What an awesome start to my day!!! I slept in a little and did some things in the morning so by the time I got around to riding, it was like 11:30! Oh well. Ha! Dan and I headed to Ashland and snuck in a dressage ride before they closed the arena's for prep for the show. He was good. We did a long walk warm up and practiced some lateral work. We did shoulders in, haunches in, half pass, leg yield, turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. AND we did it with a very soft and relaxed neck. Well, ha! We tried to do it that way and actually, for the most part, we were successful at staying soft and not braced. Yay! And sure enough, when he is soft, he moves more freely. Yay! So then we went to the trot and focused on a nice soft self carriage transition. Which, from walk to trot is much better than trot to canter. Although he has gotten a hair anticipatory so I've had to focus on getting him to not brace and anticipate and let go and be soft into it. But he's getting the hang of it and we got some really nice transitions up and down today. His downwards are getting so good too! Which makes me think he's more balanced and uphill and not on his forehand. I focused on a slightly slower tempo today and worked on keeping my core tight and sitting up tall so he stayed off his forehand. I tried very hard to not use my reins to hold him there and still keep that soft reaching contact. And until the end, I think we had it! Towards the end of the ride he was getting tired and I had to help hold him up some. And that meant that we finished up because when he's tired, we're not getting quality work and risking injury or at the very least, cheats. And cheats are not good biomechanics. But anyways, we had some really nice trot work today. We even did a little halfpass and leg yield at the trot! And he's not flowing over and crossing over like Valegro or anything, but his body moved with my body weight shifts and it was much freer and softer in his neck, so we'll call that a win. Progress! Baby steps! We then worked on our canter and focused really hard on the transitions. It's soooo hard because in the upwards he either wants to throw his head up and brace into it... or I have to really take a heavy connection and almost hold his head down so there is no self carriage into it. I don't really like either option. And I feel like I almost have to hold the inside rein one way which makes me feel like I'm blocking that inside hind, so... it's hard. I really feel like I need some assistance/trainer's advice on the best way to help the transition. But we did our best. We also got some really nice downwards with no bracing. And our canter felt pretty darn good and like it's getting stronger. He feels like he can hold it longer. Yay! We had about 5 minutes of canter before we hit the trails, so... slight progress. And hey, he's actually cantering! We finished because he was getting fatigued, but it was quite a nice workout anyways.
Then we hit the trails. We went up behind the jump arena and then out to the XC field. And the XC field had the jumps all set up and marked for the show Saturday. I couldn't help myself so Dan and I picked up the canter and cantered over a BN coop. Then we went and jumped the double BN roll tops! On the slightest of angles. He was so game!! And then we cantered on and did a novice hanging log and then the novice hogsback. He thought about drifting out of the first fence we did but I think it's honestly because he didn't realize we were jumping! And then he was game on and was aiming and taking me to them! And maybe he was a little quick and maybe a little flat, but... maybe not. We had a blast! Ahhhh it feels so good. So now I need to figure out how to get him back and how quickly. It's the fine line of building him up but also not waiting too long because I always feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.. in the back of my brain.... I think "how long will this last though"?. Because... you know.. experience. So I'll have to pray on that and see how things to. But I did praise God wholeheartedly for a bit. I'm just so grateful for all the blessings He has bestowed on me. To be able to do this again with Dan... is a gift! And we enjoyed that gift. Even if it's taken away again... to get to experience it another time... I"m grateful.
After that we headed to the lake and visited the goose family. There's momma, daddy and one little baby. Dan splashed in the water and drank and we "iced" his legs. Then he was splashing hard core with his legs and looked over at the little goose like "Did you like the wave pool effect?!". hee hee. It was cute! We played a little bit and then headed out to hit the trails. We did a little more trotting and cantering out there, just... because. Because it was such a beautiful day and we could and he felt good and was happy to. We hacked up some hills and went to the big creek. Then Dan chose to go up the big hill and when we got to the top, he chose to go back down the big hill. And he felt much straighter going downhill today! Then we went back to the lake and then through the XC field to head home.
My friend called earlier and told me she had something important to tell me so I figured I would call while Dan and I were walking back. She told me one of our friends (and a client) had passed away earlier this week! Suddenly. And she was about my age. It was so sad and heartbreaking. Her husband and daughter are lost. And... it just kind of took my joy away. I feel so bad for them. It's scary that things can change so instantly. She wasn't sick. Things can change. So quickly. It was kind of a reality check... I need to make sure my priorities are right.
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