No Tricks. All Treat.

I missed his green, foamy mouth. Lovin' this boy!

Man oh, man did I get a Halloween treat! 

In case you live on Mars, the only day worse than Halloween for teachers is the day after Halloween. Every teacher I know would unanimously vote for making Halloween land on a Saturday. All the way home from work, I debated whether I had the energy to actually ride. Not riding means sitting around the house with a fridge full of food. I went to the barn; those last 8 pounds need to go!

As I fed and cleaned stalls, I started planning my ride on Sydney (Speedy got ridden the day before). My rides have been very short and to the point - pick up the right lead canter nicely, and we're done. He's not getting a lot of fitness work done, but right now, I'm keeping my focus very narrow. He's already fit, I am already fit, "mastering" that right led canter depart is all I care about.

I started out with a few laps of up, up, down. Not to be boastful, but okay, I am boasting a wee bit, I am really rocking that exercise. Each day I feel my core getting firmer and firmer and my legs getting steadier and steadier. I know at least one of you (Sandra!) is trying it, too. That exercise really works.

From the up, up, down, I moved into a 20-meter circle while tracking right. I don't even mess with work to the left until we get through the right lead canter. And since we came back from that last clinic, Sydney hasn't missed a single right lead canter depart request. There have been one or two funky ones, but he gets the right lead, and he stays out on the circle.

Thursday night's work might have been his best offering yet. He was so soft and balanced that I wondered who I was riding. He simply oozed relaxation and confidence. Not only did we get a nice, right lead canter, we did some left lead canter canter work and then followed it up with some centerline work to ten-meter circles and then threw in some serpentines for fun.

I am really looking forward to this weekend's rides!