The Blahhs

I love how so many of us are writing about how to stay motivated or lack of motivation. I've been going to the barn at least 4 days per week but it's been mainly by rote. It's not that I'm not enjoying it, just that I always have a tough time getting enthused about anything during the winter dark and cold when I'm lacking sunshine. I take vitamin D but it's only partially helpful. Thankfully though we've been continuing to make progress and I can slowly tell that I'm getting better at picking something that's weak and working on it rather than just going through the same things every time. Today that was working on getting Katai to take the speed that I was asking for.

Winter sunset at the barn

She's been understandably enthusiastically forward now that we had that lesson on baby extensions and she truly wants to show off her new toy every time we go across the diagonal or even anything off a 20 meter circle. However, although they're important we just can't get by only riding on a circle. Today we did many, many figure eights and used the whole arena. She was pretty good going from a circle to the left to a circle to the right but not willing to listen at all going the other direction. So, we did it over and over and over. I concentrated on myself each time to make sure that I wasn't doing something to throw her off and eventually I figured out a couple of things.

I figured out that she was losing her balance and then I was taking up the contact. I tried that a few times but it wasn't working, she was getting hollow through the back and bulging into my left leg. Eventually when I remembered to relax my lower leg, turn my body appropriately, and imagined a forward feel through the reins while still half halting through my upper thigh I was able to keep her at the same rhythm and speed through the diagonal. With that we called it and I dismounted and walked her out.

Then she got a mini spa day. I've been so unmotivated recently that I'm just doing minimal grooming, basically cleaning her body and legs and picking her feet and not paying attention to her mane or tail. Today I went through both, brushed through them and doused them with Cowboy Magic. Now that No Shave November is well over I figured it was time to shave her epic mare beard ;-)

Fairly good effort for No Shave November

 

Much more feminine :-)