"barrel racing" with a Fjord

Well, it was actually cone racing because we don't have any barrels and our arena is too small for them anyway... but it was fun! Partly to get my mind off of Indy being gone and partly just to have fun, had a group lesson working on getting our turning aids fine tuned through the cloverleaf barrel pattern.

I think Radar has done this in his prior life - Mia thinks he did play days and games at the barn he came from - he definitely perked up. And for him, that's a good thing!  We ended up cantering the outside of the pattern to get him warmed up, trotting the first two cones of the cloverleaf and cantering the last cone to the end.  I was actually really impressed with how responsive he was to cantering not on a circle and at odd places!  I tend to forget that he's in a much better place physically and mentally than he was last year and I can expect more from him.  Fun overall, but I still miss Indy's personality.  Radar's sweet and cute, but I don't think he really cares about us as much as Indy did.  I know, total anthropomorphizing... but I don't care.

On the new horse front, potential barn horse #1 didn't pass the vet, #2 is temporarily lame but hopefully will still work out for a lease, and there's a #3 Appaloosa that will be tried soon.  I'm not even the one doing the looking and it's stressful!

"horses come and go": saying goodbye to Indy

I had my last ride on Indy yesterday, he's going back to his owner to be a trail horse now that his lease is over.  Completely understand why he didn't totally work in the lesson program, but am still sad.

Had a nice relaxing ride with a lot of thinking interspersed. Mia made me articulate every thing I've learned from Indy in the last year... here's what I can remember:

• Don't judge a horse by their physical conformation. Who would've thought that I'd love a huge-strided horse who is about a hand and a half taller than ideal?
• The mind is the most important thing for me.
• I like a forward horse with a great mind. I like Indy's "Go" but with his slower mental energy it evens out and is comfortable.
• Rhythm is important. I like horses with a sense of rhythm about them.
• I can learn to ride a big-strided canter if I have the motivation.
• Just because a horse is thin-skinned and pissy about being groomed doesn't mean they're not happy to be with you in their own way (totally anthropormorphizing, but whatever).
• It's interesting to get to know a rather subdued horse and recognize what he wants after riding more effusive horses. His personality is not that obvious but worth recognizing and becoming familiar with.

I'll miss him.  Two potential horses coming into the barn for other clients, plus Radar and maybe V., so I'll have a few horses to lesson on.  It just won't be the same for awhile.

Commitment

So I struggle with commitment. Not the go out to the barn and take a lesson kind of commitment, but the "I sort of asked you to lower your head five strides ago and you still haven't" lack of commitment. I need to ride stronger and it's something that I've always struggled with, I don't know whether it is just due to me being a chicken or physical stuff, but I'm not as forceful as I need to be.  And the horse is always so much happier when you actually give him clear signals! Poor guy.

Worked a lot on getting him nice and low and releasing without dropping him.  That feeling is sometimes hard to grasp, and the difference between a nice release and "oops! I got too far forward and he dropped me" but by the end I felt it and got a very nice trot.  Ended with a nice canter and I finally felt myself able to change my position and make improvements during his canter.  The "pointing with your knees" - although it sounds so odd! - really improved everything today.

Taking that Leap of Faith

So in my lesson on Friday, when I was preparing for my first canter depart of the ride... Mia just told me to take a leap of faith and go with it.  I have to trust myself and the horse.  And you know what? It worked.  Got some wonderful right-lead canter, left lead a little sticky due to my ridiculous inability to keep my left foot in the stirrup and face outward enough, but it didn't faze Indy one bit.  He's perfect and his canter is actually kind of amazing for working through things like this because his stride is so huge that you have enough time to process things and remember position things while you can fix them.  Love it.  So he might not actually be going... I hope not. But who knows?!

Other horse-related news, I finally got around to seeing Buck, an amazing film that really solidified what I want to become as a rider.  I realize that I have no clue what the future holds competition-wise for me, but I want to become the best horse person possible given my circumstances and abilities.  This film really proved to me that it is possible.  I also have a ridiculous desire to increase my horse knowledge - I want some clinics to audit or (gasp) participate in!  I've never been at barns that hosted clinics, so that whole aspect of riding has been lost on me.  I'm lucky enough to have a trainer who does that, but it might just be time for me to take that bull by the horns, no pun intended, and figure out how to get to the next step.