Potential Trail Loss

There is a proposal to allow bicyclists to access previously horse/hiker only trail in upper Michigan. The danger of sharing the trail is acknowledged by the proposal and instead they want to alternate days/weeks that horses and bikes can access it.

Please add your signature to the petition and/or send an email to the Forest Service emails listed at the petition site to ask them to not do this. And share!

The threatened trail in question is a linear trail like that used by Shore to Shore and horseback riders will ride out and camp and come back, using the trail on multiple days. To alternate use, especially if it's a day or even week, would extremely discourage equestrian use and impact what little trail in Michigan is left. There is plenty of area to create a new trail for exclusive bike access. They do not need the

I've shared on this blog before how poorly our previous interactions with mountain bikes on shared trail has been and this horrifies me that access is getting restricted. Please help us Michigan riders out and support the cause. We don't want the precedent set for other horse trails across the country.

The part where we nearly collided is where the horses and bikes share a trail VERY briefly. If you ride the red loop counter clockwise, you share the trail head-on to the bikes (who have a unidirectional trail).  I saw the overlap coming. We paused before stepping onto the trail, I didn't see or hear anything.  Then we proceeded and ZOOM.  A guy came around the bend and was apparently ready to just zip on by us.
I started shouting, "Hello?! HELLO! HEY!" Gwyn tucked her tail under and I felt her begin to spin, dude on the bike finally figured out that hey, maybe I should slow down (no FUCKING shit, asshole) and she 180'd back the other way. I sat deeply and grabbed mane. I turned her back and asked her to walk toward the bike. Her whole body was tense. The guy apologized and he went on his way, saying there was one more behind him. The one more came not long after and I kicked Gwyn into a trot to get the fuck away from the merged section before we died.

Every other bike encounter was less dramatic, but Gwyn was more charged up about it. Bikes were obviously out to get her.

So I think that's poor trail planning.  *grumble*

Back to Conditioning! and a bit of sun :)

Because work is terrible lately and they want me to restrict my hours, I have been making every effort to only work 4 days a week and spend that fifth day on something fun. Last friday I took Kaylee to the movies, the friday before I trailered to the indoor arena to get some schooling in before the dressage show.

This week promised temperatures above freezing PLUS clear skies and sun. I knew I was going riding, but the question came down to where. I had lots of options available, but with footing being questionable in a lot of places, I ended up settling on the Polly Ann Trail, at the Leonard trailhead so I didn't have to do any road riding to access the trail.

I'm pretty pleased by her body condition at the moment coming out of winter. Now to get her better muscled and not cresty with spring grass.

Way Back Wednesday: 5 years ago

When we lived in Washington, the final barn I boarded at was a wonderful place run by some really fun people. It was a family friendly barn, multi-disciplinary, and truly truly a relaxed place (for me). There was some drama with boarders, but overall it was pretty great.

One thing that I appreciated was that the person who ran the place, Dani, (she leased the property) was a pretty good groundwork trainer (I loathe to say natural horsemanship, but it would apply, she used her own amalgamation of methods). One of the boarders, Beth, was also a good trainer who reminds me a lot of Dom, if Dom primarily rode western. Both of them had some good horse sense and I really respected their opinions.

Dani decided that she was going to host a groundwork clinic every wednesday evening for anyone to attend. It was something like 10$ a session and was open to anyone and she would even provide a horse if you didn't have one or couldn't trailer one in. Gwyn and I did pretty much every session.

What was really cool (for me, again) was that the things I was doing in those clinics were also things that Dom was talking about on her blog at the time, while she was working with Booger, I think. And I also super respect Dom's opinion on horses so to have the ideas reinforced just really made the whole thing very impactful.

At one point, Beth came in to teach us about round penning. They set up the roundpen in the covered arena and used participant horses to teach us about body language and pressure and allowing the horse to come to you and also guiding the pressure release to get them moving where you wanted them moving. At some point, Gwyn got pulled in to use as a demo.

So Beth was working Gwyn and Dani was narrating from the side of the roundpen. She's short, so she was sitting on the top panel pole. I'll quote my livejournal entry for the incident

we were just listening to Dani talk about how some horses will look for any way to escape before giving in and with these big horses they know they're big and might try to head for a panel so we should make a lot of noise to keep her away. 5 minutes later, Gwyn is heading straight for me. I tried to push her off initially, but she was determined to go over, so I went sideways.

