Ostara

 

Today is the spring equinox. The days are getting longer and I am starting to see the earth shrug off winter and begin to wake up. This time of year is about fertility and seeing the seeds sown over the winter take root. I am not pagan but this time really speaks to me. 

For the first time this year the temperatures did not go below freezing at night. The footing in my ring is really good and I spent a lot of time playing with Carmen this weekend. I even dug out my Pivo and set it up for one of my rides. It worked pretty good- just losing me once when we got too close and then following Guinness for a bit. 

I had to share this short clip of us getting started. Look how patient she is and her expression looking at the camera is hilarious. 

So far this spring Carmen has been incredibly mellow. I love it and am frustrated by it at the same time. I love how relaxed she is. But it's telling me that a lot of her 'forward' came from tension. So I'm trying to figure out how to get the forward but not have the negative tension in the past. 

Carmen: no I'm not really interested in going forward, thank you very much

I've been experimenting with various things that do not include a quick tap with the crop (although that is an option). 

Mostly I'm doing lots of transitions and giving lots of praise for going forward. 

Getting there

What I realised today was that I was using so much leg that my thighs were tight as well. So I paid particular attention to not clenching my thighs, just using my calfs and things got much better. I could feel Carmen say 'thank you! finally!'

When I look at the video we didn't look as painfully slow as it felt. But I'll see what Jane says. I'm starting to add in canter to our work. At first she was a bit cranky about it but that's fading. She's 12 this year and I am trying to be kind to let her warm up her joints. 

Canter- are you sure?

What is cool is that we're going everywhere in the ring with minimal fuss right away. 

I'm finding that we're pretty connected and both of us are enjoying ourselves. 

there we go

I'm getting much better at giving the inside rein and asking her to stretch to the bit. I'm even playing with the stretchy trot. Something I typically wouldn't trust her to do this early in our back to work. 

I'm sure that as she gains fitness and hormones start flowing we'll have our moments. But things feel good now and full of promise.