Centered in the Saddle

For some reason, Mother Nature seems to be working against my desire to ride in the outdoor arena for my lessons. We haven’t had a ton of rain lately, but it seems that it only storms on Wednesdays, which are my lesson days. Our lesson last week was cancelled, so we’ve only had one team ride, one lesson and one practice ride between the Crossroads Schooling Show and the upcoming County Fair open show. And of course it stormed for our lesson…so into the indoor it was.

And the lesson was fine. For some reason, the last few times I’ve ridden, Husky has not been terribly collected and tonight was particularly bad. We did a little flat work and then did some small courses over fences. He was very good and bold, despite having to go over things like the Tarp of Terror. His striding wasn’t great and he wasn’t putting in much effort, though, so we finished up the lesson doing some gridwork over four fences: two strides, one stride, bounce. To give credit where it’s due, he did try to lengthen, but he never quite got the striding right. He kept taking off early after the one stride which made him have to really stretch over the bounce, which then made him land on the incorrect lead. But he was trying.

Needless to say, I’m not terribly confident going into the show this weekend. However, we’re going to sneak in one more practice ride on Friday before bath time and braiding. Hopefully he’ll be more willing to collect and drive from the hind. Whatever happens, it’ll be a good opportunity to expose Husky to new things and practice staying relaxed under pressure.

On a positive note, the storm ended during our lesson and we were treated to this lovely evening scene: