Journal: Vacation Mode

My last journal was about my successful hunter show (still so excited for that!). The week after the show, I was in full honeymoon/vacation mode – we were leaving a week after the show, and I found it very difficult to maintain an semblance of motivation.

So Sunday Rob got a rest, then Monday we had a wonderful bareback ride in the rain. The ride was an incredible bit of sensory overload – warm Robbye, cool rain, and a nice double rainbow for the eyes.

Tuesday we had a short dressage ride; my mom and brother came to watch, and I really wanted to show my mom the progress the two of us have made. She did seem impressed! Then, Mom and Connor cooled her out. I just love that I can put non-riders or out-of-shape-riders on Rob and trust that she’ll take care of them.

Two more days of lazy no-rides, then Friday we had a GREAT longe with lots of transitions, and particular emphasis on the downwards. She was awesome. I was very pleased.

Saturday I tried to replicate that work under saddle. I shortened my reins a tad and focused on working through my core, and Robbye really stepped up to the plate. Longing really does a lot for Rob – both mentally and physically.

Sunday I flew through my barn chores and then it was time for THE HONEYMOON. Which was amazing. I’m still planning on documenting it here, for my own sake.

The next Monday was my first day back home, and of course I didn’t feel like riding. I was in vacation mode, still! So I spent a day grooming – buzzing her roach down, clipping her face, giving her a good curry. She was in a horrible mood – I should have seen the next few days coming…

Playing with her head just to show off her nice haircut. How sweet!

Tuesday was our first ride back. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was bad. There was a lot of random stopping, kicking, protesting, and general brattiness. Her upward transitions were absolutely nonexistent. It was like she had regresssed a year in the week she had off. This is the TRUE vacation mode, right here!

We did end with some good work, and the next day I tried riding bareback in an effort to create less of a “work” environment. I thought a more relaxed ensemble would inspire some more compliant work. Unfortunately, Rob was still in vacation mode and, riding bareback, I was left with fewer tools to fight with.

At this point I was mad. I had just spent a week having so much fun, and here I am, not excited to be back, having to fight to enjoy my hobby. Those rides were not fun, and she was being a bitch on the ground, too. Time for a intervention.

So…back to the longe! The longe is such a safe place for us. It’s a perfect way for me to instill dominance, forward, attentiveness, and roundness all at the same time. Robbye also seems to appreciate the structure – I think it’s an activity she genuinely enjoys.

I completely kicked her ass on the longe. FORWARD TRANSITION FORWARD ROUND FORWARD PROMPT-WHOA FORWARD TRANSITION TRANSITION TRANSITION FORWARD FORWARD FORWARD.

And she was great! Willing to work and trying very hard to please. We got a good workout, and I honestly felt like our relationship immediately improved.

Mom and Rob!

She and I just really can’t like each other unless I kick her butt every once in a while.

So that was a great workout, and a great exercise for our relationship (and my sanity). Friday we did the same thing but shorter, then she got two days off to think about her life.

Monday, it was time to get back to riding. So I longed her as usual, but with her saddle on instead of her surcingle. Then, I got on her, changing nothing else. Julie longed us, providing a little motivation with the whip when necessary.

It was good. She wasn’t as forward or as prompt as I would have liked, but there was no kicking, no bucking, no brattiness. She was submissive and fairly forward, so I was happy with our progress.

Tuesday, our trainer, Kim longed us. Now that was an experience. It’ll get its own post!

Journal: We Don’t Need No Arena

Robbye’s been getting more and more ring sour. I really don’t blame her – we’ve been drilling dressage and not much else for months now, and I’ve been too much of a wuss to leave the arena. Well more and more we’ve been moving those dressage rides out of the sandbox!

At the very end of May, we had a great ride in one of our fields. I downloaded a Tabata app, put on an audiobook and snapped her rope reins to her halter, and off we went to do some trot and canter sets. I was really pleased with how she did at the sets – moved out even as she got tired – and it really was a superb workout.

Unfortunately, we ended up having a little too much fun. We were on our final set and both wanted to gallop up the final hill. I said, “Go ahead!”, and she said “Woo hoo!” with a couple little bucks, and I said *thump* as my sweaty basketball shorts slipped right off of her and landed on the hard, dry ground. Ugh.

You know, sometimes falls are nothing. Land on your feet or your butt, pop right up, sand and dirt are soft! And others hurt. It seems to me like it’s one or the other, with nothing in between.

