A little perspective

Like everyone else, the winter is a bit detrimental to my riding time. I am currently lucky to get in 2-3 rides per week and have more or less just been using that time to get Reno through his paces and work out some excess energy. Although I don't have to deal with snow (THANK GOD!), winter is pretty wet around these parts, making for a pretty sloppy arena. I snuck out of work a little early on Wednesday and managed to make it to the barn in time to sneak in a quick ride.

Instead of the usual trotting circles and serpentines, I decided to actually WORK on something instead of just ride. Do you ever feel like that? I find that especially in the winter I am content just to be a passenger, not an active rider working towards a goal. When there are no major milestones (ie lessons, shows, etc) on the horizon, I just sort of hop on and go through my gaits. While I think sometimes its good to take a mental break and have those days, I must remember that I am still working with a very young horse who needs to be constantly engaged. Sometimes that is hard to do after a long workday, but regardless I need to be more cognizant of making sure to keep my rides productive and keep Reno interested in what is going on.

I have been having some trouble getting Reno to really bend to the right and engage his hind-end, so if I figured this would be a good place to start on Wednesday. I followed a lot of the WEF happenings through a Facebook acquaintance who had the good fortune to be in attendance. One quote that really stuck with me was "keep your body square". Simple, but so true. I am a repeat offender of looking down while I ride (mostly to triple-check Reno's head is set, bad eva), which could be part of the issue we are having. I spent a lot of time at the walk, working on riding through a square frame at a free walk and then with collection. We worked on counter-bending and added in some circles, circling in and out and moving through my leg. Reno was very soft in the mouth, stretching down into his frame and working his hind-end. I added a few minutes of trotting into the end of our ride and felt quite a difference! He was much more responsive to my left leg (he usually leans into it) and we had some nice walk/trot transitions. I am constantly working to slow him down and make him really place his feet when we work at the trot, so it was a treat to get a few nice strides out of this ride. Even though we only worked for about 35 minutes at the walk and trot, Reno was a bit damp when I got off. Guess all that thinking gave him a workout!

As a reward I let him spend a few minutes snatching up as many pieces of clover as he could fit in his mouth (Reno LOVES his clover). My little guy is growing up so much. We have gone from this sweet guy:


To this monster:


:)