Transitions

Summer is transitioning into fall here in the PNW and I couldn't be happier about it. Temps are cooling, rain is in the forecast, and Cinder is feeling good. Its so obvious that she's a cold weather girl, and not a fan of hot girl summer. 

After her couple easy weeks, Cinder came out ready to work. We had a few great flat lessons where we were able to put a bit more pressure on her, ask for more, and she stepped right up. We played around with transitions within the gaits, doing the numbers game where 5 is a normal working trot and then going up to an 8, and back down to a 4, then a 7, etc. Trainer A wanted me to focus on keeping her connected and round, and we got some really, really nice trot work. 

I helped A out with her filly at the KWPN keuring and that itty bitty forelock braid is the cutest thing I've ever seen 

The highlight was our canter work. I was able to keep that rounder frame going into the canter, and it felt magical. Going left is Cin's easier direction, and once I got her where I wanted in the connection, she was able to keep it with minimal input from me. It felt so nice. The right lead is a little harder, but it still felt so good. 

#failfriday

Unfortunately all that flat work didn't quite translate to our jumping. In our lesson last week Cinder was a bit distracted and I couldn't quite get her fully connected. We did a few singles off a long approach, and the easiest was the square oxer on the diagonal, go figure. I started overthinking the ride to the single on the outside, as well as the outside line on the other long side. I was micromanaging her too much, without having enough impulsion. Trainer A told me I was working too hard to make the distances happen, and that I needed to get a good rhythm with impulsion, and let the distances happen. That was light bulb moment and everything became much easier after that.