Abs of Steel, Apparently

Friday I opted to take the day off work. My brother and SIL were taking me down to LA that day for a magical weekend and despite being really excited about going, it was the third weekend in a row where I didn't get to ride. TC had been a bit of a nut all week riding early in the mornings, so I was so excited to be able to do some barn chores and then ride him around 9 rather than 7:30. 

I'm beyond glad I did it! It gave me so much confidence about signing up for the show in a couple of weeks. TC was brilliant. 

He's so cute

 I had wanted to school the lengthenings all week, but with TC being overdue for shoes and an idiot, I didn't get a chance to. Despite a TON of stuff going on around the ranch (including people moving hay, sprinklers in the trail course behind the court, and just lots of people wandering around), I made us go into the court with the idea that I'd be schooling anything relevant to 1-1. So lengthenings, transitions, and smaller circles. 

We warmed up on large figures, I really like riding on all three circles (A, C, B/E) and randomly turning onto and off of them for warm up in the court. The last few shows I felt like my geometry could be better. I could blame TC's big gaits, but I mean, we're fully capable of good geometry when I ride well so that excuse holds little value. But I will say that it's amazing how much a little collection helps with geometry too! Into canter and TC went to squeal and bolt down the long side, but then thought better of it, so he just went eeeeeeeee and shook his head once. I think he was a bit tired from being a dingbat the day before. 

All week

The canter transition wasn't great and as we were cantering, it sparked a memory of reading some tips by Carl Hester that morning while I was decidedly not getting up for work. The collection should be quite forward thinking, like it should feel like you're about to go forward rather than about to stop.

TC is not behind my leg in the same way Rico was. Rico was behind my leg because I had to keep my leg on to keep him going. If I took my leg off, he would stop. I hold my leg off of TC and he keeps going. But with his bolting problem, I don't often ride him on the edge of a medium, where all I'd have to do is squeeze lightly and have him take off (because like... no thanks). But that's where he needs to go. I know I've had this epiphany before because in the past I've written about how SCARY it is to ride him in that canter. But it finally all connected that THIS is probably what that sticky canter in the show ring presents as at home.

So I slowly got him more and more light to my leg aid with some lengthenings on a circle and he definitely felt better, especially to the left. But I was such a chicken about coming off the circle! I finally made myself do a lengthening down the long side, but only half way. I figured that I'd rather him get to E and think "coming back now?" and then tell him no, rather than him knowing it's a full long side. And honestly, he was fine! There is a LOT more canter in there, both in the collected canter and certainly in the lengthening, but I don't want to push him past his limit positive-tension-wise. 

We're ranked 77th! Top 100 Training level horses in the country!
Uh... celebrate the little things??

After finding our canter, I went back and did a bunch of sitting trot to canter transitions. He's been a bit resistant going left. It's because I started cracking down on being straight AND being on the bit and apparently doing both is hard at first. His mind will be blown when I start insisting that he doesn't pop his croup up to pick up the canter when being straight and on the bit, but I'm waiting on that. The trot felt surprisingly nice to sit, which is what happens when he's lit up and ready to zip off. It's not a comfortable feeling mentally for me, but physically I can sit the hell out of that shit. Well, I can SIT it in the first place, which right now counts as sitting the hell out of it. 

At this point we had hit enough canter work, but I was having so much fun that I wanted to keep riding, so we worked on the trot lengthenings. We started across the weird medium size diagonal that 1-1 and 1-2 use. He tends to want to get a little strung out, which is fine in lengthening, but I need him to be more coiled for the medium. 

I was a little disappointed in the first couple of lengthenings because I had remembered that he was getting more uphill in them before. So I opted to sit the next one. Man did that make a difference! I kept him at more like 60%, sat, and kept my core really strong (as strong as it could be... which is not very strong), and he definitely was much better. How weird would it be to do a First level test all in posting trot EXCEPT the lengthenings? Lol. I figured I'd just do whatever felt right, but I'm able to help him out a lot more sitting.

