On the Muscle

I consider myself a dedicated rider. This means that I obsess am diligent about training and making sure that I work on the things that have been taught to me. It is important that Carmen and I practice and that we are fit.

It's been a few years since I had a horse to train and show so I have been really putting a lot of time into it.  My thoughts have been along the lines of 'yay, training, riding, showing is fun! Let's do more!'

As a result Carmen is becoming very fit. To the point that a day off leads to all sorts of energy.

I had a lesson booked for today and it has been really really hot and humid. I know that my southern readers will laugh at me but once it gets into the 90s with humidity we all melt. I wasn't going to cancel today. We have a show this weekend and it's going to be hot so I figured it would be good to see how we do. 

I also had this idea that it would take some of the starch out of Miss Energizer Bunny. 

I was wrong. Essentially Carmen's perspective could be summed up with this: 

I am a horse of southern climes. The soul of the desert runs through my veins and I cannot be conquered by this heat.' 

On the plus side she was going to the bridle pretty much the whole ride. The tricky part was channeling that energy in a positive and not-bolting sort of way. Which is where Shanea is so awesome. She can talk me through and gives me confidence to let the hell go. 

The biggest improvement is in our canter work. She is so much straighter and our transitions are sharper- both up and down. It's so easy for her when she's mentally there. Here it looks like we're about to do a flying change but I'm just asking her to come back with my seat in preparation for a trot transition at X. 

She's understanding the work and, when focussed, it's so easy. Our lesson have been on the fine tuning of our rides. 

When I compare us with this time last year, her topline is clearly better. I'm pretty sure I'm riding better as well. 

from July 30, 2017

from today- we might actually be able to do this dressage thing

For the first time in a long time I had to ask for a few breaks. We rode through one of our tests and it went pretty well. By the time we were done I was sopping wet. Shanea looked at Carmen and said ''she's not even breathing hard!' And she wasn't. There was still a ton of gas in that tank. Mine, however was totally empty. I don't think I need to worry too much about her this weekend. 

After I hosed her off (something she really enjoyed) I went into the house and went right to the laundry room. I took off my clothes and threw them in the washing machine. They made a splat as they landed in the washer- they were sopping wet. 

I'm looking forward to the show this weekend. I am camping on the grounds with a few friends and that will be a new experience. 

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