I was standing at the gate to the roundpen and Beth put pressure on Gwyn. Gwyn, having had enough of circles, decided that -I- was the way to the escape and jumped the panel, folding it as you see in the picture. I remember having my hands on her chest and ducking out of the way and then just praying that she got her legs free from the panels. She had a small surface scrape, but never took a lame step and what I thought was drips of blood on her hooves was just red paint transfer from the metal.

I look back with laughs now. It wasn't even the first panel gate she jumped over.

 

 

I love my Goober

GPE February Dressage Show

Okay, so Saturday show prep involved a quick trip to the resale tack shop in Metamora where I found a sun faded but totally intact (just needs hind leg straps) brightly colored turn out sheet. My baker sheet is nearing the end of its lifetime and I have been scouring the sales for a deal. This was cheaper by 10$ and didn't require shipping. Score!

 I also found a lovely teal Horze quarter sheet that appears to be rain proof. For cheap. It looks brand new.

 But the real reason I was there was to pick up a black dressage whip. I've misplaced my black one and all I had was neon pink and I figured that might not be fully appropriate. I found this beauty for 15$. It's got a wood handle and silver cording with a medallion with not my initials, lol. I figure I can probably remove that and put one of my own. I feel like I have a wand with it! It also comes with a velvet protective pouch for the handle. It is fancy.

 I totally worked myself up over this schooling show and in hindsight, I was ridiculous. I will say that the barn this was held at is in the richest area of Detroit suburbs, so I was getting intimidated by the potential that the other riders would be way more upscale and Super Serious TM about it all. Let's just say, if I go again, I won't agonize so much.

Saturday night I braided Gwyn's mane, intending to finish when I got to the show on Sunday.

She kept giving me this look, like, "Are you done yet, woman?!"

 I even pulled out my homemade (but not by me) sleazy that I got at a tack sale in Washington to keep the braids protected.

Then I stuck her cooler on and locked her stall and bedded it with brand new shavings. Our temps have finally gotten (briefly) above freezing and things were muddy rather than frozen and Gwyn has been beautifully clean lately. With my luck, if I hadn't done this, I'd have gotten her Sunday morning and she would have been coated in mud. 

 Then I made sure that my visual presentation of my outfit, with no riding jacket, looked respectful enough. I ended up ditching the vest. I also did some last minute boot stretching so I could actually zip them up solo the next day. And I fashioned a zipper pull out of a wire coat hanger because I can't get enough leverage with just the zipper handle.

 Much to my surprise, Gwyn once again hopped immediately on the trailer. I'm not sure what changed from last year but I am liking this trend of her being excited to go places. Our forecast for today is basically wind warnings all day with gusts up to 50 mph. Great weather for hauling. 😑

The drive down wasn't bad at all and no one was on the road early Sunday morning so it was stress free. The facilities at GPE are nice. They have two giant indoor arenas, one outdoor and an outdoor under construction it seems. I was able to claim a grooming bay and get tacked up. There were a ton of farm staff who kept offering to help, and honestly I almost got the feeling of they were used to people needing that?

Gwyn is my charmer though, and everyone fell in love with her. She, of course, loves the attention and just hams it up. But she was honestly on her (mostly) best behavior all day and I'm super pleased with how she handled the brand new facility.

The "warm up" arena.

 You'll note, I have no braids in her mane. I got 20 minutes from home and realized I left the whole bag of braiding bands on my little table in the barn. When we arrived at GPE I took her for a quick hand walk to the arena where the dressage court was and saw several horses not braided.

That decided it for me. I couldn't get the spray nozzle on my quick braid to work the night before but at least the sleazy had tamed it down from sticking straight out. I pulled out the braids and just ran a comb through it quickly and called it good.

Through those doors is the stable area and the grooming bays.

My big goals for these two dressage tests were:
1. Stay in the dressage court
2. Focus on maintaining contact and minimizing giraffe moments
3. Make transitions in appropriate spots

In my warm up I did lots of circles and serpentines getting that feeling of inside leg to outside rein, because it really does produce results and she doesn't go around so upside down, as she has a tendency to do. I did a quick run through of my tests and then headed to the other arena.

The footing appeared state of the art. It was perfectly manicured sand with a felt? additive and had just enough springiness.

They were only opening up that arena in between tests, so I waited outside as the wind started to gust up. This set Gwyn on edge and when the door finally opened she just TORE into the arena and my super cushy reins from WEG got wrapped around her legs. The only thing I could think was do not make me go get a spare pair of reins from my trailer so HELP ME GOD I WILL KILL YOU HORSE.

