Fat and Happy

I actually rode three times this week. Which is exciting.

Saturday Julia came out to ride in the morning. The ring was free of ice but a bit hard so we stuck to a walk work out. I've come to love rides with just walking. There is so much to practice: big circles, small circles, changes of bend, shoulder/haunches in, leg yields, half-pass, turn on the haunches, backing up. It allows me to slow everything down and focus on how it feels.

Before I know it, 45 minutes has gone and we're all feeling good.

from our lesson this week. Practicing square halts

Today the ring was perfect and so we could walk, trot and canter. The biggest thing I'm finding with Carmen is that she's being very steady. When I watched the videos from the lesson I could really hear how rhythmical she sounded. I'm doing way better at staying focussed and balanced over her and treating her bobbles as just a momentary loss of balance. I'm not fighting her but not giving up on what I want. Usually her right lead canter is a struggle in the spring because of a loss of strength.

Today I did a left canter and she was very balanced and steady. My seat was plugged in with no 'air time'.  We cantered all around the ring with zero hesitation or resistance. I brought her across the diagonal and picked up a trot. I brought her to a right circle to balance and strike off a canter but I could feel her ready to go so I just lightened the contact and then gave a light signal. She picked up a perfect rocking right lead canter without throwing in her haunches. We circled and she dropped to trot but that was just a strength/balance issue. I simply brought her back to balance and we picked up it up again. She broke a couple times but we just balanced and struck off. I was so happy- neither of us lost our cool over it.

breaking up the text wall with a photo of a cat who is up to
absolutely nothing and why would I suspect her of any ill intent. 

Before I knew it 45 minutes had passed. We worked a little more practicing our turn on the haunches. This is our latest area of difficulty. I save it to the end like I do with most new things. I do this because Carmen, instead of resisting, enjoys it because she begins to recognize that this is the end of the work. It worked for her with SI/HI and so I'm sticking with it.

It's good that I'm back to riding more, because February has been a month of eating. It was LobsterCrawl month here and me and my friends made the most of it. I've had lobster 3 times this month and that doesn't even touch what the rest of them have been doing. It's been fun.

creamed lobster on home made potato chips.
sounds weird but oh so good

On the weekend Ed and I visited Karen and Jim. Jim cooked an amazing Korean meal - honestly I felt that I needed to be rolled to bed. #noregrets. 

Carmen has also wintered really well. She's not as big as last year but still. However, we're both pretty happy. I much prefer a fat and happy Carmen then a thinner less happy/reactive Carmen. 

#thelwell