Compromise

After a 4:30 am start (and very little sleep before that), I seriously considered bypassing the barn last night. I was so tired I was simultaneously freezing cold and nauseous, but obviously that's not a good enough excuse when we have a show to practice for!

Just some randoms from earlier this spring to break the text

As seems to always be the way, as soon as I got in the saddle life improved about 100%. I was still pretty done though, and the last thing I wanted to do was pick a fight with the Midge about anything (ie work hard at anything!). So I warmed up on a much looser rein than I'm sure EC would prefer and just did a bunch of walk trot transitions to get pony in a forward mindset. She started out feeling super yucky, but I was too unmotivated to really care and just kept working. 

I may have inadvertently stumbled on something, because my failure to nitpick or micromanage actually lead to a pretty good ride! We ran through our tests in preparation for next weekend. When EC asked how Midge was doing my response was pretty negative, but since Midge lives to humble me our first try was actually presentable. Accurate, balanced  transitions and great geometry walk and trot. Canter obviously the weak point, but you know what? It happened reliably, which is more than I can say of the two prior rides! There were mostly round circles happening and the transitions were good. I'll take it!

Second run through was slightly stickier since lesson buddy not only left us alone, but left to feed everyone else dinner . In case you hadn't guessed, dinner is the highlight of Bridget's day and she was somewhat concerned I was losing track of the time and we might miss it. She still put in a fairly honest effort and EC and I were both pleased.

Take homes from the lesson:

- back to forward and straight for a bit. We maybe blew Bridget's mind a little with all the lateral work last week, resulting in sucked back, wiggly pony.

- forward into the transitions. I tend to drop her which isn't the best!

- really focus on sitting square in the canter, particularly to the left. Midge tends to throw rider/saddle to the outside, need to be aware and catch it almost as it happens. Think of riding a square rather than circle if that helps visualize keeping hips level.

- Walk and trot rhythm, pace both good tonight. Canter too forward, but we can compromise on that for now.

- Just focus on forward and accurate, relaxed and 'through' in walk and trot...we can do that at home and if we can replicate that away we can call the day a huge success. The rest is a work in progress - we can't rush or force it just because there is a show.

- Other useful advice that didn't penetrate the fog of my brain.

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