I had a trip to Kansas last week but made a quick trip to VerdigrisTuesday afternoon to work Sister before I left town. We started with the usual lounging warm-up and Sister was rather fresh - blasting around at the end of the line with head up and nostrils flaring. Cross firing, stumbling and even went down at one point. I was a little worried about the riding to follow. After she settled down, we mounted and went through the walk/trot warm up. Sister was pretty good. With proper set-up (haunches in and shoulder up), we got canter departs with no kickouts and all correct right lead, and 3 out of 5 correct left. Yeah!
So, Friday I was hopeful for a good ride. Lounging was perfect. Sister listened and was calm and obedient. Then we started riding and things were not as good. The walk/trot warm-up was OK and then we tried for left lead canter. Kick-out and resistance but correct lead. Next try we got wrong lead without kick and we changed direction at the canter to correct the lead. We continued to work for left lead and got right without kick-out and left with kick-out and FINALLY, left without a fuss. I was ready to quit while we were ahead (if you don't count the backward steps first), so we did.
The weekend included birthday visits, birthtday movie party, holiday baking, and no time to ride. But, I managed a little training session Tuesday afternoon. Sister was pretty fresh on the lounge line, but no bucking or kicking. Resistance started the minute I mounted up. Falling left, falling right, swinging the hanches everywhichway. FUSSY in the bridle. We WORKED hard on straight and forward with a some give to the bit. We got a little improvement. We worked some more and got some nice moments going right, improved moments going left. We quit while we were ahead without even asking for canter. 10 steps back I guess. Perhaps our next session will be better. YaYa.
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