Still gotta pull that mane

Figuring that if I could sit his lengthening, I could sit for the rest of the ride, we schooled the 1-2 leg yields. I don't think I'll do 1-2 this year. The next show we're doing is going to be T2 and 1-1 each day to collect my Training level certificate or whatever and dabble at First. 

The entries for the show after that is due the first day of the first show, so if we blow everyone away at 1-1 that day with a score in the high 60s or 70s AND he feels rideable in it, I might do 1-1 and 1-2. If not, then I might actually just skip that last show because I'm at a conference in between and it's just a lot to take (plus Jeremy is in town that weekend so I might just audit him and hang out with Peony, which sounds more fun than showing).

The leg yields though, felt great. Sitting them is definitely helpful, he felt really easy to move over and I was able to ride them with more freedom than I have in the past in the sitting trot. We ended the ride with a nice stretchy walk around the ranch while I gave him so many pets and told him he was BRILLIANT. 

The sitting work felt so so good. I'm just not very good at posting I guess, which makes sense since most of my dressage career and lessons have been in sitting trot. But with my back injury and TC's very bouncy gaits, I haven't been able to commit to just sitting all of his trot work. I still have to keep an eye on my back, and TC needs to see the saddle fitter, but I have a feeling that we're going to be making the shift toward sitting everything very soon. Gotta happen some time, and if it results in rides like Friday's, I'm SO here for that. Plus I'll be working on my core strength, abs of steel!

More on this tomorrow

I was bummed to leave TC for another weekend, but tomorrow I'll tell you what I headed off to go do, which ended up being SO MUCH FUN. So TC got a couple days off and I'll be riding this morning, hoping to replicate this ride, but not getting my hopes up because it's cold! 

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!

Cleaning Up a Few Things

Yesterday TC was back to normal and we've got two and a half weeks before our next show. I'm feeling... apprehensive about it. TC is more than ready for First level. Hell, if I didn't care about keeping his record relatively sparkly (though that's not guaranteed even if I do hold him back), he'd be ready for Second.

We are schooling half steps, all the lateral work, counter canter, and I'm absolutely drilling the canter work to prepare for changes soonish (depends on the show schedule, I like to take time off of showing for changes). He's figuring all his shit out and is stepping up to the plate when things get tough. So what's the apprehension from?

At our last few shows, TC was sticky at the canter in the show ring. He absolutely does not feel sticky at home. I can't even replicate it. Sometimes we're cantering around at home and I feel like we're only a year away from PSG (we're not). Then we get in the show ring and he's stacked up in the neck and behind my leg, which leads to bucking and breaks. 

Warming up, he's great. At the last show I wanted to address it, so I zipped him off my leg at the canter in warm up. That lead to this:

He can be such a dork

But he was still a bit behind me. 

I think there are a few possibilities to explain why I struggled at those shows. 

FIRST I have to blame myself, right? Unless the rider tells them it's different, to horses, the show ring is just another arena. We test ride all the time at home. He's seen courts and judge's booths and letters before. Somehow I'm changing my riding in the show ring vs at home and in warm up. I think part of this is from Rico. 

It's probably not news that the FEI levels are HARD and Rico needed all the help he could get from me to get through those tests. That coupled with being behind my leg by default meant that I got used to taking over in the show ring and hoisting him through some movements. Obviously we worked at home to get him capable of everything, but I was not about to let him drop out in a pirouette or halt in the piaffe (not that I was the best at always preventing that from happening lol). 

So then now I get on TC and I basically ride with too much leg/spur in the show ring. It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, where he feels a little behind my leg, I get my leg on to keep him forward, and then he slows down. I tried really hard at our last show to prevent that cycle from starting, even cantering real big down the long side before the test, but it still showed up. Gah. 

So. Much. Leg. Required. 

