Winter Struggles

My lack of work ethic over the last month or so has become apparent - apparently it's not a great idea to give naughty green ponies even a tiny break in their schedule :) Bridget pony has not been on her best behavior of late and last night's lesson was no exception! Since last week's dressage lesson didn't go overly well and my rides in between haven't been great, I opted for another lesson on the flat rather than a jumping one.

We're back to the whole can't turn thing, or if she can turn, she can't go forward at the same time. Fun times! As a rider, I really need to stop with the nitpicking and micromanaging and just let her make the mistakes. I really struggled with that last night - my body apparently works completely independently of my mind - and I was getting pretty frustrated with myself.

So really, not a great ride. I think Midge and I were equally frustrated with the program/each other.When EC asked us to work on walk/canter transitions we made some good headway, but it feels like the quality of the canter is a little lost at the moment. Discouraging, but hey, we've been here before and we'll get back to a good place again, I'm sure.

Moving forward, after a month of 2-3 rides a week, I'm going to go back to my 1 lesson and 2 schooling rides a week program, but also add in a day of lunging with side reins. (Plus her weekend hacks, long and low to build up strength). As EC explained it, the lunging is probably a worthwhile effort to bridge the gap in her understanding of how to use her body in canter, since we keep hitting the same big setbacks with the whole cantering with a rider thing. Disappointing, since she was doing great all fall, but hey, that's life.

With that in mind, I scratched out of the shows (1 dressage and 1 combined test) at the end of January and signed up for the February ones instead. The $ saved this month can go to extra lessons! I've also signed up for an intro to eventing clinic (with some surprisingly big name riders) - so exciting!

Ginger, however, is doing great. She has a full schedule and is being ridden every day. I'm feeling superstitious and don't want to jinx anything, but for now I've pulled her sale ads and am quietly optimistic she's found her good fit in the most unexpected of places. Even if it doesn't work out long term, a few more months of riding with lots of lesson miles won't be a bad thing for her.