Warm-Up

It's been a relatively quiet week. We had a bit of inconsistent weather--from pleasant and cool to stormy to walk-in oven with humidity. All this makes it a bit difficult to feel motivated to ride seriously, especially with County Fair coming up. (Meaning that the barn gets a bit crowded, especially when the outdoor arena was too wet to ride in, as it was for a while.)

I did a lot of simple days with Toler, either indoor and outdoor. We got in a day of serpentines and counter-cantering, a day of circles galore, and one day of 2'6 jumping. I also did another round of no-stirrup dressage days. The first time was a bit rough, as Toler once again decided it was the perfect opportunity to be stubborn, so instead of focusing on my seat and posture, I was constantly fussing with him. Moving forward, keeping rhythm, not sticking his nose out and dropping his hind end, that sort of thing. The second day I decided I would anticipate his behavior and rode with the German Martingale (at least that's what we call them). It's a leather martingale that goes around the bottom of the girth, through the bit and fastens at the girth under the leg. I leave it pretty loose when I work with it, so it really only comes into play when he tenses his neck or tries to stick his nose up and out. In that way, it's *excellent* for getting him to relax through his back and move consistently, particularly when I'm otherwise engaged, such as concentrating on my sitting trot.

We also had a trail day, which was perfect. The trail hadn't been used much recently, as the grass was long and un-trampled by horse or ATV/dirt bike, which meant it was in perfect shape for doing lots of trotting work down the big hill. I thought about trying a few strides of cantering downhill, but Toler was extremely excited to be outside (especially with the horses in the paddocks running around and nickering at him), so I kept the cantering to the uphill direction.

All right, all right. We galloped. Twice. It was the best gallop we've had in a while; Toler actually kicked it up from hand-gallop for a little while, which he hasn't wanted to do on his own. There's nothing better than a gallop, let me tell you. The wind, the adrenaline, the feeling of stretching along his mane...I can't even describe the exhilaration of the actual gait! It's like coming alive, or breaking the surface of water after an intense swim, or standing out when the rain is so hard you can't feel the individual drops.

I hope to do another trail ride soon, but the flies have been downright nasty out there. Every time I go out there Toler's got another giant welt on him from those bugs. They also like to bite me in the back of the thigh.

More coming tomorrow, I promise!