The reins were unscathed and Gwyn calmed down quickly afterward.

Dressage Court - it was the LONG one! The court ran the length of this indoor and was the long version. There wasn't room to enter at A (horse is standing at A in this picture) so we entered to either side of E. 

 So here's where I have my ONE HUGE REGRET.

I asked someone to set up the go pro and press the button. It only recorded seven seconds. I could freaking cry. I wish I had done it myself or something, I dunno. I know how it felt, and I'm writing this immediately in order to hold on to that and I have the judge's remarks. I just wish I had some of her... moments recorded because there are some that I'm sure are hilarious.

Test A - Score bolded, judges comments in italics

1. I totally biffed the first movement of Test A. I couldn't remember if I needed to trot or walk, all I knew was that I didn't have to salute to start. LOL. So I faked it. I asked for a half hearted trot and let her break to walk. I knew this wasn't going to score well. 5.5 Early
2. The first turn I hadn't gotten her on the bit yet and she was giraffey and wanted to drop her shoulder in. I recovered by the circle. 6 counter bent
3. Circle right. I felt she was rushing and managed a half halt halfway through. She felt ROUND and the judge noticed. :D  7 Nice forward, slight tension, round
4. Changing rein I tried to hold onto the feeling of shoulder fore as we changed diagonal. It felt good. 7 no comment
5. Circle again, I was breathing and just really focused on maintaining that contact and not leaving the arena near the gap LOL  7 good rhythm
6. Nailed it. 7.5  well done
7. Free walk time. I've heard time and time again that the walk is super important and also that Gwyn has a great walk. I wanted to her maintain impulsion from the medium walk. 6 Nice stretch and march
8. Medium walk then down center line. I wanted to nail my geometry with the turn. 7 no comment
9. Biffed this. We had a great halt. I wasn't sure if I saw the judge acknowledge my salute. Gwyn stepped and I kinda repeated it. She said if I hadn't done that it would have been a 7. ARGH.  4 Square halt, then moved

Collective remarks were 

7 - gaits - lovely mover

7 - impulsion

6.5 (x2) - submission - acceptance is circled, some tension at times

7 - rider's position

6.5 - rider effectiveness

7 - geometry - nicely ridden

104.5/160 for a 65.3%  on Intro A 

I calculated this score as I had to leave before they could be officially scored. The judge was kind enough to let me take my sheets and just took pictures of the papers so she could score and place me. I have no idea what placings I got.

Test B

1. I heard the judge gently scold another rider for halting from the trot, rather than through the walk like the test says, so I made sure to nail my entrance/halt/salute for the second test. Much improved but wasn't quite on the center line. 6 Nicely done, right of x, accuracy counts
2. This time I nailed the contact and bend for the left turn, and again, I was focused on making sure we weren't going to exit the arena as we were going by a gap. 7.5 nice forward and bend
3. Here's where I wish my video had worked. Our 20m circle in the trot was garnished by a couple canter steps and a dolphin leap. I was ready to start laughing at this point. 5 Disobedient
4. Again, I wanted to make sure that my transitions were accurate to the test. 7 no comment
5. Free walk on the short diagonal. Same thought as in test A. Show off her walk. 7 nice stretch and march
6. We went upside down a bit in the medium walk and I wasn't able to recover quickly 6.5  slight tension into medium walk
7. With the upside down we were rushing into the trot and it took really breathing and half halting to get her back. 5 rushing, out of balance
8. I think we had more spunkiness here too? 5 losing rhythm
9. Finished up and again, I wanted to show that I had listened to her comments from the previous test. 6 straight but close in front

Collective remarks

7.5 - gaits

7 - impulsion - can use impulsion against you!  HAHAHAHAHA yeah....

5.5 (x2) - submission - naughty  You got that right...

7 - rider's position

6.5 - rider effectiveness

6.5 - geometry etc

93.5/160 for a 58.4% on Intro B.

Her comments to me after that test were "Your mare is very talented and naughty at times! It's that appaloosa haha. I think you're ready for a move up the levels!"

So, I felt great that she thought so. Both tests felt so much better in terms of her not feeling so upside down under me. We had a good 'staying in the dressage court' show, which were my goals. I still feel like I need to work more on the foundations that the Intro levels test and get some more consistent 'obedience' in a show environment.

Since Kaylee had slept over at Grandma's the night before, I stuck around and waited for her to be dropped off with me, and then we waited some more so I could grab my tests.