Unfortunately, this was a hurt fall. I actually didn’t get back onto my feet for fifteen seconds or so, which is unusual for me. I also whacked my helmet pretty good, and since I wasn’t riding with any tack I really didn’t want to get back on and risk falling onto a broken helmet! So I took a few days off while a new helmet was shipped to me. It worked out well, since I was so sore.

(Unfortunately, the day after my fall was our annual Mud Run. I LOVE this event but it’s not fun with a sore back, shoulder, and thigh!)

Me and Zeke with two of my brothers and their SOs. Cutest prom photo EVER.

When my new helmet arrived I was raring to ride again – a good feeling! A fall with no lingering fear will probably help my confidence considerably.

Two days in a row, we had stupendous dressage rides in the fields. Julie did some driving dressage work with Yogi while I rode, and Robbye was 100% focused on me even as the cart clattered around.

What a picture. So romantic!

Sunday was our hunter pace, then Tuesday I had an uneventful lesson where we worked on getting a consistent roundness and correct bend. Kim had a ton of nice things to say about our progress, though it’s gotten to the point now where it’s hard to see the day-to-day changes.

Wednesday I longed, and Robbye was amazing. Nailing transitions, moving out, acting like a pro. I think she likes longeing.

Friday we jumped in the outdoor at “show height” because… Saturday we went to a hunter show! I’m very excited to tell you all how that went 🙂

It’s Show Time! Ohio Standardbreds and Friends Hunter Pace

In case you were thinking my horse was small – here’s proof to the contrary >.<

Immediately off of the trailer, Robbye was…out of control. Her anxiety just completely takes over her, and she can’t focus on me to save her life. She doesn’t bolt or kick, but she completely ignores me, screaming and trotting in circles, to the point of running into and over me. That’s just absolutely not acceptable for any horse, much less for one as big as her.

(I don’t understand where all of this anxiety comes from. Since I bought her at barely three years old, Rob and I have traveled frequently. Trail rides, shows, fun little events like this hunter pace. Why does my calm, cold-blooded mare get so scared when we go somewhere new?! Maybe it’s because I get so scared. That’s probably it. )

And she was so distracted and nervous that I couldn’t get a chain over her nose to be able to control her. I have lots of “lessons learned” from this trip, and one is that I’m going to put the chain on in the trailer, right before she gets off, from now on. She respects the chain and I usually only have to bop her with it once, so…it’s worth it for my safety.

Slowly reconnecting with her brain…

Ordinarily at this point at a show I’d tie Rob to a trailer and let her scream herself silly. Well I’m trying to learn from you all, and not just from the people I watch in real life, and I know many of you use hand-walks to calm your horses at strange locations. Why have I always just left Robbye to cry herself silly? Probably because I was busy crying MYSELF silly! But the hand-walking worked very well; as we made our way among the trailers and lots of sane, happy horses, Robbye inched away from insanity and back toward grazing and her usual cold-bloodedness. By the time we got back to the trailer she was only crying once in a while, and was willing to eat hay like the big girl she is.

The pace course was gorgeous.

(I also used the hand-walking as a sort of dominance warm-up time, since her submission is our #1 issue right now. We’d take a few steps, halt, then back. Take a few steps, halt, then do a turn on the forehand. Walk a few steps, then graze for a minute. This got her paying attention to me, submitting to me, and relaxing.)

Anyway, I know this is all super riveting, but it was actually a great break-through for both of us!

I had decided, knowing that there would be an empty dressage court, a warm up arena looking a lot like a stadium course, and a hunter pace covered in cross country jumps, that I was going to pretend this was a horse trial. So we tacked up for dressage, then proceeded to absolutely rock our “dressage test”.

Sane horses can eat at the trailer.

This is the first time ever that I’ve been able to replicate our under saddle work away from home. Ever. And considering the way this day started – completely out of control – I am absolutely thrilled. She was round, forward, willing, and happy. I felt confident, brave, and really really proud of my horse. After a long dressage school, we walked straight through the trailer parking – with zero drama! – and popped over the warm up jumps for our “stadium round”. They were only about a foot high, and I was in my dressage saddle so I’m sure I wasn’t pretty…but man, was it fun. When Rob realized it was time to jump she just lit up, and happily galloped over the little fences. I’m calling it a clear round!