I also have to address right away that we have shown ONLY at places TC has been this year. He was a nut at the WHP, not behind my leg at all, but honestly I'd rather him be a little sticky than running away with me. At GG, he was quite good, and I did notice that he was behind my leg at the canter, but he also was running away with me a lot at that point so I was cool with it. Then we've been at my trainer's barn four times for shows. It could be that he's just too quiet there. I don't know why he'd be quieter there than at home, but he does REALLY like that barn. Hopefully I'll grab a lesson there at some point and we'll figure it out. 

Stupidly, it could be that he feels the tugging on his neck with braids and he hates that so retracts it and gets behind my leg. I think that's dumb since he's usually pretty good in warm up, but it could be that he gets worse about it over time. So maybe some braiding will be in our future at home. 

It could be just that TC needs more strength. The stress of traveling and being at a horse show (and having to deal with my nerves, though they aren't so bad anymore) might be enough to get him a bit tired, even though I don't do a lot of warm up... We're already addressing this, TC is so so so much stronger now than he was at his last show. 

Calm yourself, dude (he's put on SO MUCH MUSCLE, he looks
so little here)

I guess it could be about changing arenas. A silver lining of the rehab TC did was that we did a lot of this though. We went from the round pen to the covered for months. Even now I ride at times where the guys come in to drag, so sometimes our rides are stretched over two or even three arenas. So it seems unlikely but I'll for sure be doing some practice with that too. 

What I'd tell my students is that it's probably just an amplification thing. You just simply aren't going to have 100% of what you get at home in the show ring. Nope. That's why we school a level above. That's why we make sure we have horses that are fitter than we theoretically need. You'll get 80% at best. I think that in the beginning of the show career for a horse, it's less. As they age, it hopefully becomes more. Rico always gave me more than 80% in the show ring. TC... gives me much less. The show ring amplifies problems, so it could be that TC is always a little behind my leg at the canter and that the show ring makes that worse. 

This is hard for me because let me tell you, when he's in his forward working canter, he scares the hell out of me. It's simply that he feels freakishly powerful. His canter is HUGE. Like I can't explain it. He has so much movement under him but he's sensitive, so it takes a lot of balls to get that powerful canter without accidentally aiding for something terrible. As he gains more strength and experience, I am getting a lot more comfortable with it. But it will just take time for both of us. Time for me to feel braver about really going for a big bold canter. Time for him to walk the line of positive tension without leaping down into the valley of despair, tightening his back, grabbing the bit, and getting out of town. 

Whatever, just glad to show my pony

All in all this is just life with a young horse. It will take him time to be reliable in the show ring. This is why, as entries are coming to a close this weekend, I am going to keep it simple and sign up for a Training level class each day. If the first day goes TERRIBLE, I can scratch at least my First level class on the second day and finish up my training level certificate. 

While I'd love to cram in an entire level this fall to grab my 1-3 score for a freestyle and not have to show First next year, I think I care more about fixing this problem first. And the 1-3 canter work is hell with a sticky horse. So this fall our goal will be to fix the canter problems in the show ring, and then in spring we'll grab that score. Plus I mean, we need to do All Breeds at First next year, so I can't just skip through the level, gotta ride it at least eight times!

Not a Setback

I spoke once on this blog about fear, and I have never tried to hide that I suffer from fear at times in my riding. I ran into someone recently who expressed surprise that you could be an upper level rider and have fear issues. Yep. Probably less likely to happen if you're an upper level eventer. But at least for me, totally possible. 

He's actually just a beach ball 

I mentioned in my post about Sunday's ride that I was a bit concerned about my ability to stay on if he did something because I was so sleep deprived. After getting nine hours of sleep on Sunday night (and being on east coast time so still able to wake up early! Love coming west!), I headed out to the barn rather confidently on Monday morning. 

But that confidence went down a bit when I was leading TC out of his paddock and he leapt into the air. It went down further when all the horses around the barn started galloping around for breakfast. It went down even more when TC tried to join in with them when I got on him. And even further down when we walked over toward another horse who started exploding and TC became completely rigid. 