I think part of my anxiousness about this show was imposter syndrome. I really need to remember my confidence in my ability and Gwyn's ability. There were several riders at training level who weren't even posting on the correct lead and had terrible geometry. It absolutely knocked down my imposter syndrome, just after the fact. I was on par at a minimum with these folks.

Sun and Smiles

I had a doctors appointment this morning and after looking at the forecast, and considering what I had to do at work and the drive to get there, I decided a mental health day was in order.

My view from the bathroom when I woke up. The apple tree still has some apples that are finally falling and the deer come to eat.

After my appointment (down nearly 10 lb and a whole %age of body fat! thank you stimulants) I hooked the truck up to the trailer and got ready to go out.  The footing is not good where I can ride at home, except maybe the front pasture, so I sought out some local barns to see if I could pay to come ride. One place, only a couple miles away, was open for haul-ins for $15.

If I can swing my schedule right and get out there every week, they offer unlimited haul ins for $45/month. It's really tempting.

Given that I have a big outing on Sunday with Gwyn, I was hoping to use today as a schooling session to remind her that we load nicely. Eric told me that she'd be great for today and a little shit on Sunday because that's how my life works.

True to form, Gwyn didn't run away when I approached, dressed to ride, with her halter. She stuck her nose in. Then we calmly walked out of the barn (Saffron tried to come with) and over to the trailer. I stood at the bottom of the ramp, she peered in, and then walked calmly on and started eating hay.

Oh mare. Don't get me wrong, I love that she self loads like this now. It is SO FAR from where she used to be, where she needed up to three people to get her on. I much prefer this. But I'll bet you now that she doesn't want to ride on Sunday.

 The place I found isn't on Google maps as a farm/location and I had scouted the drive earlier on my way to the doctor because it's all back roads. They were icy. Like the truck wasn't able to stop for a stop sign, icy. So when I went with the trailer I was SUPER cautious. Thankfully the sun had come out and the temperatures had risen well above freezing. The dirt roads were visible!

 The arena at this place wasn't super big, but it was indoors with better footing than what I had to work with. And I could easily practice some dressage tests. Plus, there was a set of three cavaletti set up in a corner and I've definitely wanted to get Gwyn working on that more so I incorporated it as much as I felt comfortable.

Gwyn loves barn kittens

 The lady who runs this place absolutely fell in LOVE with Gwyn. She was immediately talking about how sad it was her trakehner stud didn't have swimmers anymore because they'd be a great pairing.

Okay lady, sure. Not really planning to breed Gwyn presently.

I wasn't too thrilled with the attention she was lavishing on her, but she was pretty familiar with rider biomechanics and if anything, she might be able to help me there. She did immediately notice that tracking left Gwyn falls in on the inside, but also that I am uneven too, and I sink weight into my right foot while my left barely takes any weight and that probably contributes a ton. I'm going to keep that in mind as I go through reading my new to me Mary Wanless books!

She did offer to help with those biomechanical issues, which I'm hesitantly curious about taking her up on. I know I have issues. Eyes on the ground would be very very helpful.

Still agonizing over how to tame this mane for Sunday...

 I started out just working on reestablishing the feeling of inside leg to outside rein and not having a giraffe under me. We lost the connection a little when I moved into trotting, but were able to gain it back. She kept pulling me to the trot poles and did really well in both directions with them.

 Then I pulled up the Intro USDF tests and did a walk through of each, and then a dress rehearsal. They're pretty quick and easy.

Intro A is like a figure 8 of trotting. Enter at A in a trot, X working walk, track right, working trot. You trot circle at A, go immediately into a trot across the diagonal to change direction and trot circle at C, then walk, walk through the diagonal and down the center line at a walk, halt salute.

Intro B has enter working trot, halt through the walk at X, salute. Trot and track left. Circle at E, working walk before A, free walk across the short diagonal (F - E) to change rein, working trot, circle at B, continue in working trot to center line, halt at X, salute.

 She wasn't as forward as I wanted and I think I'll carry a whip on Sunday. I tried asking for some canter at the end and she just was not having it and porpoised several times. It has been a few months since I asked her to carry herself with any regularity so I finished by asking for a nice forward trot circle without snide commentary from her. We got that and I called it done.

