Idle thoughts

• Why is it that we spend so much time worrying over what exactly we have to accomplish, instead of simply taking the time to enjoy where we've gotten to?
• Is it really necessary that nature synchronize her watch so that all female members of a household suffer PMS simultaneously? (And just how many crabby women does it take to cause an implosion?)

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I rode tonight. Briefly, since I was losing daylight by the time I walked back and collected Sunny. He's gained weight. I know this, because not only is he round like a pumpkin, but the new girth I ordered (which thankfully has elastic on both ends!) was snug before I reached the fourth hole on both sides.

The girth I've been using is plain cotton web with no elastic, and I'm guessing would not have fit tonight.

We trotted poles, worked on catching diagonals, and that was pretty much it. T took some video, but the shots were either too long or really awful or both. It felt like I had one stirrup leather longer than the other for most of the time I rode, and I kept wiggling trying to fix it. Saddle looked even, felt even, & the leathers were adjusted the same. They aren't old enough to have stretched out. Everything was feeling better by the time I finished, so I'm guessing I just need to stretch out more before I get on.

Aside from remembering to stretch, I'm still rounding my shoulders, and my hands are consistently too far forward. I'm going to have to really concentrate on riding with longer rein, and on getting my hands back to the pommel of the saddle so I'm not constantly collapsing over my hips.

Leg position wasn't absolutely horrid - as I was reminded previously, I need to keep my toes in. But other than the stirrup thing, I felt & look pretty secure.

I do need to stop looking down to check my diagonals. I can feel them, and 9 times out of ten I'm correct if I'm thinking about it and remember to change crossing the center or changing direction. I just have this bad habit of looking down.

My goal is to get out to the farm earlier on Wednesday evening. The shadows have pretty much covered the field by 7 PM, and by 8:30 when I finished up, it was starting to get dusky. I love fall, but I hate losing the daylight!

Two does and a half-grown fawn darted across the road in front of me on the way home. Pretty things. Hope they stay out of sight during deer season.

Night and day

Well, maybe evening & morning.

But that's what today's ride felt like in comparison to yesterday's. I followed through on the ground pole plan, setting up six poles so we could walk and trot through them. It was late - after 8 o'clock by the time I caught Sunny, but the bugs weren't as bad, and the heat of the day was gone.

He wasn't look-y, and I'd decided after yesterday that I was just going to ride through whatever he threw at me. He hasn't ever pulled anything major, so I'm more than likely psyching myself out over nothing anyway. And you know how Arabs feed off of nervous riders - lol!

I walked him through the poles on the ground first. It's been a long time since I set distances up, and he's shorter than the TBs & QHs that I took jumping lessons on. He was patient while I fiddled, and once I had things set, planted himself politely for me to mount.

We walked the poles a few times. Picked up trot on the correct diagonal - yeah, me - and continued winding through serpentines and circles. I could feel him engaging his back and stretching over the poles, which was great.

And I figured out something else while I was thinking over yesterday's ride. I think part of his focus problem was not just me being nervous, but also too much contact. Sunny's been ridden western. I've been using the bitless bridle, but on a mostly loose rein. He neck reins, & works off my legs. He's not heavy headed - he never tries to hang his front end on my hands.

When we were working at the walk he was soft because I was soft. It felt familiar. But when I asked for a trot, we started misunderstanding one another.

Riding English I'm used to picking up contact and feeling the reins telegraph the horse's actions: moving them up into the bridle. So, when I was asking Sunny to trot, I was automatically pushing him forward into my hands. But contact for him means something entirely different. We were working on mixed signals. He was hitting my hands and reading stop - I was pushing forward, and he was confused. We spiraled from there.

Tonight when I asked for upward transitions, I pushed him forward, but I also gave him more rein and encouraged him to reach out for my hands instead of trying to gather him up. For the most part it worked. He didn't get hollow and evasive. He let me know when I was gathering up too much, and if I softened my hands and fed him a bit more rein, he relaxed down into them.

When we were done he was actually warm and so was I. He licked his lips and let out a big sigh while I cleaned his hooves and brushed off the sweaty marks. I think we both finished the day more satisfied with one another.