Second Impressions

I'm sidelined again tonight due to our crazy weather. I first read the forecast and was skeptical, thinking our government weather forecasters were maybe trying to be exciting and interesting. I didn't blame them. I imagine their days are normally filled with tasks like attempting to find new synonyms for "rain". But, it seems our weather IS actually a little exciting this past week, so I am snow and ice bound yet again.

I'm feeling guilty for missing my lesson, so was just thinking through my homework from Monday. I realized I got so sidetracked by our saddle fitting issues I forgot to mention that parts of our lesson were REALLY  good. We've been trying to teach B to sit and really push from behind all fall and winter. We've been getting glimpses of good things, but no sooner do we get a glimpse than pony realizes it's hard work. And so we giraffe for a while, then we horse, but only baby horse. Then we get a glimpse, then the straightness is lost. Amd so on. It's cool though, because it's hard work and it takes time to build those muscles.

Anyway, on Monday I was able to get B super even in both reins, and the magic was happening. Real, honest suspension in the trot, just sitting there on tap whenever I asked. Like playing with the gas pedal on a hot car, where the front end comes up from all that power just waiting to be used while the rear end digs in waiting to see how brave you're going to be ;) I didn't want to break the magic, so obviously I only asked a few strides here and there and told her how smart she is.

 I needed to post about it, because it might not come back, but hey, at least now we have record of B being a super hot rod pony!

From: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/1303phr-2012-las-vegas-sema-show-muscle-cars/.
What you get when you search Bridget + Hot Rod. Its perfect.  If she was a car, she'd totally be this station wagon. 

In other thoughts, and on the "Second Impressions" topic, I've been rereading some dressage books. "Dressage For The Not So Perfect Horse" by Janet Foy, and "Real Life Dressage" by Carl Hester. (Sensing a theme, here?) Both are older books, and I remember really liking them both the last time I dipped into them (maybe 3-5 years ago). I've been lacking inspiration with my real life constraints and not so perfect horse, so it seemed a good time to pull these reads out again.

This time through, I'm still loving Carl's book, although I wish it was slightly more detailed.  Lots of good, solid points though, and wonderful examples of horses with vastly different conformation and temperament getting to the highest levels by using the basic training scale, always with an emphasis on happy equine athletes. Great photos too.

 "Dressage For The Not So Perfect Horse", I don't know. I'm not loving it this time. Its not an autobiography, but neither is it in depth training advice. I also feel like it's in need of some updates. Again, there are useful tips buried in the book, but it seems to lean more towards telling stories/reminiscing about past horses than actual advice or exercises used to help with any issues. I'm wishing for some more/better/newer pictures and illustrations, too. Still, if you want a peek into the mind of a judge, this might be a good read!