Elbows

My nemesis, apparently. And by extension my hands, which seems to be a thing going around blogland today (as I distract myself from writing this by catching up on my feed...)

"Mom, I have not finished eating. Do you see all this wonderful soft hay right here?"

 I resolved this week to work on my hands (and elbows) both on and off the horse. Jim suggested I toss balls and catch them with my elbows bent and practice the give and take with that. So I've been doing that. But I also wanted to incorporate something intentional into my gym trips as well.

"I'm suspicious Mom... why do you have that bucket?"

 So I added a half hour before my T/Th yoga sessions to go run on the elliptical at the Y (thank you included childcare...)   I kept my hands gently, closed fingers on the swinging grips, not the heart rate monitor grips, and focused on maintaining steady contact as my legs moved them.

"It's okay, I'll just stand on my hay before my hoof armor cures, guaranteeing that the hay will bond to my hoof"

 I did this T/W/Th. Wednesday evening I went out to ride after my Monday lesson. I gave myself permission to ONLY work on my hands. I wasn't going to try and maintain pace through seat only, I wasn't going to really focus on my leg. Just on keeping steady rein contact. I felt like my hands were EVERYWHERE. And I'll need to check in next Monday to be sure, but I think that's more what I'm supposed to be doing?  Just by keeping my hands in motion with Gwyn she started dropping and carrying herself more. Probably because I wasn't banging her in the mouth anymore.

UGH. Hands.

 Then I had the shortest ride ever this morning because after getting a coat of hoof armor on I only had about 20 minutes before I needed to start untacking and leaving to pick up Hazel. For that ride the rain held off just long enough. I started to notice that my WHOLE body was moving instead of just my arms and elbows, so I practiced stillness in my core while keeping elbows moving and giving.

 We also walked up the slight hill on the property twice. And I made her trot over those cross rails in a 'course'. She does not jump them. They are too small. For a super short ride, I was pleased that she was walking around with her head lower, and not giraffing. In fact, she was fairly lazy. But also dropping into contact, which I tried VERY hard not to jab her in the mouth by stiff hands.

Pretty pretty colors

Snuggles while I listen to the rain on the roof.

Glorious glorious tail right now. She's gone back to blonde. Let it be known, that mane USED to be the same length.