Dressaging

The past two rides, Bobby has been super. I'm glad he seems to like the dressage saddle so much, and that it's clearly made a difference in the way he goes because...

I'm getting one for my birthday! Yay!

i'm not scowling. as you can tell by my glow in the dark skin, i'm just allergic to sun.

Yesterday, I only rode for twenty minutes. We were in the indoor with Sarah and a mysteriously lame Memphis, the ring was ridiculously dusty, and it was pouring. What does that have to do with riding? When you have riding ADD like I do, it means the fact that I was able to get even twenty minutes of productive work done is a small miracle. Go me!

I've been trying to alternate our warm up by occasionally not using the longe line to warm him up on. Some shows don't have the space to longe and I want to know how to best warm him up without it. Plus it's one of my goals this month to figure out how much warm up time he needs before going in the ring.

Well, he was pretty much a rock star in all things even without a spin on the line first today. He could do no Bobby wrongs. His warm up was light and flawless, and BO even made a point to stop on her way out to tell me how amazing he looked in his canter work.

While Bobby was prancing around being too cute for words, I was on a mission from God the core fairies. I knew I was in a good position--and by that I mean I wasn't horizontal on my horse, and by that I don't mean anything dirty, you fucking freaks--if my abs were on literal fire. It was super good practice, and I was able to sit his new lofty gaits a lot easier when I had some stability going on. 

We focused a lot on leg yields (puh-retty good, especially since they were nonexistent a couple of weeks ago), the ten meter figure eight at X in 1-3 (tricky, but not too bad), and center line halts. I've always taken Bobby's halts for granted because they're usually pretty flawless, but we've both gotten lazy with them. A quick tune up and he was back to being forward into them and square upon stopping. 

Overall, just two really good flat rides. I think I'm going to jump tomorrow even though this dressage thing is so much fun when it's going well. Hopefully Bobby will be awake for work then. The dude spends more time napping than any horse I know.

going...

going...

gone.