 Afterwards, we headed over to pick up a prescription I needed and Gwyn got to play the "Standing on the Trailer while Mom goes in the store" game. She got a giant apple for waiting.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the work I got done today with her. I'm really excited for Sunday, and hopefully I'll be able to get media. The friend who was going to meet me isn't able to anymore. My fall back is to stick my Go Pro on a tripod before I go in for my test. If it's charged I can just leave it running since there's only one person between my two ride times.

I really want her to have more experience in a legit dressage ring and Sunday will provide that! Now to clean tack and my tall boots!

For Fun: Favorite Ooops Picture

I saw a facebook post about what happens when you try to take a panoramic of a horse and rider and the results were obviously hilarious and it sent me looking for my own example. Google photos helpfully tried to stitch together a series of photos I took while lunging Gwyn.

So here it is, from one of my favorite places I've boarded (25 acres, huge fields, trails, access to more trails, and access to the Snohomish River, just had to deal with occasional flooding, now it's an A level H/J place, I had to leave when it got sold to them)


Emma has a Brontosaurus with Charlie. I have Sleipnir minus two legs.

Picture ca. May 2013 

Cold and Still Icy

After the dressage clinic I was determined to get out and try to school some basic stuff on Gwyn, just working on her reaching into the contact. I had visions of us trotting around the arena. I like to pre-visualize my rides. It helps me mentally prepare what I'm about to try and do physically.

Kaylee also wanted to ride when she saw me heading out to the barn so I waited for her to get dressed before leaving the house. It was fairly 'warm' compared to some of the recent temperatures in that it was almost at freezing and there was no wind.

Kaylee made sure to brush out all the shavings from Gwyn's tail

 Since Kaylee wanted to ride and in her saddle, I lunged first to see how Gwyn was behaving.

Lazy. And while the arena was no longer a full sheet of ice, it was basically like concrete (edit: Eric informs me that that IS a type of concrete -.- ) with pockets of ice and snow. Pretty much the sand was waterlogged and it had frozen. Ugh. No trotting. And definitely not even a forward walk.

 Kaylee at least had a blast and Gwyn was in the "this footing is terrible, I'd rather not move" frame of mind so we really had a chill time.

 An instagram friend was selling one of those awesome rainbow metalled bits in a size and style that fit Gwyn and I jumped on the chance to buy it because pretty.  So we tested that out today.

Favorite View

 Kaylee opted to go inside once she was done. I switched everything over to my tack that I intend to take to the dressage show. All that's missing from this set up is a sparkly brown browband with purple/rainbow accents to match my bridle. I'm also using my nice cushy reins that I got at WEG.

Mom, do we HAVE to practice connection?

 I kept things to a walk and my big goal was to not have giraffe moments and to keep a semblance of bend to the inside without her dropping her shoulder. It all went pretty well. My new portable speaker worked great. I got to ride to music which kept the monotony of just walking bearable.

Gwyn tried to shut the gate on Saffron

 Then Saffron pushed open the gate and I thought, why not ride the hill in the pasture. So we did that too.

The hill is not icy, but the ground has no give to it. I do wonder if the front pasture might be better cushioned if it has more grass. Or if the farm fields are better.

Mare nuzzles <3

Then Gwyn voluntarily walked back into the pasture and we just hung out for a bit. I hopped off so I could bring in my mobile mounting block (my 3 step ladder is frozen into the sand) 

And I officially signed up to ride Intro A and B at a schooling show on February 24. I just want to be able to school some trotting before then and I need to strategize how I'll accomplish that.

Also, should I braid for this? When I talked to the show organizer I got the impression that when they've held this in the past, the adults have gone all out to practice everything, while the kids stick with a nice winter type shirt (no show coat).  Gwyn's mane is in this in between crud from her roach and I legit have never braided short mane before.

I plan to wear my white breeches, tall boots and then I'm torn on wearing a coat or just a nice sweater or a long sleeve wool shirt with a vest. I don't have a legit riding coat, just half of a suit coat from job interviews that could pass. Any advice there?

Forward and SHOULDER IN

Today I had a chance to audit a dressage clinic at Trainer A's barn, given by Hokan Thorn. She's who I've taken a couple dressage lessons from last year and plan to return to once it's not ice in my trailer loading area. Auditing was free and I was all over it!

I arrived in the middle of Trainer A's first ride on her Grand Prix horse, Marco. The second rider was also at a Grand Prix level.

 I don't have a whole lot of media as my preference was to be watching to see if I could identify what was changing in the the horse's carriage as the rider corrected herself from the instruction from Hokan. I was also writing notes down.

