On the Importance of Having a Plan

Well, I guess they can't always be good rides, can they? After work, I had to run to the feed store and get feed for all my critters, and by the time I got home, it was pretty clear that I only really had time to ride one horse. Since Ziggy's just now getting back in to regular work, I figured a day off wouldn't hurt.

I was pretty tired, so I never really developed a solid plan for my ride with Shadow. I got as far as, "keep him stretching", and that's really about it.. The good news is that I'm to the point where I can feel when my position is wrong, the bad news is that I wasn't really able to do much about it. That being said, I had a fair bit of success keeping him stretching in the walk, although when I moved to trot, he kept hollowing and pulling his head out of the stretch. I had a moderate amount of success in getting him to stretch back into it. It has to be a strength thing.

I also tried a bit of canter, but due to my position not being all that great, the up transitions were rough. I did get him to stretch in the canter, but I could tell that my left seat bone wasn't solid in the saddle, so that made it a bit difficult to keep him from cheating on the turns. After cantering for a while, I realized that I was tired, my mind wasn't focused, and I was nearly out of light. When I untacked, despite the short ride (a little over 20 minutes), I was glad to see that Shadow had sweated a pretty good amount in all the right places, so at the very least, he got a good workout. Tomorrow, I'll try again, and hopefully A) have a better plan, and B) have enough time to ride both horses.