Today's subject title is brought to us by Ryan, my Schwan delivery guy. Ryan is a cheerful fellow, whom I believe is completely mesmorized by my riding style & my horses. I was walking back to his truck from the barn, and I muttered to Allie and MacKenzie, "Hey girls! I know you're hungry. Mommie knows! I am getting to ya in just another minute or two. Oh I know. Life's Rough." Ryan said to me, "Yeah, someone told me that once - Life's Rough. Wear a Helmet." I responded, "Cool! I've got one in the trailer, and one in the house. I'm all set!"
I gathered up Ransom in all his dressage glory, and, against his better judgement, took him to the arena. He was none too happy about it, and responded in tail-dragging lethargy. After only a few minutes of free lunge, he walked straight up to me, dropped his head, big sigh, licking & chewing. "Okay sweetheart. You've made your point. I'll get on now."
Overall, he did a good job. We had a nice ride. I tried the canter poles with minimal success, I believe due to his lack of energy forward, and my long leg. Longer leg means less pressure in two point, means less forward. I probably won't take another swing at the canter poles in my dressage saddle. I did trot through them, and they're a bit bigger than every other stride, and he still managed it. They were irregular trot steps, but we floated through them anyways. He adjusts mid-thought sometimes, and it's pretty neat to be aboard for that.
We rode lots and LOTS of diagonal lines at trot, in my attempt to get him moving and collected. The long diagonal was just about enough room to get his mind on the job, and after a half dozen or so of these, we got in a nice dressage rhythm.
He's still got it in him. Takes a little more effort now that he's tasting his jump life again. I might start carrying my dressage whip again to encourage forward... *laugh* Did you just read that? I want my horse forward. I want my horse moving good underneath me. Who saw that coming? I sure didn't... =)
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