So cue nervousness that I haven't felt on him in a while. If that was a couple weeks ago, before I was away and before he had a week off, I would have probably just kicked him up and told him to get over it. Whatever, it's colder outside in the mornings because it's now fall. He can be an intimidating horse because he's not a little guy and he's pretty powerful (no one teach him how to buck please), but I feel confident that I can sit anything he throws me. 

Fear is weird, some days I will ride him on a loose
rein on the trails and then there are days like Monday

I went to give myself a hard time and make myself ride through it, but then I remembered earlier this year when I was going through a lot worse with him. I had a rule. Do not be on the horse unless you are confident. I was not confident. I got off.

I could have immediately taken this as a major major setback. I had just gotten off my horse because I was nervous for the first time in like... seven months?

But no, because thinking that it was a setback would for SURE make it a setback. I saw it all the time when I was teaching. People get nervous, then they get upset about being nervous, and turn it into a big deal. No. I like treating nerves like any other part of riding. I have a rogue left hand when I'm not paying attention, I have a tendency to get my knee over my block when horses get behind my leg, and I have some nerves that come out sometimes. It'd be stupid to think that my left hand coming to the inside of the ring was a major setback and that I should be ashamed of myself, it's just another part of my riding that could use some work. 

Knee coming over block and horse still struggling to left with
a slight lateral canter = harder work, not emotional response

We went into the round pen and I told myself, no big deal, longe until you feel comfortable. Then get on and ride in the round pen until you feel bored, then take him back in. 

So I longed him and worked on ground work until he was happily working (and the horses had been fed), then I got on. I was immediately bored. I still made myself trot around a bit. He was a little slow to my leg, which was fine (and actually desirable after he was such a nut). He was super well connected and steady. Everything felt great, quiet, but great. 

I looked out to the nearby arena and decided to go trot in there. Same rules apply: if I can't give him a confident ride, I go back in the round pen. I got in there and we trotted to the right first, our strong side. We stayed on a large circle at one end. Everything felt great. We cantered. It wasn't very good, but it was cantering! 

By the end of the ride, we were doing our loop on a loose rein and I started thinking about the differences in how I approached fear in myself now versus fear earlier this year. 

So much ground work this last winter (also he was
so dark a year ago)

Earlier this year I would have blamed myself for not being brave enough to ride my own horse, I would have used my Gold medal as a way to shame me into riding him through stuff that I didn't want to ride through, I would have felt horrible after a bad ride. Instead, this year, I told myself that it's okay to lose confidence after not riding for a while and that we were just going to start over. It doesn't matter how experienced you are, fear doesn't discriminate. And sure, experience helps with fear, but it can still come back. 

Dealing with it this way makes me feel excited to ride today and push a little further. If we take a week to recover from a week off, who cares? But if I had a bad ride that first day back when I was scared? And if I had dwelled on how bad it is that I'm fearful and an experienced rider? It'd definitely be taking longer than a week! As always, go slow to go fast. 

Except... is it time to put changes on yet? No? Ugh. Okay. Go slow to go fast.

Back to Work

I spent the last week wandering around the east coast. I finally got home yesterday from Virginia (where I was for like 18 hours and it was an adventure lol) and I immediately wanted to go to the barn. Well, actually I wanted to nap. Because I got 4 hours of sleep the night before. It was kind of a shitty day all over, I was sleep deprived and finding stupid shit to get stressed about (like being on the plane thinking that bf didn't text me back and then realizing that he... can't... I'm on a plane. I also had a panic moment about TC's flying changes, which we are not working on, for no reason at all).

NO. I kept waking up feeling like my
alarm wasn't going to go off, ugh

On the way to the barn I stopped at my favorite boba place. Caffeine + boba + food that isn't fried? Hell yes. I'm getting tacos soon too. A week is too long to go without my staples. But I walked up to the door and they were CLOSED.

THIS IS NOT OKAY.

