Some More Dressage

I've been kind of doing dressage a bit randomly. At least half of my rides are trail rides or practicing obstacles or working on mounted archery, but I have done some dressage rides in between, mostly because TC is fat right now due to the pasture. 

Chonky

Such a good boy

But I have been enjoying it more than I have in a few years. I think taking the pressure off of ever returning to the sport for real has really helped. And I've been working through some of the trauma that I experienced in the last few years that led me toward some crippling perfectionism. It was pointed out that I did this in my job and it paid off, but it doesn't work with my horse. 

I dug in further and was able to point to the incident that sent me down this path with the horse at the end of 2020. It's been long enough now and I've had enough therapy now to be able to see what it did to me and be able to start to let go some of the effects. And that's great! It means I can maybe start rebuilding my enjoyment of dressage earlier than I thought. I still have no desire to return to competition, but I do really love what good dressage does for horses. 

Getting my reachy horse back

Feeling pretty good in the balance for a horse who
would rather be a rhombus

Warm up trot, from this video I saw he was carrying
some tension in the right side of his neck so we've
been working on that since

Most of what I'm working on with TC right now has been the connection and how he's feeling on my seat. My primary goals are that he stays in balance, both laterally and longitudinally, and stays out to the contact. His tendency to throw his balance around and retract his neck to keep himself from succumbing to gravity is still very strong. 

I'm picking a different exercise for each ride and just seeing how it helps or hinders him. There's really no major goal other than to get him to burn some calories, gain some muscle, and be easier to ride. I think he's looking and feeling pretty good right now. It's not perfect but it'll never be. 

Canter isn't the best right now but we'll get there

He's so dirty right now

Always lots of cookies

This coming weekend we may be attending a working equitation clinic. Mostly for more obstacle practice, but I also am not opposed to showing in that discipline. It'd be an excuse to wear my fancy new burgundy jacket on this horse (thanks Nicole who bullied me into buying it because it was super cheap!), or maybe my navy one. And also just more practice with obstacles in the show ring!