Weekend Update

Well folks, I think Mort and I are back on the same page. I'm still not sure what caused our issues, though I'm guessing it was the time off and getting back into the swing of things, but the important part is that the last three rides have been relaxed and pleasant.

Friday morning, before we left for our quick trip to Ohio, I hopped on Mort. He had one or two moments of tension but overall he was relaxed and working evenly into my hands. I never had to get to the "demand" stage and only once or twice did I touch my whip behind my leg to emphasize what I wanted. We were leg yielding zig-zags. He would do lovely, small figure eights. I threw in some shoulder-in. He would stretch down and maintain fairly consistent contact. Our walk work was relaxed and even. The only real struggles we had were in the walk/trot transitions. After I got one that was decent, if not great, I called it quits. He got to graze while he dried.

We got back too late on Sunday to go out and see him, so he got both days off this weekend. The husband and I ran the 10k in the USAF marathon this weekend. It was disgustingly hot, but a fun race. We're definitely planning on hitting it up again next year--though my goal will be something longer.

Monday I pretty much stuck to my walk-only ride. We did a lot of loose rein walk at the beginning. He was a little fresh after being off two days, but stayed with me for the most part. I then worked through some of our walk issues. Often, he's a lot more tense and stiff at the walk work in the beginning compared to the end. I usually am lazy and just work him out of it via trotting and transitions. It helps loosen him up and we don't have to deal with the tenseness. But since it was supposed to be walk-only I knew that wasn't an option.

All it really took was the same stuff that the trot work takes. Lots of bend and counter-bend. Lots of changes of direction. Lots of asking him to stretch forward and down into the contact. Lots of me trying to focus on straightness before bend. He did a lot better than I expected honestly. Just shows that a lot of our walk issues at the beginning are the fault of my laziness. He actually was so relaxed he got a little lazy, so I threw in three different trot transitions in the second half of our ride to wake him up. But after a circle he was allowed to walk again.

Side note: When you have a fresh horse who you've only really mentally exercised pay attention to him when you get off. Normally Mort is a good pony when Emma runs around after I get off; he's certainly very used to her and usually ignores her. Monday though, Mort was still feeling fresh so he yanked backwards and trotted away a few steps. I have a sore arm muscle that was entirely my fault for not paying attention. Luckily all he did was go over and sniff one of the jumps and Emma came when I called. #don'tgettoocomfortable