Impulsion

It's probably become an annual occurrence that I come to the realization that Cupid likes to ignore my leg and I should probably do something about it.  So we (mostly) fix the problem, and then over time let standards slip again.  So it's that time again.  Ask with a light squeeze and follow with the whip if I don't get a suitable response.  To start we mostly focused on accelerating out of the corners.  I'm trying to really feel the push from behind, which is a bit difficult for me.  I can feel when the front end gets lighter but have a harder time feeling the rear. 

 Riding Cupid this way is definitely more work for me - but actually not as much work as I thought.  I was expecting him to get a bit more pissy about we expecting more from him, but he is actually quite agreeable.  If I was able to ride him more effectively, he'd be quite a nice horse 😂

I feel like I've made good progress with my upper body, and some progress with my legs though as you can see in the picture below I still end up bracing on my stirrup a lot.  And also in the photo, I still have a bad habit of throwing my hands forward when I'm asking Cupid to go. I still have a hard time keeping my fingers closed on the reins, the rainbow reins are very helpful for me to see when they slip but I was thinking of trying a few rides with a stopper like for a running martingale where I keep my hands.  If I can get the darn things on my reins!

We also did a bit of stirrup work our last lesson.  I've been trying to ride without stirrups about once a week, but I still find it a bit harder to sit while maintaining the stirrups. 

We've also been doing a bit of jumping.  Last week felt really great - Cupid found the sweet spot carrying me to the jumps but not rushing.  The first time over the stone wall was a bit of a flyer that jumped me out of the tack, but our second time over was much smoother.  This week we did a little 2'-2'3" course.  I'm still not planning to show over fences, but it's fun when I can control the jumps and course! 

Unexcused Absense

Time flies, and I just haven't gotten around to blogging for no real reason.  Aside from a few outings, and some very minor bumps and scrapes, there hasn't been a whole lot going on with Cupid and me.  

We did an equine biomechanics clinic with the Traveling Horse Witch last month which certainly merited its own post, but I just didn't get to it and now the details are hazy.  But I will say that Cupid thoroughly enjoyed the session, and felt much looser through his shoulders afterwards.  We are looking forward to Celeste's return in November and hopefully I will be more diligent about taking some pictures and writing about the process!

We also made several trips to the Horse Park, for a few lessons as well as some solo rides.  We walked around the XC course and through the water but didn't do any jumps.  We also showed there, and I felt good about my tests but got really crappy scores which sent me into a bit of a funk about not understanding dressage and how could we be getting worst not better when it felt like we were improving.  I was quite discouraged, but had some good talks with a few experienced friends as well as my coach, found a few things to focus on, and am now ready to give it another try.

It was a rare quiet day at the Horsepark, we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

We've taken several people from our barn trail riding, some with green horses and some experienced.  Our lovely shaded parks are a great place to ride in the summer, though thankfully aside from a few days it hasn't felt too hot.  And even more thankfully we have not had any fire threats or smoke, knock on wood.