At this point she was completely pooped and so was I.

Aren’t we a cute team!

We each got a short break, then it was time for our actual pace. We didn’t do all of the fences – just the small ones – but I am just so proud of both myself and my mare. Though she was tired, she was very willing, and offered some gallop even at the end of the 30 minute trail ride.

We care more about documentation than winning the pace. Selfie break!

(It really was a great workout for both of us, too. I really pushed her to keep working even when she was tired, and pushed myself to not feel guilty about it!)

Really, I would have been happy if we had headed home after our dressage school. We got past her new-place-crazies, I got on by myself and worked through her giraffe stage, ending with the quality of work I would expect at home. The fact that we followed that up with a great little jumping round, and then followed that up with a trail ride, and on that trail ride jumped some more!? 

What a successful day. I was brave. She was brave. We had fun and definitely learned a lot.

Journal: A Whole Lot of Nothing

I’m way behind on my journal, which was the whole reason I started this blog a couple years ago. I just need to sit down and write it and try not to whine too much!

When I last journaled, I was longeing almost every day and asking for lots of long-and-low in an attempt to build her into a round front end. After a day off with an incredible migraine, I went right back to the longe. After kicking her butt on the longe (it’s really all about kicking butt with me and Rob. I should have named my blog something along those lines. “Kicking Butt: Establishing Dominance Between an Alpha Mare and an Alpha Woman”. I like it), I got on and Julie attempted to enforce forward by longeing us and smacking Rob with the longe whip when necessary. It…didn’t really work. Rob doesn’t respect the longe as a “scary” tool. I know now that incessant, loud, violent kicking works better than abusing her with the whip.

(I sound like a horse killer. Sheesh.)

We got new fishies and the kitties LOVE them.

Saturday we were going to go on a trail ride, but Julie didn’t feel well so I groomed instead. Clipped hairy face and bridle path, trimmed her feathers and tail, considered for the millionth time roaching her mane. All in a day’s work!

Sunday I had a very crappy lesson. Nothing bad happened but…I didn’t come away with any takeaways. The way I see it – I just paid for half an hour of lesson that I could have accomplished myself. I hate wasting money, I hate having unproductive rides, and I hate that I’m upset with Michele for not being able to help us when it is truly not her fault. (I know that she’s frustrated with us too, which is another reason this lesson particularly bothered me.)

For two days I fiddle farted through the cold, not doing any riding. And trying not to think about riding.

Wednesday and Thursday I tried changing the subject by setting up some jumps – I need to start jumping again if I’m going to get over this stupid fear. So I set up what is now a big jump for me – probably around 2′, with cavaletti on each side to make a tiny hogsback. It looked scary – all 2′ by 2′ of it. So we did it once, I was scared but pleased with myself, and I didn’t want to mess it up so I quit there. Sheesh.

Crappy picture of our crappy hogsback.

Thursday I planned to tackle it a million more times, but Robbye managed to break her reins (totally my fault but ugh…worst timing ever. Couldn’t it have happened when I was in a good place, psychologically?) while I was setting up the fences. So instead of one larger fence, I made several small ones (18″, mostly. Baby steps!), put on Robbye’s halter and roping reins, and jumped that way.

The tack of champions, people.

Which ended up being a great confidence booster, because if we can do it without a bridle, of course we can do it with!

That Friday I took another day off, then Saturday I set up a course of poles on the ground and rode them bareback and with just my halter and roping reins. It was fun and pointless.

(This is what happens when I have a pointless ride. I take stupid selfies. The horror!)

Sunday Julie and I took a trip to The Tack Trunk, my childhood tack store, which it closing/moving at the end of this month. Very bittersweet for me – but I managed to spend a gift certificate and some more money besides, so that was fun. We also visited our local Dover store, which we had never seen before. It was nice, but no Tack Trunk.

(Bye forever, Tack Trunk…)

After that trip, I didn’t feel like going out to the barn. And I didn’t feel like riding the next day…or the next. I ended up taking an entire week of from riding, which is very unlike me. I cleaned my stall, I handed out cookies, and I didn’t do anything else. Maybe Robbye needed the break and maybe she didn’t, but I know that I did.