An hour later I had found an open tea place, taken a quick shower to get the cigarette smoke off of me from the night before, and was driving out to the barn.

I got on TC and immediately was nervous. He was super spooky. Normally his spooks don't bug me at all, but without riding for a week and being so so so so tired, I did two short laps around the ranch, then went to get his longeing stuff.

We got into the round pen and sure enough, as always when I give him a week off, TC was short on his left hind. I think I'm going to call chiro-vet out and talk to her about that. But TC just stretched himself out, slowly took bigger and bigger steps, and was totally sound within about five or ten minutes. I mean honestly I was quite lame when I got off of him to longe even because my hips get tight when I don't ride.

He will trot around like this all day long... but yah a little short
on the left hind at first, still, good stretchy pony

Then he picks himself up when he's ready and he's a lot looser

Once as he was properly warmed up, he took the time to gallop wildly away from a lady pushing a wheelbarrow that he's seen a million times. As I was reeling him in, trying to keep him out of the deep footing, the lady starts yelling to me, asking me if she spooked him. In my crazy state I was like "um I mean yeah but he's had a week off so he's a nut" and then thought that like... why does it matter if she spooked him unless she had a time machine to go back and not spook him? My horse spooks at shit. Granted, she's a midday rider and I'm a morning rider, so she probably doesn't see him very much.

The cool thing about longeing was seeing how he's going. I mean he had a week off so theoretically wasn't moving as well, but he looked pretty good! His canter has changed so much, he was a touch mechanical, but I could see how he was really starting to be able to sit down in the canter and elevate the front end.

He basically plods around stretching at the trot on the longe, but he got all sassy at one point and showed me a fancier trot. That and then walking him around the ranch as he snorted at stuff made me feel like I had one of those super fancy dressage horses, rather than a dork.

So today hopefully he'll be feeling more normal. Even if he isn't, I'll be feeling back to normal and I mean, nothing he offered yesterday was all that bad. This was our most intense moment (other than the wheelbarrow bolt)...

Coiling up for the BIGGEST BUCK EVER

Wait for it...

Nah

You be you, TC, never change. Please. Do not learn how to buck (I mean he can and does buck a liiiiitle bigger but this is a signature move when he's squirmy).

Things TC is Afraid Of

I once wrote a list of things that TC made me hate. It was in the first few months of having him home from rehab where I was still getting used to having my horse back.

Since fully accepting that a) TC is just a spooky horse that needs a confident rider, b) he is GOING to bolt sometimes but less often when I don't sit there anticipating it, and c) I can sit anything he gives me (within reason, please don't take this as a personal challenge, TC), I've hated a lot less things from TC's back. The book I keep talking about puts it really plainly: TC will habituate to things over time.

And it's true! Since switching the way I deal with his spooks by NOT changing anything I'm doing (mostly) and instead simply ignoring him, TC's confidence has soared (almost like not being agreed with that his fear is justified has made him realize that spooking at stupid shit is stupid) has surprised me in many ways.

Most recently, I was chatting with a friend and two cats got into a yowling fight right next to TC. They then scattered and one ran under TC's belly and one ran behind his hind legs. TC completely and utterly ignored the cats and continued to beg my friend for love.

The day he passed his vet check and I was sure I was going to
buy him, obviously he has to be really annoying as I take a picture
of "my" new horse

That's not to say that the very next day we didn't totally run away from... wind. So we're kind of in a funny place where TC is gaining confidence about spooky things at different rates. Cats fighting under your belly? Totally fine. Wind rustling in a tree you walk by every day? Completely horrifying. So I've compiled a couple new lists for TC.

