Can You See My Smile?

Of course you can't, but know it is there - toothy and full of out loud laughter. Speedy has just been so much fun to ride this past couple of weeks. After our lesson on Sunday, a couple more things fell into place.

When I rode him this week, we played around with the counter bent, figure eight circles and the Mickey Mouse exercise. Both went really well. We were able to keep our circles the same size in the figure eight, and in the counter canter, we actually did the exercise on the right lead which is much harder for him to do.

I also played around with a third exercise that I forgot to share: the zig zag leg yield. Sounds fun, right? It is! When we did it with Christian, we crashed and burned, but once I was able to try it on my own, Speedy responded really well.

To do the exercise, turn up centerline and leg yield a few steps to the right. Come back to centerline and leg yield a few steps to the left. Repeat the exercise all the way up the court. Our first attempt was a little wonky, but after that, it truly felt as though we were dancing! Speedy got the rhythm and fairly strutted back and forth over the centerline.   

Since I am only riding one horse right now, the rain hasn't messed up our schedule too badly. It rains one day, and I ride the next. It was pretty wet most of this week, but the forecast is calling for ten days of pretty pleasant weather which just happens to coincide with winter break.

Thank you, rain gods, for the Christmas gift. I plan to use those days wisely!

Special note: we are heading to the cabin for the weekend, so you won't hear from me for a few days. 

Gifts from the rain gods are always appreciated!