Take a week off of riding and get a whole lot of ponies cleaned. Aww, happy plastic ponies :3

Saturday, I was ready to get back to work. We were hosting a clinic at our farm (!!!!) on desensitization on the ground, which I’m still working on documenting. I was planning on riding before the clinic (I was just auditing/photographing), but when I got to the barn there was…a lot of mayhem. I wanted to back out, but I ended up riding and am proud that I did. It felt a lot like a show atmosphere in a familiar environment, and I was forced to work through my nervousness. Good lesson for me.

Sunday I rode with draw reins and Rob put in a great effort.

Monday I had my first official Zero Day, but the Zero part of it ended up being a bust because Robbye was FORWARD. So I basically sat in two point, with no saddle or bridle, while she galloped around. MY MUSCLES.

Tuesday I had my lesson!

Last night I worked on what we had learned at our lesson. Overall, I am very pleased. I got a few great upward, butt clench transitions – I would have taken even one, so to get three or four was a great accomplishment. Her downwards are not immediate, but I can feel her immediately trying. I know that it takes muscles and effort to stop correctly, so I’m happy just for her to immediately react, even if that doesn’t result in an immediate cessation of motion.

So that’s the past three weeks of horsie for me. I think that my small psychological downfall was inevitable considering how stressed out I’ve been about her progress. But the break and especially the lesson have brought me back up to hopeful and excited.

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As a sidenote: if you haven’t yet read SprinklerBandits’ Ammy Manifesto, please go do it. It’s inspiring and uplifting. I know I really needed to read it!

my creativity: worked on my pony room, wrote lots of blog posts, got out my big camera and took clinic photos, started a blog for work

TOABH: Self-Actualized

Self-Actualized.

Assuming that your horse has absolutely everything he needs (food, bedding, a warm stall, plenty of blankets, and a pasture mate he neither humps, maims nor gets abused by),  what does your horse need to be the best version of himself?

I don’t think Robbye would need anything more than what’s necessary.

She is happy out by herself, so she doesn’t even need buddies. She enjoys interesting food but loves her grain, hay, and grass just as much. She doesn’t like working, though she does like careening around her paddock.

Mild careening.

I think her answer would be: “I would love a pasture (no stall!!) with wide, flat, perfect footing for galloping and bucking. The grass would be really really really nice and tasty, and it would be easy to get to (no snow to dig through!!). The shelter would have at least one full open side so I could be half in the rain and half out of it. I would get some time by myself and some time with my buddies.

…And maybe Annye could come out every once in a while to feed me cookies.”

TOABH: Worth 1k Words

Let’s share our favorite photos of our stud muffins.  No limit.

This will be fun; since for 99% of this blog’s life it was private, I haven’t gotten to really share any of my favorite photos! Let’s see if I can do this in moderation…

Possibly my all-time favorite photo of us. For some reason she saluted the judge with me all year that year.

Looking through my photos and seeing the fences in the “look what we jumped!” photos get bigger and bigger is very satisfying.

Harnessed and hitched!

This was pre-reformed seat, I think. My leg would be so much more forward now.

Always wear a helmet! And boots. Especially when you’re on the road.

We look so sporty!

Jumping bareback like a boss.

Our o/f debut – hunter classes at 18″.

I was crying at this moment because I was so proud of her.

It’s not a photo of Robbye, except for that great butt, but it’s too great of a photo to leave out 🙂

One of my best friends, Paul, Robbye, and my husband, Zeke

My husband Zeke, looking majestic. Robbye is bored.

It Takes a Village

Kathy and Lizzie, Annye and Robbye, Yogi’s ears

It’s been an interesting week since I last journaled. Thursday I got a call from the farm that Robbye was acting very strange – listless, not eating all her hay, not drinking at all. Of course I freak out and rush out there, to see that she’s just a bit…off. Doesn’t seem to be anything life-threatening, and I hand-walk and then longe her a bit and she seems to feel better. I ended up going out to the barn three times that day, and she felt better every time I visited.

Friday was really fun. Four of us were riding at once – which is strange for our barn. It was like a party! After (barn owner) Carolyn finished riding, she returned to the indoor and gave Robbye and me a mini-lesson. She had some great new ideas, as does (neighbor rider) Heather. They left me with a lot to think about regarding Robbye’s current place in her training.

