So, I totally forgot to ask Christine this morning about her riding Selten for half the lesson, and me riding him for half. We'll do that Monday. Friday was a lighter day, we mostly worked on bits and pieces of all the things we had been working throughout the week, at a slightly more relaxed pace. Not surprising, since Selten worked pretty hard all week, and I figure it I want Fridays to be light days at work, then it doesn't hurt to extend the same courtesy to my horse from time to time. Plus, I'm giving him a full weekend off, he's earned it.
As well, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon, and not Friday, because I got home, did a whole bunch of chores, cooked dinner, and promptly passed out. Yesterday, I went to help a friend out with some house stuff, Dawn came over to drink Margaritas with us in the orchard, and then we watched the UFC fights. I slept way in today (I guess I needed it), and after doing dishes and watching YouTube videos for a while, realized I should go ahead and finish this entry up, so here we are. Back to the pony stuff...
Like I said earlier, Friday was a bit more low key. We sort of worked on all of the things that we did over the last week, but the main thing I remember about the lesson was an insight into collected vs. extended canter. When you are cantering, your seat travels in an oval. If you want an extended canter, think of the long side of the oval being horizontal. When you're collecting, think of the long side of the oval shifting from horizontal to vertical. It was a helpful visualization that I'll need to work with some more, and as luck would have it, I ride again tomorrow, so there'll be a chance to test it out again.
After our lesson, Selten got some body work done on him. In just the month I've had him, he's already started to muscle up, and it's time to get the saddle fitter out again to adjust his saddle, since there are a few pressure points that he's getting, so that'll likely happen at some point next week. Speaking of next week, Regional championships are next Thursday - Sunday, and the barn will be packing up and heading out to those Wednesday, so I'll be holding down the fort at the barn for the rest of the week. I did qualify for regionals this year at first level on Summer, both GAIG, and SWDC, but since A) We're in the middle of a pandemic, and B) I just bought Selten, and would much rather devote my energy to working with him, and hopefully qualifying for championships on him next year, I decided to stay behind. That's really all there is to report this time, so I'll leave it here. I should have more to say tomorrow.
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