Growing The Squad

So remember about a month ago when I tried out Vodka? Yup, riding that one now, too, lol. I decided that three days a week wasn't enough barn time, so I sent a very direct and probably kinda creepy message to Vodka's owner, but she was cool and let me ride him. Shout out to stepping out of my comfort zone!

I decided to start out with a lesson just to get us on the right track, and I'm glad I did. Listen, guys, I've started to develop a pretty vague idea about what inside leg to outside rein actually means, but it's still kinda iffy. That being said, when I do it right, it works. Horse doesn't fall on the inside shoulder as much, less rushing, less tripping & funky steps. Stuff gets done all of a sudden. Doesn't mean it ain't hard, though.

When you ask for a canter and just get fancy trot instead

I lessoned on Monday, and Miss El made it very clear that in addition to pushing the idea of inside leg to outside rein I really need to do more no stirrup work and fix my chicken wings. Whenever the canter gets hard, I go on my toes instead of sitting up and half halting. This is probably a remnant of my terrified to canter days, but ultimately something I need to move past. No stirrup work is already something I like to do and includes more benefits outside of giving me a longer, more active leg; I just haven't really done it since I got home. I've been meaning too, trust me, but I forget, or Roman does really well so I don't feel like pushing it with him, or yadda yadda yadda. Lots of excuses I could give.

I left the audio on for once because I don't think anything I say can emphasize how much she harshed on me about my elbows.

I rode the war horse on Tuesday per usual, and he was fine but a little bit up. The stickiness returned, which is a bummer, but it didn't take as long to work out of. In terms of his frame, he was much more consistent than usual and offered some amazing canter work.

But he was tense and a bit backed off at times. I don't consider it a major issue after one ride. Trainer texted that he was a bit off on Wednesday, so she had the vet out on Thursday, and Roro got his knees cracked. Perhaps that was the issue, but I don't know. Fresh doesn't seem like it would relate to tight knees.

Since Ro had off, I rode Vodka on Wednesday, and it was pretty good minus some really bad canter work. I also traded out my Thursday lesson on Roman for one on Vodka instead, and yah, my trainer definitely hates me. I forgot to mention that on Monday she actually had me do arm stretches and hip stretches at the same time. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day; I don't have the coordination for that. But, whatever. We warmed up to work on Vodka, then it was onto dropped stirrups for the rest of the lesson. 20 steps posting, 20 steps sitting, then onto doing hip stretches while trotting.

"Good luck. I'm gonna keep eating"

This woman is trying to kill me. It was actually somewhat successful, but staying in control and balanced while trying to do them was a task. Much to my dismay, I did canter because that's truly where the big issue lies. Vodka was a bit speedy, but he listened for the most part, so yay for that.

Truly, the boys are doing well, and I'm really happy with how both of them are going overall.