Needing One of Those Lessons

After watching a plethora of lower level tests on Saturday, I went home and crashed. As I lay on the couch, consuming water by the gallon and eating a lot of food, while watching a movie, I thought, "Izzy and I could totally do that stuff."

So I got up, went to the barn, and we did. I kept my reins short, sat up, and RODE. She was phenomenal. I was really, really tired though, so I didn't ride for long.

Sunday I was a total mess by the time I got home. (I know, Stacey, I know. I didn't drink enough water and I should have eaten SOMETHING on my 8 hour shift. I set myself up.)

On my ride on Monday morning, Izzy didn't feel quit as brilliant. Part of it was me--apparently, it takes a day or so to recover from two straight days of abusing your body--but part of it was her. It's not her fault, really. It's just that she picked up some habits from having people other than myself riding her that I find absolutely irritating. I don't know that they're any worse than when I let her get away with (slopping around, not forward enough), but they're not what I like.

So we'd be cantering along in the arena and she'd bring her head up and just brace against me. Huh? No! Instead of fighting her with the reins, I'd just use my body to bring her into a tight circle and let it's curve force her to unlock. Or we'd do a downward transition and she'd just hit my hands like a ton of bricks and run downhill. Uh... halt. Back. NOW.

I'm not feeling quite as brilliant as I was on Saturday night, but it's probably more realistic. Soon I will try to schedule our lessons (eeek! so exciting!) so we can get some professional feedback.

PS Despite my last post, have no worries that Izzy and I ever gave up on dressage. We do it a lot and faithfully at home. It's just that I've never seen the point in taking her back to a dressage show. Until now.