More of the Same

My recaps are getting boring because it's just more of the same.  I've gotten to where I know what I'm doing wrong, and feel that I'm doing wrong, but can't seem to get my body to do it correctly (keeping leg long, upper body back, and especially hands closed with proper contact and effectively using the outside rein). 

No horse can resist a pile of fresh shavings!

Saturday Cupid and I enjoyed the nice weather by going for a long (~2.5 hour) trail ride at our favorite park.  We didn't intend for it to be quite so long but got detoured by big pile of manzanita blocking the path.  But this should put us pretty close to getting our first TIP trail badge!  Overall the trails were actually in quite good condition, not muddy or overgrown.  Just one other place were there was a fallen tree across the path but we could easily step over that.  Cupid led the entire second half and was super.  We didn't encounter anything spooky, even when a dog started barking and running behind a fence it that was a non-issue.  I think Cupid did get a little tired though, or just has a bit harder time walking downhill as I could feel him backing off a bit with the declines.

Under the redwoods in Huddart Park

The following day we had a lesson in the outdoor arena.  Cupid was a little distracted by God knows what, and I had to laugh because he was perfect on the trail.  Just something about that arena!  So the roundness was lacking even more than usual but I figure it's good practice since that's probably closer to the horse I'm going to get on a show day.  We ran through the new Training 3 test.  I'm happy we finally get to canter right lead first, in the previous versions it was left for all the Training level tests. 

After our lesson I gave Cupid a much-needed bath, the first one in months.  Well not a full bath just a rinse off and shampoo-ed his tail. 

Finally warm enough for a bath!

Unfortunately there is more rain on the horizon, but it was nice to get this little break.