Smoky

The air quality has been very poor due to fires nearby, so we have been advised to take it easy with our horses.  Luckily we are not in danger of the fires themselves, they are about 2 hours north of us, but that area has been devastated and horses and people up there had to evacuate.  I never thought about that happening to me, but at least now I have the trailer if I do need to move Cupid in an emergency.

We have been doing some flatwork, keeping it fairly light.  My trainer created a canter exercise meant to address our imbalance: when we go to the right we do a 20 meter circle at E or B, then shoulder in down the rest of the long side and circle again at A or C.  To the left we leg yield instead of shoulder in.  This exercise also helps me work on preparing better for the changes, since the elements in the exercise come up pretty quickly.  When we went to the left I let Cupid drop to a trot a few times; to the right I didn't really have to do anything to keep him going.  So note to self to make sure I keep my leg on, especially as we're going on his weaker side!

Cupid got his vaccines and his teeth done.  The vet said he did have some hooks in his teeth, hopefully he is feeling more comfortable now.  The following day I decided we should do a groundwork lesson instead of ride.  Cupid seems to have fun with it.  We worked on backing up straight; he tends to drift towards his right side so it was easier keeping him straight when I was on his right side.  But he is pretty good at moving off just following my feet.  A new exercise we did was moving his shoulders.  Right now I'm not able to quite isolate the front end, but my trainer said to accept it as long as the shoulder was moving even if his hind end followed.