Saturday, Kathy, Julie, and I trailered to Possum Creek for a trail ride. I rode in draw reins for the submission/obedience factor. On one hand, it feels icky to use them on the trail – there’s a safety factor for sure. After some Google searches, it looks like some people do advocate using them on the trail (for control, brakes, submission, etc.) and others are horrified because they could get caught on branches and then provide a whole lot of leverage to a panicking horse’s mouth. I can definitely see both sides of the argument; of course, draw reins themselves provoke a whole lot of controversy.

Anyway, Robbye was good with the draw reins. They definitely gave me the confidence I needed to make her listen to me. It was also fun to be able to work on some dressage on the trail – ask her to give her head, back it up with the draw reins when she inevitably ignores me, release the draw reins and ask her to walk like she isn’t a llama. It was nice! And I felt nice, too. Not scared.

Sheesh. Only four months ago I was trotting bareback down the trails. That damn crash at the Standardbred show screwed me up so much. SO FRUSTRATING.

Love this clip :3

Sunday she got the day off, then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Robbye and I worked on our roundness some more. Again, Carolyn and Heather piped in with some ideas on how to help encourage her and train her. Julie had some new ideas, too – including trying Yogi’s bit. (It’s a baucher. I’m not noticing any difference.) I have a whole lot to think about. Julie commented that it’s taking a village to train me and Robbye, and she’s right! Boy do I like it, though.

Yesterday was particularly successful. I put her surcingle on, and Heather suggested I move the side reins to the buckles on the girth, which are about six inches below the lowest ring I usually use. This made a dramatic difference in her roundness. She was suddenly keeping the side reins very slack, only hitting them when she llamaed. Her back raised six inches as it rounded, I swear.

She’s not really this downhill anatomically. It was the ground, I swear!

Carolyn then suggested I get really strict with her behavior on the longe. This is something I thought I had been doing, but I stepped it up a notch and really demanded instant transitions. After a couple small fights – wow was she listening and obeying! This is the kind of obedience that we really need under saddle.

After a great longe workout, I jumped on bareback and tried to replicate her roundness. I tried to focus more on her stretching down instead of rounding up, per Heather’s suggestion. She thinks we may find success turning a stretch into a properly round horse, rather than…whatever we’re doing now. Robbye does seem to like stretching down at the walk and trot, and she offered some nice stretching last night, so I’m definitely going to try this approach!

Wow, I just wrote a really boring novel about getting my baby horse round. RIVETING. Better quit now before I type another 12 paragraphs.

I’m really loving having a “presence” now in the horse blogging community. I’ve been lurking for…sheesh…two years now. I’m really loving commenting – I should have started sooner, but it just seemed so silly to do it when my blog was private!

2014 Photo Dump

(Sorry for some of the spacing and formatting issues. Photos and captions didn’t import over from Blogger very well!)

Clip from early 2014

Little brother riding!

 

Bareback and bridleless 2’6″!

Zeke and Paul grooming 🙂

When Robbye was recovering from her bout of lymphangitis this year I went on a couple of trail rides bareback.

Spent a week cold hosing and hand-walking…

The best selfie one can accomplish with such a big head!

Missed a Month

Well, I haven’t journaled for almost a month. I have missed it, now that I start writing again. Unfortunately, Robbye and I didn’t accomplish a whole lot in November:

Yep, she spent two weeks being sick. Ugh. It was not fun.

Anyway, here is the short and sweet of what we spent November doing:

9: Went for a short road ride, then Robbye gave pony rides to two very very beginner riders. She was a very good girl.

10: We had some drama-free o/f work, then rode down the lane. Had a fun gallop on the way back from the lane.

11: Free jumped in the indoor. Robbye had way too much fun and was going out of her way to jump the jumps.

12: Had dramatic dressage ride. No longer remember what the drama was!

13: Had a lesson all about relaxing. Something I probably really needed, judging by the description of the ride the day before. Michele had me ride basically without reins, and just to pay attention to letting myself stop micromanaging. This is something I really really need to work on, or Robbye and I are not going to have a happy relationship.

14. I took the day off for my birthday. Well, really, I took it off to spend six hours at the vet with my cats. Sigh.

15. Spent the evening at the barn for dog agility practice. When I went to bring Robbye in from the pasture she was very lame and depressed. Could barely move, although she did put a bit of weight on the leg. She was swollen from her hoof all the way up to her butt, and had a temperature. Of course the leg in question was the one that stocks up normally, which made the whole situation even scarier. We scheduled a vet appointment for the next morning.