I was hoping to see some riders with issues that were nearer to the ones that I face. I obviously wasn't going to relate as closely to advice given to people riding at GP. I will share it here, regardless.

• Collection is more power and more activity, but never slower
• Use shoulder in/shoulder fore to shorten the length of the neck and learn to carry more weight on the inside hind leg
• However you don't want them getting too high in the neck. Still want them to reach into contact
• Marco and Tango both had huge tantrums when they were asked to increase the activity in their hind end during passage and piaffe without also raising the front

I feel like Gwyn and I could do the exercise on the left. That's not out of our skill set currently and would be a good practice for eventual lead changes in the canter.

He had Tango's rider do the above exercise to warm up and school changes. He really wanted the emphasis on the feel of shoulder in as they were in the corner, right before the cue to canter and was really pleased when the horse was offering a spirited canter depart. He did NOT like the horses to be working in a flat gait at any point except when they were done. 

Practicing 1s on Marco

Tango's rider apparently had trouble with her 2s and 1s so she was schooling them a lot. Either her cues were muddled or the horse was anticipating the changes. She nailed 2s fairly easily but struggled on the 1st going all the way across the diagonal. The rhythm wasn't there. He wanted her to break it down and only do a set of 3. And then when they brought it back to a longer set, he had her think in terms of 2-3-2 going across the diagonal. I could see how mentally reframing it that way might help in the saddle. I'm not sure Gwyn and I will EVER be schooling something like that, however. Lofty goal ;)

Overall, I heard a LOT of FORWARD in a german/swedish accent being hollered across the arena. He did take some time to assist with half steps for piaffe to increase the action in the hind for both horses. Neither appreciated it. Both threw tantrums.

After that Alison brought out her up and coming gelding. In comparison to the hulky beefcake GP guys that had just been in the arena, this youngster was SO NARROW and gangly. He was a 4 year old who'd had a few health issues that he was still recuperating from and so his training was behind. He was definitely baby-minded and kind of adorable in his antics.

She started lunging him and getting him to accept contact in the side reins. He had a bunch of baby moments on the lunge line, including a lot of cross firing in his canter, which really made me sit forward and pay attention because that's similar to Gwyn and I was really hoping that this would be fruitful. And I do consider Gwyn very much equivalent to a baby dressage horse in that she's still learning to seek contact in the bridle.

• use a leading inside rein around corners with steady outside
• want to encourage forward, but not curling behind the bit (this gelding's favorite evasion)
• solution: lift hands to bap him to get him to push his nose out, steady, then push him forward
• don't want your leading rein to be restricting though
• always a forward connection when riding babies
• when turning with baby horses stick to basics (not the shoulder in/fore, it will only encourage more curling behind evasion)
• turn from the outside shoulder, they should feel the outside rein on their neck
• keep baby horses bodies straight
• think 2x4 from tail to the ears

So FORWARD!

Next up was a self admitted newer rider on a half andalusion. Very chunky mare. She was being ridden in a double bridle despite only schooling 4th because the mare had a habit of running away with the rider if she was just in a snaffle.
Hokan's advice: Ride 4 times in a row in the double, on the fifth day only do the snaffle and see what happens. Alternatively, use a straight driving bit loose ring with no bumpies for spanish breeds.

Rider also described not being able to really get the mare straight or even do the whole shoulder in/shoulder fore to get her working more in contact. 

The mare was very dull and flat to the aids and the rider was struggling to increase the engagement demanded by Hokan.
My notes for her:

• Lots of inside leg to outside rein plus FORWARD
• never let the inside leg fall to the inside
• active hind legs ALL the time (i.e. the feel the of forward even if working in collection)
• want the horse pushing and going by herself
• when you say "puff!" she better PUFF
• more transitions so the horse comes back without losing engagement.

I left before this rider was finished as it was nearly dinner and I'd promised I'd go grocery shopping.

There are things that I want to work on with Gwyn. I know that when I remember how to actually do the whole inside leg to outside rein I have a horse in a much nicer frame. I'm hoping that tomorrow, with temperatures in the high 20s, my arena won't be a sheet of ice and I can actually sit on my horse safely.

There's a dressage schooling show at the end of this month about an hour away. I really REALLY want to go and ride Intro A/B for the miles in the dressage ring. But I need to actually ride between now and then.

Ovation Winter Riding Mitten Review

Video Review here! Taken deep into the freeze.

Long story short, they are a good purchase at a great price and handled negative Fahrenheit temperatures quite well. I was not compensated in anyway for making this.