Things that scare TC:
- The trail behind the riding school (other trails are okay)
- Bird shadows
- Walking out of or into a center aisle barn
- The saddle rack by the English barn that has been there for years
- The mats by the tractor (but not the tractor) that have been there for years
- Sprinklers that he can see go on every day from his paddock
- Trees rustling in the wind, but only some trees and only from some angles
- The time he thought a tired bull dog had contracted the plague and was going to give it to him

Things that do not scare TC

- Cats running under his legs

- Cats climbing trees right near the arena 

- The resident chicken having a dust bath

- The resident chicken chasing pigeons across the arena in front of him

- A tractor driving up behind him

- Sudden, unexpected Halloween decorations blowing in the wind (trees not okay, halloween decorations fine??)

- Bicycles zipping by him

- Strollers

- Beach ball polo being played near him (to the point of him being whacked in the leg with the ball)

I dunno I just really sometimes think that my horse doesn’t make sense. 

Dichotomous

Friday morning I went out to ride TC and when I got out of my car I knew we were going to have a questionable day. The guys have been watering the covered arena right as I get to the barn and not dragging it until most of the way through my rides. That’s totally fine because I don’t NEED the covered, but it would have been nice to have it on a morning like Friday when it was super windy and the only arena available was lined with trees that TC is pretty sure house the worst kind of birds (but is fine passing the trees when we’re on the other side of them).

Pictured: trees that are not offensive on this side of them, but are
if you are in the arena next to them

 My main goal after a harder ride on Thursday was to work on the throughness and lightness at the canter. TC is quite good about his canter work now, but he still needs a fair amount of support from my seat. In order to get him to be a little more comfortable with me being less involved, I’ve been asking for a less collected canter and being a little less structured and a little more following. Part of this is just amateur proofing him- I want anyone to be able to quietly canter him even if their seats aren’t as educated- and part of this is wanting to make sure that he isn’t always having to collect to the full amount every day, which will help his work ethic and his strength building.

But unfortunately the wind made TC nutty so the only canter I could get was either running away from me or was me being more involved than I had wanted to, supporting him with my seat. Whatever, sometimes rides don’t go according to plan. So we cantered for a long time.

Obnoxious

We worked mostly on just the quality of the collection and riding smaller figures. We did a few simple changes but nothing too exciting. The main issue with his simple changes is his strength anyway, so more collected canter wasn’t going to hurt with that. Plus with him being so reactive, I didn’t want to accidentally have him bolt out of the walk. For the most part we’ve avoided bolts in walk and I don’t want to show him how much fun that is.

The collected canter is feeling GREAT by the way. He can feel a bit stabby in the front end as he’s doing it, which is a baroque thing to do. He’s sort of figured out how to slap his front legs down a bit when he gets tense. So I worked to slow the tempo down and sit in a way that kept him on his hind legs a little longer. I can definitely control the amount of prongyness  so I need to keep an eye on that.

We did a lot of spiraling in and out, which is helpful because he sometimes doesn’t believe he can canter ten meter circles. Spiraling in allows me to feel when and how the canter starts to break down, and then I can stay on that size circle, address the problem, then spiral out again, then back in and try to avoid the problems.

Generally other than bolting pretty hard a couple of times, the ride was super fun. I don’t like the bolting, but when the horse then just gives me a collected canter that Rico didn’t have until he was at Fourth level, I mean, no complaints.

Dear TC, please canter like this from now on, thanks

Saturday’s ride though, was AMAZING in comparison. I actually did get the fun stretchy ride I had wanted out of him. We drilled the basics, including spiraling in and out at the trot, riding large versions of the 1-1 ice cream cones, riding the 2-1 shoulder-in pattern with a focus on being less drunk, and I finally got to work on the throughness at the canter.

He got a little scared randomly of something behind him. It wasn’t the giant trailer that passed us on the road, nor the bicycles, nor the tractor going through the orchard across the street. It was… nothing. Weird. Horse is very strange. 

But for the most part, we enjoyed an antics-free ride. I think the antics will be coming back more now that he's fit and we're coming into winter, but at this point they don't bother me that much. I am glad for all the good rides we get, but I feel like I can pretty much turn any bad ride into a decent ride. So that's good! Still though, TC, not a good reason to be obnoxious.