Up and Down

Spring in Nova Scotia is always a fickle thing. So far this week we've had rain, snow, sun and wind. It's been cold, warm, and everything in between. It makes any consistent riding darn near impossible. Which makes having no real plans at this point a good thing- I can go with the flow and not feel any stress.

it is pretty when the sun shines though

My vet had recommended that I try adding in a vitamin for Carmen because she wasn't sure that she was getting enough with what I was feeding her of the Fibre Nuggets. I can't give Carmen the recommended amount because she will blow up like a balloon. Her recommendation was to add a little over the months to her feed when I am training and to drop her to just hay and the ration over the winter. I tried to estimate what would be a good balance for Carmen and began to add it. Within 3 days her energy level was over the top. Last sunday we had a stressful ride and were falling into our old habits of arguing.  I decided to cut the amount of vitamin in half and she became more rational within a day or so. It might be coincidence so we'll see.

last sunday I was able to give the horses the first bath of the season

I did manages to squeeze a few rides in. Most of the time I'm just focussing on getting her to relax her topline and reach for the bit. It is coming. Pole work is helping.

my new favourite pole lay out. It has so many possibilities

My quieter seat, hand and, well, attitude is helping as well. I had proof of that yesterday. The weather was clear but the wind was unreal. A rainstorm was moving in and you could feel it in the air. And yes I still decided to ride. My plan was to at least lunge and go from there. I could see that Carmen was trying super hard with the ground work but she was still super tight. I had the thought that I could help her more from the saddle then the ground. 

I mounted with a plan of just walking and asking her to stretch and breathe. She was super tight and her legs were literally pounding the ground. I gave her some rein, supported when she needed, but never ever pulled or tried to force her. Every try was rewarded with verbal praise, loose rein or rest. We did large and small circles and many changes of direction. I asked her to leg yield to loosen her shoulder and to stretch to loosen her back. When she trotted I let her go and then just asked her to come back to walk. If she had cantered I was going to let her do that too but she never did. The trees were blowing and creaking in the wind, it was wild. Gradually I felt her begin to let go and breathe. Then I felt her back release and we began to move better. I let her feel how good that was for a few minutes, then rested. Then we did a little more and I hopped off. 

my daughter turned 30 this year. I always wanted to buy her a pony but she
didn't want one. But look at this- heels down and everything! 

My goal is to have her end every ride feeling better than when she started. I don't always succeed but today I did. I realized that we had made a jump forward because I was more successful in getting her to relax while riding instead of on the ground. 

During this  Covid-19 pandemic what are you working on (whether riding or not)?