Convincing myself to get out of bed to ride today was difficult, with the weather acting the way it has been. Its difficult to get out to the barn when i know its raining and I'm not sure if it will be too wet to ride. Thats the only downside to boarding with Grayson, there is no indoor! No matter, I braved the light rain and went out for my morning ride.
I decided that it would be a light flat, today, since I didn't ride yesterday (rain) I wanted to get her out for a longer but more relaxed ride. At the same time though I wanted to continue to build on what we started earlier this week - coming down onto the bit. I warmed up outside the ring, trotting around the property. I love being able to just ride anywhere on the property.
Anyway, after a fifteen minute trot warmup I headed to the ring. I've been riding her in and out of the ring every time I ride, she cannot continue to have issues at a gate, so what better way to get used to it than doing it every time we ride! Anyway, once in the ring I began practicing more moving away from the leg, coming down onto the bit, and shoulder ins. She is really starting to respond to these questions, and using her body well. At the end of our ride, I spent about 15 minutes working her down onto the bit. Towards the end she was really able to round her back and move from her hind end into the hand. Yay!And on the subject of rounding her back, we do carrot stretches everyday, and have been practicing bowing. She will do anything to get that carrot! And she is so darn flexible! Today while i was on her she had an itch right around her hip bone, so what does she do? Turns her head all the way around and starts biting her hip. While I'm sitting on her! Grayson couldn't stop laughing. "She's just so funny, she's got so much personality!"
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