Bit of a Catch up

Wed. was supposed to be rainy  but it only rained for a few hours and then got sunny again, so I get home from work eat some food and go down stairs to change in the breeches, I come back up and look out the window, Whin is bucking around like a lunatic. And it hits.

A blizzard.

And it went from slightly cloudy to this 

In roughly 15 minutes, I  Braved the cold and hooked up my trailer and rode in the indoor.

Whin was very in heat and we trailered my friend and her gelding over too, that might have had something to do with it.

Lets just say if I went into Whin's behavior while I was tacking up This would not be a family friendly blog.

But under saddle she was pretty good very nice and forward, we took it pretty easy and did some transitions. I also rediscovered the upward half halt, its amazing how you forget things, again I really like it. It has really been helping her come light and bring her poll up.

When Whin was still a greeny I moved up to the middle of nowhere  to go to college, there was no one there to help us with dressage and Whin was a wild child so say the least so I taught her to relax and stretch long and low.

For the rest of college.

So you can understand why 2 years ago when I started taking lessons again Whin thought she was a western pleasure horse. We have been working against that ever since, so bringing the poll up and sitting behind is a big deal.

Yesterday I had my lesson,

It was wonderful.

 After watching myself on video Monday I was feeling insecure. I questioning weather or not we are ready to make the step up to second level because the canter walk transitions were very spotty. So when my trainer asked what I wanted to work on that is what I said.  

Right away my trainer was like " you need to collect her more" and it was like the heavens opened  and angles sang, we could suddenly do canter walk transitions. We got them every time.

Then we worked on the flying change again. If you have been following this blog you know that we have worked on these for a while with varying degrees of success. She got pretty good with the left to right when we were jumping and not in a frame but the moment we were in a frame they went away. 

The first couple tries she absolutely did a change of lead through trot. 

Then my trainer said

"collect her more"

I asked and viola, a change, it was half a step late behind and she had to buck to get her feet in the right place, but it's the first time I feel like she is truly understanding what I am asking for

we got to more changes one on time still with a buck and the other slightly late  but with out a buck.

Needless to say I felt like this was huge progress!

Oh collection is a magical thing!


All King Edwards Horses Can Make Best Friends


P.S. I got some new stuff to make more coasters I am hoping to put some pictures of them up tomorrow!