Nay Nay and I have had some pretty fantastic rides as of late. I just haven’t really felt like blogging about them. What can I say? I’m lacking media and work is picking up so…blogging is taking a backseat. But, I do want to capture some of what we’ve been doing.

To be honest? It’s not very exciting. We’re in green horse mode. So there is a lot of rinse and repeat going on, and that’s just OK with me. But guys? This horse is quiet these days. The quick and forward and up and down trot I was dealing with a month or 2 ago until we worked through that crap? Completely gone. It’s sort of like he realized this saddle doesn’t hurt and he’s back to being quiet and light and not draggy Nay Nay.

That’s not to say that things are perfect. That right lead is a work in progress. Bending to the right is looking really nice at the trot and we hold the bend nicely at the canter once we get the lead. It’s just picking it up. Building muscle is hard and Nay Nay has some muscle imbalance going on in his back. We’re going to test a few things to make sure that pain isn’t an issue, but, we’re suspect that if pain is involved, it’s pain from weakness vs pain from injury. So, once he builds that muscle? Picking up that canter shouldn’t be an issue. It’s not so much that he can’t, but rather some anxiety that it could be hard or might hurt. Once he gets it? Ears go forward and he’s 100% on board and OK, just significantly weaker.

We’ve played around with a little jumping work too. He’s a couple of lessons ago he jumped a gate for the first time. We practiced that for a few rides in which he then decided said gate did not need to be trotted but instead should be galloped. But, despite some enthusiasm, we maintained an acceptable pace without pulling. He also jumped a cross rail with a flower box this weekend just because. He didn’t care for it one direction (we took it as a 3ft fence), but happily trotted in the other way because???

In our lesson today, we worked on a circle over a tiny plank. We’ve worked on this on our own several times, but it was nice to tackle it in a lesson. The the left, we just trotted it several times as I stayed out of Nay’s way. To the right? Same thing until he landed on the right lead. At that point? We let him hold the canter and canter into the jump. I think we held the right lead 2 or 3 times before landing wrong. Our homework? Continue this exercise as the circle will help him build the muscle. If he lands wrong, start back at the trot.

I did have a chat with my trainer as sometimes I feel completely out of place among the $$$ warmbloods and all that. But, she reminded me that everyone has different goals and this used to be what she did all day every day. Green horses and ponies. It was only recently that she ended up with a barn full of AA hunters. I’m having fun, enjoying the journey, learning each ride (as is Nay right now), and it’s OK to have different goals. And, riding and training isn’t linear. We have good days and bad days. We improve and improve and then suddenly everything goes wrong and you suck as a rider, but then you progress faster and improve more before you plummet again. Regardless, right now, I’m happy where I’m at. Of course, I’ll be happier when that right lead is consistent!