Week 2 | A Year of Riding
What would happen if I gave myself a year for my priorities? A year where the first thing that went on my calendar every week was my ride? I don’t know, but I’m keeping track of what happens.
Monday
After a jiujitsu tournament for my son on Saturday, my Sunday plans were shelved by his being under the weather. My husband traveled for work for the whole last half of October so getting to the barn is requiring some time management.
Immediately after dropping the kid off at school Monday morning, I headed out to the barn with this month’s SmartPak supplements in the passenger seat. We’re solidly in the season of weather swings here in Carolina. Morning temps are anywhere from 50 to 72 and afternoons range from 60s to mid 80s. Our last few rides Elf has gotten increasingly sweaty – clipping is definitely going to be in our future.
For now, though, I’m keeping our rides short and focused. This week, I wanted to work on transitions. I know that I need to start by establishing the forward, so I’ve been starting our rides with a trip around the hay field. Riding out in the open isn’t something we’ve done a ton of but it does keep Elf’s attention. I don’t worry about connection or frame. I ask him to move briskly and push from behind. We started with just walked & I’ve been adding a little more walk and trot each ride. I’d like to get to the point that I walk, trot and canter one side of the squarish field each.
From there, we popped into the area and went straight to work. Walk-trot transitions quickly showed that he was dropping his left shoulder and veering that direction. Keeping his brain busy is key in that situation. I used serpentines at the trot to get his attention, with halts sprinkled throughout. I’ve been impressed with Elf this Fall in his quickly returning adjustability. In the past, that has come AFTER his fitness builds about a month into our fitness. I’m not sure if he’s finally maturing (at 16) or if my more structured rides are helping, but I’ll take it!
Sunday
I think I will remember this fall as the season of germs. Between the school germs from my son and the travel germs from my husband (he travels around the country 1-2 weeks a month for work), my sinuses have taken a major hit the last few months. After Monday’s ride, I felt like we were making solid progress and starting to move from just fitness to some work.
Cue rainy weather and chest cold and Halloween trick or treating.
Elf had a little more time off this week than planned, so when Sunday offered beautiful weather – 60 degrees and sunny – I made the most of it and headed to the barn. Sunday’s are quiet at my barn. Elf and I headed out on a long, rambling walk. As he gets fitter, Elf becomes more forward but tends to lose relaxation. He’s naturally a more reactive horse. So, today we worked on a steady, relaxed forward walk around the hay field.
To round out our ride, we meandered up to the jump field. We took advantage of the raised poles and cavaletti sprinkled through out to remind Elf to pay attention to where his feet were going. The jump field is so much more distracting than the dressage arena – horses turned out next door, the road along one side, stadium and cross country jumps – that it’s much closer to the horse I have under me at a show. It’s also the perfect place to work on our relaxation. We ended once he was concentrating and changing directions without adding tension, taking the long way back to the barn.
We’re slated for quite cool but sunny weather this week so I’m aiming for 3 rides before a weekend road trip!
