Sneak Peak; A Moment of Balanced Canter

Up bright and early and at the barn grooming by 6am after stumbling a mile to fetch dear pony who watched with great amusement... but neglected to meet me half way. I don't even get the last two steps like Pal used to give me... Pft. Men!

As it turns out the indoor is pretty well booked solid the entire day, every day now. Here is to hoping the grass ring dries up ASAP! I used to be able to show up any day at 5:30-6am and ride.... now my only options in order to avoid the mellow drama are Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6AM unless I trail ride.
Whatever. I can make this work, right?

I did get in a pretty solid ride this morning despite the tractor and hay wagon being parked in the arena, weird?! Some would get cranky but I figured it was multi purpose. Something to steer, bend and leg yield from and despookify. One would think I parked it there myself!

I was operating a bit slow this morning so we only had about 25 minutes so I chose, simple, w/t/c, leg yeild, notions of shoudler fore etc. And I have to say Solo is getting to be a really nice ride tracking right! His trot feels floaty, toe flicking and with effortless impulsion (baby impulsion mind you), no nagging to feel like he is 'taking me somewhere'. His canter, oh man, with the already small arena, the tractor/wagon made it really tight, Solo balanced and wound around that thing like nobody's business.

Erm what? What is this? Who am I riding? Might I remind everyone his canter usually feels like I am riding in a washing machine on top of rocking chair?

He broke the canter after a couple laps, I could have booted to keep it but it was so nice and likely took alot of effort. The transition to trot was equally balanced so we had a break afterwards.

Left? Ugh. Where are thou left?

Left is still a bit of a cluster .....mess. It is hard to explain but I feel like his body is bent to the outside but his head and neck are still exhibiting slight inside bend... I am not sure but I am guessing his is hollowing to the outside.
My brain tells me the answer to this is to stretch out the tight left side (inside to the right) muscles, so we worked on a few spiral circles, filling up the outside rein, etc.

Solo does not yet soften tracking left much... seconds here and there but not really. Canter, remains a bit of an en devour. He finds it tricky to pick up the canter this way without 'trantering' first or giving me his opinion. After a couple reminders he consents and picks it up just fine, though it is still very rough it is improving, just slower.

It still amazes me how horses can swap their 'good' sides and no matter your plan for the ride that day, your horse is really the one with the ride plan. Wish they would care to chime in before I spend time planning, ha-ha.


I also had a little reminisce moment. Right when I was trotting, actually both left and right, I remember thinking, 'Wow this feels great, I never got this forward and free with Pal'.
Pal always felt like I was riding in a square, no where to go, no matter how much you plead. Solo, places to go feel endless and easy.

Canter, the moment we had today, felt powerful, bouncy but comfortable, huge but rideable and I felt like I could turn on a dime!


I remind myself we all ride, 24/7, through thick and thin, sickness and health, for moments like these!