16. Spent the day at the barn waiting for the vet. He diagnosed lymphangitis, and prescribed antibiotics, painkillers, 20 minutes of cold hosing twice a day, and 20 minutes of hand walking twice a day.

17 – 21. Went to the barn twice a day (it was a rough week) in order to hand walk and cold hose. She got better very quickly, thankfully. After the first day she was still lame, but wasn’t nearly as depressed or pathetic. On the 21st, my vet told me that I could gradually (over ten days) work up to regular work, starting with twenty minutes of walking under saddle.

22-27. Gradually increased work, usually doing 20-30 minutes of basic gaits without asking for engagement or mental work. I really tried to make it easy.

28: Robbye got a day off, which I think she needed at that point. Julie and I went on a drive with Yogi (a holiday tradition).

29: Another day off for the holiday.

30: Finally feeling like we were back to work, we spent the Saturday afternoon jumping in the sunshine. The jumps weren’t high (18″ and crossrails), but I decided that we really needed to start working again. We fought a bit – she didn’t want to listen – but in the end it was a good ride. After two weeks off, this felt like a normal ride.

1: Robbye got the day off, but Julie and I went to the SPHO-OH year end awards. They were awesome! Julie won champion year end high point elite equitation, champion year end high point elite pleasure, and fourth place year end driving horse. I was surprised to win fourth place in year end adult Showmanship and adult equitation. The prizes were awesome and there was minimal drama. Woo!

2: I had late meetings, and Robbye got another day off. Dang.

3: Robbye and I had a short and sweet ride in the indoor. I rode bareback and just with a halter and leadrope, which I’ve been doing a lot during her rehab. She really has gotten very responsive to my legs and seat in terms of gait/tempo, although I still can’t steer with my seat. This is definitely something I’d like to work on more.

Anyway, the ride was great. I worked on canter transitions (without using the reins, which is hard for me!) and she did a great job. Somewhere along the line Robbye learned walk to canter transitions without me really teaching her. I guess this is the reward for training your horse…they become easier to ride and easier to train!

Lesson tonight! We’re trying out a dressage saddle that I got on loan right before she got sick. I hope it works – would be an amazing Christmas present.

Making Progress

Spoiler alert – finally, a happy picture!

Man oh man. It’s been another week. More than a week! Why do I suddenly not want to journal?!

Quick recap of the time I’ve missed:

Last Wednesday we had our lesson. It was great. I felt like I finally had some control over my damn horse! We worked on roundness, and did a lot of the square exercise in the indoor.

Last Thursday was Beggar’s Night, so Rob got a break.

Last Friday Rob got a longe in side reins. She wasn’t on her best behavior, but she was much nicer than a week before!

The leaves at the park were ridiculous!

Saturday our club headed out to a nearby park (Seymore?) for a drama-free trail ride. I was very pleased with Robbye’s behavior. We got stuck on a branch at one point and I fell off, but I landed on her feet and she recovered quickly. Overall a very nice ride with beautiful sights.

Giiiirl, you look good!

Sunday Julie and I headed over to Twin Towers for another cross country school. Rob was great. She did try to run out a couple times, but listened well when I told her no. We jumped a log that looked huge to me (although in the picture it looks small, of course!) and finished with a 5-jump gallop.

Yogi gets his stall window open all the time now. He is so much happier.

Monday Zeke came out to the barn (yay!) and we showed him a little of our new dressage skills (lol). Worked on the square exercise and transitions.

Tuesday I worked on the same thing, but bareback!

Wednesday we had another lesson. Notes from the lesson:

• I can’t let Robbye shove me off to the side whenever she wants to. I have to be able to sit where I want on the saddle – and that will usually mean scooting my butt to the left.
• At this point, I have permission to punish Robbye when she willfully contradicts me. I rode with two whips for the lesson!
• I need to focus on keeping our good connection and headset through transitions.
• The big new exercise is a transition at every dressage letter. Can be anywhere through stop to trot, including trot to stop and stop to trot. This will keep her engaged and enforce submission.
• I need to focus on the following things while asking for a halt: sit tall, keep calves and feet back, engage core to stop forward momentum. This is something I want to practice.

Thursday I stripped the stall and didn’t feel like riding afterwards!

Hopefully this weekend will see a little bit of dressage improvement. Tomorrow we’re going on a road ride, but I’d like to work in the ring either before or after. Plus, she gets to give a pony ride!