Cool, Calm and Collected

This was a very different Easter weekend than usual - I'm sure that's true for all of you.

the grass is starting to turn green! 

Blogland has become very quiet. And it makes sense- clinics and shows are cancelled. Many are unable to see their horses because barns have closed their doors. That makes sense- it's important that the people working at the barns are safe and able to care for the horses. What is more disturbing is that others are being harassed for continuing to ride. I get it- riding is a risk and do we want more stress on a health system that is already stressed? All that to say that I have made the decision to continue to ride. I am always making careful decisions whether Carmen feels safe and I trust my gut. I'm not trying to justify it- it's just the decision I have made and am comfortable with.

if this doesn't describe 2020 I don't know what does

 And I'm not gonna lie- I worry that others may think that I'm gloating over my good fortune. I know that I'm not and that will have to do. I can't worry about what others think-probably they aren't thinking about me at all.

Without the push of upcoming clinics, lessons and shows I have been going slow. I'm enjoying the lack of pressure- even though I know that the only one putting pressure on me was me. Sigh.

Every spring I start back with Carmen and wait for her to begin to lose her crap over stuff. And this year it's sort of the same. There's breeze, waving grasses and, god forbid, happy, horny, noisy birds flitting about everywhere. But it's also not the same-I have been working on our goal of increasing her confidence (and mine).   And it's working.

spring means shedding and I looked down to see all
 her hair  making little dandelion fluffs. 

Our ground work is aimed at starting her off calm and loose. I start that work from the moment I get her from the pasture. It's cute to see her get tight and as soon as I touch her neck she goes oh right, relax. Phew. Under saddle I ask her to bend and soften and I don't fall into the trap of her worry.

We've been playing with moving her weight back onto her hindquarters and using her core. We've been doing a lot of poles.

A puzzle I set up

Carmen is enjoying these- or I am and it's transferring to her. So whatever. I really liked the above one- it asked her to stretch a bit going the through the square and I could feel her really lifting through it. I also made use of the going between the poles- can I canter across the short diagonal and make a simple change through walk inside of the poles. It really helped me to see that left to right was simple but right to left she required a lot more time to get back to walk.

We have been playing with Travers and Renvers (haunches in/haunches out) and she's doing well with those. Carmen is quite happy to look out of the ring, it's having to be carrying herself in balance that was mind blowing for her. I can feel my half-halts really working on bringing her balance back.

Anyway, I'm hoping to keep picking away at our second level stuff so that when things do resume we're ready. But what is most telling about our work is that, no matter where we start, she always end feeling relaxed and content. Honestly, she is the most mellow horse and you wouldn't recognize it. And it's not from exhaustion because she's barely sweaty.

No she's not exhausted, just mellow,
 also do you notice something? No flash. :)

I love that she has learned to trust that when she feels tight/anxious I give good advice on how to feel better. We have much fewer arguments. Not none, but fewer and less dramatic. Yay for less drama.