (I decided to say fuck conferences to this one, since I have two back-to-back in November and I just want to ride my damn horse), I opted to work from home! Which meant that I sort of dicked around at the barn before riding. That coupled with the tractor getting done around 8:45 meant that I got to spend a glorious ride in front of the mirrors for the first time in a while (since before being gone for all the weekends, I was riding in the court a lot).

Aside from his tail looking fabulous since I had time to brush it, TC himself looked great!

We started the ride by spooking at pretty much everything. He hasn't been ridden in there much because of the aforementioned reasons, and we're still getting over our time off. I'm happy to report that I felt back to normal, if a little uncoordinated in the sitting trot, and told him to get over himself about the spooking.

Sprinklers are terrifying (this is from Tues)

The trot work looks pretty good, though it really hasn't changed too much. He's steadier and more confident keeping his neck out, which is great, but I was really hoping to see more lift through his shoulders than I saw. He's by no means downhill, but he still wants to go with a little dip in front of the withers. I think that's just strength right now, and a bit of his conformation- he can get his neck up without bringing his shoulders up, which means that I need to be quite diligent about getting him to build the correct muscles.

The canter work looks AMAZING. To the right he's really learning how to sit down and set back into his hocks. I can add to the canter and bring it back without losing him. He stays really straight now going down the longsides.

So scary

The problem in the canter that I'm having is the connection. It feels great, but there are two distinct places he's comfortable. One is with a slightly retracted neck (so he's a bit on the muscle vs totally through) but on the vertical. The other is with a longer neck, but quite behind the vertical, where he almost feels like he's going to fall over. Jeremy had noted this, and prefered the more uphill place. On the one hand, don't argue with Jeremy Steinberg. On the other hand, I will ALWAYS be able to lift this horse's head up, so maybe we should start a little low.

On my own, I've been playing with both- some rides I ride him more collected than others. Hopefully we'll be able to find a middle ground. But this is where I'm really hurting for a lesson. My last lesson was pretty much on the dot two months ago. Obviously TC has come SO FAR since then, but I'm hitting a little bit of a wall with the throughness in the canter, and can't help but to think that it might have something to do with our issues in the show ring.

The look he gave me when the sprinklers sprayed
a tree near him

We didn't do anything too fun, TC's shoes were due like a week ago and he hadn't had them done (farrier came after my ride). I really need to get on the lengthenings at trot and canter if we're going to try for First 1. So those will be my project today and tomorrow. But other than that, there isn't much in First that is all too different from Training 2/3.

So we just drilled the basics within the First level outline. Walk trot transitions, making sure that he picks up an improved trot from the walk. Trot canter transitions, making sure that he... picks up the canter. Woops, our first one was pretty terrible. After that it was mostly still working on maintaining throughness since he comes ever so slightly above the bit into the canter sometimes. Canter trot transitions without them feeling like he's jumped off a rope swing. Circles, some spiraling in and out, to improve the mechanic of the hind legs (since TC was bulging in with his ribcage and my attempts at pushing the ribcage out simply put his inside hind leg across his outside hind leg and I lost the bend in his hocks). All that fun stuff.

Eyeing a dog nearby

By the end of the ride, we had some REALLY good work that felt like it was back to where it had been. Despite noticing a few things that could use improvement, I'm really pleased with where things are with TC.

Not having lessons for two months was hard, but that just means that I can go lesson crazy now, right?? Well, if I'd just be home on a weekend for once! BO doesn't allow other trainers into the barn to teach other than my own trainer (who can't teach in the evenings or early mornings) and a trainer who is best suited for riders who aren't me. So this next weekend when I'm finally back in town, it's lesson time!