Another Day in Paradise

Last night was a good one. Mort stood really well for our grooming and tacking. I only had to back him once at the beginning when I went to brush around his ears. He stayed put for other horses coming in and out. He stayed put for me putting on my boots in the tack room. He's actually a lot better at standing for grooming while ground tied than he ever was cross tied.

We headed out to ride before everyone else was ready. I like the mix of riding alone and with people. I don't have to worry about traffic in our warm-up but we have to work on Mort riding with his friends and remaining focused on me. The ride itself was very similar to the rides we've been putting in lately.

We started off on a loose rein walk. After a few laps of that I started adding in some inside rein suppleness and turning from my seat. We then moved into trot with the same concepts. I can definitely tell that he's coming back. I'm getting more and more glimpses of where we were before the winter. He's starting to be able to hold connection longer and stay balanced through turns and changes of direction while keeping a forward trot. He still sometimes wants to pitter out but all it takes is a little squeeze from my calves and he'll maintain his power.

We played with canter a little. I've been doing one-loops from my seat with just a following hand--only suppling if he gets really upside-down or twisted. Most of the time I don't have to do much as he'll straighten out or bend pretty well with just my seat and legs. We can circle big and small and stay straight on the long sides with minimal interference from me. My goal with his canter is just to not mess it up too much and let the real work start after another lesson or two when we get some new homework.

After a while, the other ladies at the barn joined me in the arena. Mort got a little distracted and I had to watch out for traffic. The good thing about that is that it forces me to look up. I have always had the bad habit of looking down even though I don't really need to. When I was looking up, I still knew exactly what he was doing underneath me. I could feel if he was connected or crooked or coming above the bit. And I was getting better connection than when I was looking down. Funny how not having your upper body tipped forward will help your horse.

After some more trot work and circles and figure eights where Mort was really trying for me and looking for the contact I called it quits. Last night's ride was a bit longer and I asked for a bit more than the previous and he responded by giving me that bit more. We ended with some really lovely walk work. He was reaching into the contact and staying forward in spite of me playing with some of our lateral work. Such a good boy.

We ended the day with me finishing up pulling his mane--which he also stood for better than normal. I think he liked that I broke it up into two sessions. I think our ground work probably helped too. I know that it helped us get on the trailer last night! A gal at the barn has hooked up her trailer for us three times now and Mort has gotten more confident each session. Last night he got on four times for me. Such a good boy. This trailer is similar to mine but I'm still really happy with him for taking to the new trailer so quickly.

I'm hoping we can have several more sessions with it over the next few weeks to really cement in the fact that it's not a scary place. Mort and I have a clinic the 11-12th of May so I'll have my trailer out before that to remind him that it's not scary either. We're well on our way of getting him confident on two of the three trailers that were on my list of goals for the year.