Rise and shine! ... No?

So I am happy to announce that my summer schedule of riding Monday through Friday at 6am before work has ended!
Gone are the lovely sunny and revitalizing 5am sunrises...
Hello to the seemingly endless dark and dismal nights. Sunshine? What? When?


All mid-spring through summer everyone thought I was ready for the looney bin. I would wake up every morning at 5am, ( ...aaanndd I don't do mornings), drag my cozy butt out of bed, pour myself into riding tights, t-shirt and sweater, brush hair/teeth and pretty near waltz to the enticing aroma of caffeine beckoning me to its side.
The first five minutes were the worst! But with the days first cup of wonderful nectar in my hands and the beautiful serene sunrise just peaking over the misted horizon I thought.... "Wow! I think I get it.". At that moment I swear I remember thinking what a peaceful start to the day this was. I can do this! What could be better than spending the first couple hours of daylight with your horse. Lofting through the dewy grass ring, hearing only hoof falls and the contented snorts.....

Day after day this was my ritual. Until this seemingly endless season of darkness reared it's ugly head!

This last month has been... rough, to say the least. I still managed it! Most days....
And now rather than the usual morning greetings when arriving to the already hustling barn I have found myself squeaking out a barely audible... '...morning', or on worse days, expect a nod.

The rest of the work day went on just as it did before but to my wonder my coffee cup recycling stack has become the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then I notice as 2:00pm rolls around I find myself praying to not conch out on my desk.
Finally, to my bewilderment, I am not seeing 9:00PM anymore and 10:00PM .... wait.... You mean 10:00am don't you? Yeah.... I don't think I have seen 10:00PM in weeks.
I start panicking... it sort of reminded me of when I found my first gray hair, which is gone, thank you! I am not old yet....Am I?



Needless to say, seeing as the attempt at waking up yesterday and today in a timely manner clearly failed. I have decided to admit defeat and swap onto winter schedule early *cries*.


Well, I guess if I am admitting it is winter, I should probably ditch the stirrups and call it gymnastics time!

HA! Funny... let us start with gymnastics shall we? Ok. My goal is to have a new gymnastic to work through every week , focusing on weaknesses that I have been noticing as of late.
Mind you they will short gyms or multi element since space inside is an issue but I feel this forces accuracy and doesn't give my brain a whole lot of time to over think.

For Paloma, straightness, impulsion and balance seem to be our biggest short comings.
For me, staying centered and not micro managing often flare up.


This weeks gymnastic. Poles placed entering and exiting and along sides to create lanes. I like about 10ft between personally. Basic vertical with placing poles each side.
This exercise isn't about height, it is about accuracy and balance. Allowing the horse to work through it. You set the rhythm, trot or canter in, leg on, up off the back and let it happen.

I personally am going to use this as a trot in to a 2.6/2.9 fence, later letting my mare finish off with a canter in as reward since canter in will be easier for her.
With Pal/me, I made this exercise because she relies too much on the canter to take the fence and doesn't use her haunches to rock and push, she tends to get a bit drifty because I have a bad habit of scrunching my left side and we needs to work on balance. (Being a little long she likes to stretch out but then falls on the forehand.)

Expected, (or should I say hopeful?), outcome would be to use the trot in to increase strength and encourage rocking back and tunnel poles to help me/her stay straight and finally the last pole to re balance.

To make this a little trickier, if all goes well, I will move through the grid, ride deep in the corner and along the other long side, transition from canter to halt. Turn on the forehand off my outside leg and trot or canter off.  (The dressage coach I take lessons from now and then gave me this last TOF exercise to really encourage the haunches to work in the transition.)


Cross fingers. Let's hope it goes well. I am an avid planner but tend to deviate...

 

Lest we not forget.