Stressful or Stale?

Mort and I haven’t been having very exciting rides lately.  While boring isn’t always a bad thing, I think we’re both kinda getting tired of the same routine.  I am not a person who likes to push hard on the training front before a show.  I am a firm believer in that if you have to train hard in the couple weeks before a show you probably signed up for something that you weren’t ready for.  That’s a huge pet peeve of mine but I won’t start on that tirade today. 

So while Mort and I have a million things to work on, I won’t be doing a lot of pushing right now.  But this also means that our rides are somewhat short and not particularly challenging.  I do some warm-up.  I work on straightness and being between the aids.  I work a bit on transitions between and within the gaits.  We do simple lateral work.  The end.  Sometimes I throw in some more difficult lateral work in the walk at the end (the current project is haunches-in), but nothing that may upset or stress him. 

It means I don’t have anything too exciting to write about.  I was so bored that yesterday I even worked on his ear clipping issues.  I’m stuck between not wanting to push too hard and not wanting to get stale.  I think I’ll try to play with some more difficult things tonight and/or tomorrow and then back to simple stuff.  I’d love to get in some outside riding and work on fitness and fun, but the weather is dumb again.  I know that over time I’ll know him better as far as what I can push for and if I can introduce new things before a show or not, but for now I’m aiming on the side of too easy.  We’ll see how it all goes!