Swing that Butt!!

So there are bad days riding and good days riding.  Still any day at the stable is a good day overall.  I have of late felt down on the riding, I’ve had a few bumps in the road with fears that I still have to deal with but I know in time I can get there.

Pstar and Brownie in the pasture

The last riding lesson I had was Monday Nov. 28^th after work.  The day temperatures were nice and sunny, of course when I left work at 4pm the sun was already setting behind the mountains as per this time of year.  When I got out to the stable I turned on the lights as I made my way back to the tacking area.  I still had my clothes on from work so quickly changed into my jods, boots, shirt etc.  Then I opened the garage bay door to head out to the field and get Divine.

The wind was horrendous!  Divine didn’t seem to bothered that I was bringing her inside since she probably knew it would be nicer in there.  Grooming and tacking her up in the relatively warm barn was difficult as usual.  Divine has the habit of not staying put where she’s tied.  She swinging her body into the barn aisle and I had to keep backing her up, around the corner tie and into place.  She was driving me nuts!  On a lighter note though I had a slightly better bridling experience with her.  She lowered her head and didn’t fight as much.  Only issue was when she opened her mouth at the same time she also swung her muzzle away from my hand that was supporting the bit about to go in her mouth.  It took a couple tries but eventually she was bridled.

Not so clean Eksodus nose...it was chilly so I'm sure my nose
wasn't too dry either!

The riding lesson itself was off the lungeline.  I was surprised since I felt like we’d do some canter try outs again but perhaps Laurie is wanting me to not get frustrated, throw in a few lessons where I feel more comfortable so they aren’t all “tiring, facing my fear” type of lessons!  Anything that is difficult it is best to take in little steps and not thoroughly concentrate on the task 100% of every lesson so I wasn’t disappointed.  I did trot work and circles on Divine.  I worked with her on her trouble areas where she fought to go through the door out of the arena back to the barn and where she tried to stop or walk in the corners instead of keeping her bend and circling like I was trying to ask.  It was a lot of work for me too trying to keep her impulsion up and then either posting or sitting the trot correctly and balanced.  It felt good and little successes made me happy

Next we worked on a serpentine at the trot and then the walk.  The walk serpentine had an extra task of moving her hindquarters, yielding them, around the turn.  It was fun and took a lot of concentration to keep her in the path I wanted.  If I didn’t let up with one leg or keep a wall with the other, or keep the right amount of pressure on the bit at the right time Divine would walk through my aids and side step down the arena instead of getting back on track with the serpentine.  I was worn out.

I love the smell of hay!

Later after the lesson and Divine was all groomed up and untacked she got a nice meal of hay in a warm stall.  I love the sound of horses munching on hay!  Glad to have a good lesson again!  Perhaps next time I’ll have some confidence to go with the canter again, we’ll see what Laurie has planned!