Mixing It Up

Lest it sound like I'm complaining, Courage and I have been busting our butts doing dressage stuff, and for the most part, it's going really well. The other night I had a (perfectly good) ride. It even included some of the best leg yields I've ever done, bar none.

plus so attractive

But.

Courage and I were both just ON EDGE. The whole time. At one point, he blew a gasket randomly just to point out the problem. And it's not even that I'm riding with a lot of tension or asking for hard things or, well, anything. It's just that we've been so focused on Dressage and Goals and Important Stuff and even with our toodle-hacks around the indoor, things just weren't working for us.

I mean, I literally got off from a perfectly fine ride and wanted to have a melt down complete with tears, and I'm not a crying person.

So that's obviously productive.

totes a hunter get up LULZ

But then Saturday and Sunday, I rode with a fellow boarder who does the hunters at a proper barn most of the time and competes on the A circuit. I threw on jump tack and we pretended to be hunters with her. It certainly didn't hurt that our boarder friend was like "omg this horse needs to be a hunter". (I dunno how she looked past our sparkles and colors and clip job, but thanks boarder friend!)

I hadn't sat in my jump saddle in months and I'd forgotten how much fun it can be. We didn't even go over a pole, but I just really worked on staying balanced over Courage, pushing my hands forward and not worrying about the contact, and keeping my eyes very disciplined.

right lead!

We even got our first ride in the outdoor arena of the year on Sunday. Courage was SUPER. Our boarder-friend talked to us about some hunter flat work and we did some simple exercises and just rolled forward. Courage still had some extravagant airs, but neither of us got worked up about it.

It isn't a magic cure-all, but it was a great way for both of us to de-stress for a few days.