Better Late Than Never

A while back I posted goals for September. One of them was to use the full ring in our work. Unfortunately it didn't happen in September.
Or October.
Or even really November.
It happened today.

Of course it's not a Christmas miracle- I've been getting closer all the time.

Today was even nicer than yesterday and I decided to ride at 10 in case the weather changed it's mind. When I went to get Carmen out of the field she wouldn't let me catch her. Irish joined in the fun so I spent 10 minutes getting them to gallop around and then removing the pressure until I was able to get a halter on Princess I-don't-think-so.

I led her into the barn but decided to leave Irish out. He stayed out in the field while I got her ready. I figured after the ride yesterday and the run around today he was not going to be a dork while I was riding. And if he was I would deal.

The ground work was uneventful so I mounted after about 10 minutes. She stood still and required a couple nudges to get going. We walked around and she was really not feeling the idea of 'forward'. I tried a few walk-halt-walk transitions and it helped but when i asked her to trot she was pissy about it. So I picked up the crop and the next time I asked I gave her a light tap.

Like really light.
But Carmen is mortally offended by the crop and she leapt forward with her ears pinned.

It only took two ask-tap sequences and that was the end of that discussion.

Our work was on bending, leg yields and transitions. I stayed clear with what i wanted. If we were leg yielding and she started to get distracted and not listen I dropped down to walk and carried on.

With Irish in the field up by Troll Corner she was drawn to that end but conflicted. I decided to use it to my advantage and before long we were working up there like there weren't any trolls at all. I rode patterns and introduced transitions into the patterns. We finished by walking on a long rein into the scary corners with her stretching out over the back.

 I finished the ride wishing that Karen, Roz and Cynthia could have seen it.

Have you ever noticed that your best rides are often unwitnessed? What's with that?

In the afternoon Ed and I decorated the outside for the holidays. Which means that I supervised and he installed. But I can't do everything, right?