Progress

I've said before that I am working on getting Cupid more forward, but the truth is I wasn't fully committed.  For one thing, I'm lazy and getting him going is more work for me!  But also I wasn't very concerned about because I knew if we go to a show it wouldn't be a problem; instead the problem would be him being too quick.  But our last two outings Cupid was pretty lazy, and our first canter transition in the show ring on Sunday was pretty pathetic!  So at the start of our lesson on Tuesday I told my trainer I wanted to work on responsiveness.

I started the ride committed to having Cupid in front of my leg, but I was worried that I would have to really go after Cupid in the beginning.  However he seemed to pick up on my intention, my trainer commented that just our walk warming up was looking better.  Usually our first trot transition is very sticky, but we didn't have any problems.  A few times I squeezed lightly to get Cupid a little more forward, but I could feel a difference. We ended the ride on a 20 meter circle doing transitions between the walk and trot.  Usually either we are having a lazy day, where the down transitions are good but the ups take several extra steps, or if Cupid is wired we can do an up transitions but the downs take a while.  However today he was listening very well, and both the ups and downs were good!


On Wednesday we went for a hack around the property, bareback.  I tried to make sure Cupid was walking out nicely.  We popped into the outdoor arena briefly and tried a short trot, which was not pretty!  I felt like I was bouncing all over the place but mostly up Cupid's neck, so I brought him back to a walk pretty quick.  We did a few more trot steps down one of the paths with pretty much the same result, clearly I still have a lot of work in this area!

Thursday was a very busy day at work for me, so I asked my trainer if instead of our lesson she wanted to ride Cupid and she agreed.  I didn't get a lot of details, but she said the ride went well.

On Friday we went back to the Horse Park for a little cross country schooling!  Cupid was not quite as relaxed as he was at the show.  We walked over to the water with the two other horses in our group and started walking around.  We warmed up by having the person in the front trot around to the back of the group.  We went through the water, the first few times Cupid played a little, but I don't think he was really planning to roll!  He didn't seem relaxed so I was getting a little anxious too, but gradually he settled down.  We cantered, and jumped a few little logs.  It was very hot, so I had to stop in the shade a few times because I wasn't feeling too good, but Cupid seemed to be handling it okay.

I was having a bit of a hard time getting Cupid to bend to the left.  After a little break in the shade I told my trainer I wanted to work on bending, and also cantering on a lane (so far we've only done it on a circle).  Although it wasn't great, we did make a little improvement on bending to the left.  Then my trainer gave me a short course, cantering down the lanes, over a log, then up a hill to a beginner novice log.  Cupid was good cantering.  We hopped over the little log and headed up the hill.  Our approach felt really good, but then when we got close I realized how much bigger that log was and couldn't help it I looked down.  I felt Cupid start to hesitate and slow under me, so quickly refocused myself and told Cupid we were going over and he hopped over!  He scooted sideways a little at the top of the hill, one of the other (more experienced) horses in our group did the same too because there was a house behind the fence with machinery for some reason some horses seem to think it's a little scary.

My trainer said we did good except I was too far up Cupid's neck jumping ahead, so wanted me to do it again.  At first she said do it going back over, but I asked to do it the same direction again so it's not heading down hill.  I was a little scared, but the second time was much smoother.  Since it was so hot we called it a day after that.  I was really happy with us!  I definitely am not ready to do a beginner novice course, but it was a good step forward!