All the riding

I keep meaning to post everyday, but between reading all of y'all's blogs and getting distracted easily, it just hasn't happened. Then I run into the truly beyond first world problem of too much media, where do I even start? Do I include commentary, do I just upload pictures with captions? Feel free you roll your eyes at me, I'm rolling my eyes at me.

I love this picture! All the colors, the blowing scarf, Gunner looking reasonable. He is signed up to do First level 1 and 2 on the 7th of May, and Prisoner should be doing First 2 and 3 the same day, we will see. Then that night I will fly to Phoenix for the last day of racing and to help drive the whole operation home. I'm so excited to have my husband back home soon! Next year I really am going south for the winter.

Looking forward to more summer adventures like this!

I've been working hard with Mr. Prisoner so that he will be ready for First level as well as being sold. It is a good challenge to up my dressage game again. Sitting trot too bouncy? Ride his hind end more through to create a place to sit. Leg yields not free enough? Loosen up that thigh we are yielding towards so I don't block the horse. Resistant in the trot to walk and halt transitions? Make sure my legs stay on and the weight in the reins is even, also that I take a deep breath in to raise my chest and lighten my seat so that there is room for his back to raise as it should in the transitions.

I'm 96% sure that I will be posting the trot at the show unless there is significant improvement. In the past at most shows with various horses I have preferred sitting trot, but he is just enough of a bouncy pony that it proves a rather significant challenge. I do believe that the further we get from his jumping days the better it will be. I'm not even kidding, in the three weeksish since we quit jumping he is already relaxed more for each ride. Dressage is a job he understands and seems to like. He is such a solid citizen about literally everything except jumping, it has been such a weight off my shoulders to eliminate the one thing he didn't always like or do well.

I was super excited that on Thursday Alyssa and Aimee came over to my barn to play ponies. Yay friends, yay pictures, yay everything! Of course in the effort to be more effective and get better work out of Prisoner, I abandoned my position. While there are still lots of great pictures, and in almost every picture Prisoner looks great, there are several where I'm seriously like WTF am I even doing.

Yay for Prisoner not touching the ground in spite of the monkey on his back

I should write a response to my own Posture post. "Here we see how effective it is to roach your back and scrunch your legs up the saddle. Also, get your horse to extend by sitting on his kidneys." We are all going to have bad rides, you just have to be able to have a laugh, make a plan for improvement and move on. Really it wasn't even a bad ride, I was thrilled with Prisoner, just disappointed in the evidence of my poor position.

Something I have been working on with him since the show are halts. He was very offended by them, but he seems to be coming around.

Hopefully with another almost two weeks of work I won't look so surprised coming down center line if he gives me a square halt.

I have a rather funny story about testing new xc boots on Slider the same day, but I will save it for tomorrow.

From the racetrack to waterjumps and the journey inbetween

— redheadlins —