Through

I rode last night and it was actually a pretty awesome thing. I arrived just in time for the lesson kids to be wrapping up, and my horse was hardly muddy and actually seemed to be interested in me. I rode Monday, but with the deathcold, I rode for about 20 minutes and most of it I struggled to think and breathe at the same time. Last night I was feeling much more like myself - and I was ready to take on the inconsistency that I had felt in the bridle the last two rides I've had with BB. 

We started with a lot of walking warm up, and then trot and canter. I really focused on my own position issues (leaning forward, not keeping my heel down, leg under me and thigh applied. hands going everywhere, shoulders caved in...) and tried to use my whole leg to push the red mare up to and through the bridle, while also keeping my reins short and thumbs up. She's always been light, and unlike Foxie, has never really been the time to "hold" the bit and the contact like a handshake. I noticed two very positive things from these changes I made last night.

The first was that I was able to push her through a lot of lookiness and spookiness. I would prefer to not have to "muscle" her through turns or times when her attention wanders, but at the same time, we didn't lose nearly so much work, even though the doors were open and she was very interested in what was going on outside. 

The second was that I felt that I was actually able to push her into the bridle - meaning that she wasn't behind the vertical avoiding a more firm contact, and even when her head came up, I still had her face and was able to push her forward, and bam, the poll would relax and she'd go back to work. From this work, I was able to do a lot last night - it wasn't nearly so hard as I was expecting to get her into this much more malleable and workable frame and attitude. 

We schooled a rather poor dressage test (I mean, spooking in the two door corners, but it was generally obedient) and I actually got some collected canter to extended on one lead - the whole cadence changed, which was awesome to feel and hear as she's struggled with the canter since we started trying it. She also gave me some lovely lateral work at the walk and trot, and even did some somewhat-not-awful shoulder in, and really showed off with some stretchy trot at the end that was actually in the contact. 

Moral of the story: maybe I should ride more correctly before I see the problem as 100% caused by my horse. She's a weirdie, but a goodie. She also will probably end up clipped because I'm OVER her taking her approximately 18 years to dry.