Not Dead

I haven't blogged in a while, but not because of anything bad.  Really there hasn't been anything super interesting to write about anyhow, but with the baby at home it's just been hard enough getting on the computer to get my work done, much less extracurriculars.

Lessons have been great!  My coach agreed my upper body has gotten a lot better, but now to work on elbows and hands, as well as keeping my legs long and under me with my feet flat and not pointing out.  This may sound a little crazy, but my coach suggested we try tying my upper arms down around my waist, so I can build correct muscle memory for bending my elbows.  Is surprisingly doesn't feel weird at all.  

We've actually been doing a good bit of walk work, trying to correct our tendency to get lazy at the gait.  Basically, taking my leg all the way off, and if he slows a light squeeze followed by a bump with the spurs if no response.  Tap-tap of the whip if we really need to escalate.  We've been doing small circles at the walk getting Cupid to cross his hind legs and work on bending - my coach told me to think about asking Cupid to touch his nose to my boot.  Of course that's an exaggeration, we're not actually doing that.

A particular highlight was when we were able to have our lesson in the outdoor.  Cupid was actually fairly good, but we spent a lot of time focusing on improving roundness and asking him to lower his neck but raise his poll on the less-spooky side, and just keeping his focus on the more spooky side.  I realized I need to do my first half halt much earlier then I thought, several strides before we get to the slightly spooky area.  That helped a lot.

On Memorial Day weekend Cupid and I went for a trail ride.  The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time walking through the redwoods.  There were a lot of hikers, many of whom were excited to see horses.