On the Upswing

I don't know if it's the new shoes, time, or something else entirely but Cupid seems to be moving better and his attitude has been great. 

We postponed my usual weekly lesson from last Tuesday since he just got his feet done.  The first few rides with them he felt about the same to me, but at least it didn't seem to cause any discomfort.  And he was good cantering both directions; no bucks and picking up both leads.

We had our postponed lesson on Sunday, and it felt terrific!  I told my trainer the canter seemed better so we did a lot of that.  During warm up we did a longer canter each direction, then later we did a lot of transitions between trot and canter.  Just to see if after a few he would get cranky or inconsistent picking up the left.  But he was great! 

Then on Monday (Labor Day) I went on a trail ride with my friend I usually ride with, plus another friend from my barn.  It was a bit challenging because each of our horses preferred a slightly different pace (Cupid being right in the middle), but we all took turns leading.  Cupid got a little anxious and jiggy when he was second, with the fastest horse first, if his buddy disappeared around the bend.  I tried him behind the slowest horse, and that seemed to cause less anxiety.  But we had a very nice ride overall.  I rode with Cupid's fly mask on because the bugs are bad in a few parts under the trees, which helped keep Cupid from getting fussy.

Then today we had our usual Tuesday lesson.  Usually Cupid feels energized after a trail ride, but today he was being a bit lazy.  Maybe he realized that I forgot my whip, and also didn't have spurs since he's shedding his coat he's a bit extra sensitive and getting a little rub mark so I haven't been using them.  I realized that the whip is a bit of a crutch for me and I do need to be a little stronger with my legs.  But we had a good lesson again, and again the canter work felt really good both directions.  We are still working on not overbending through the neck going right, and bending more going left.  Without the whip I did feel like it was a bit easier keeping a steadier contact, but of course my left hand still wants to cross over the neck!