Last week, Trainer was at Pin Oak all week- so no lessons. It was nice to relax and spend some quiet time in the saddle, and hack outside the arena a bit. Trainer got back from the show on Sunday, and being the eager beaver I am, I basically instantly started texting about when we could lesson. Rio has been doing fantastic, but he’s still pretty out of shape and he isn’t used to doing much jumping yet.

My goal is to aim for an A show by the fall, and those can be grueling for a horse that isn’t in tip top shape. 4-5 classes a day, several days in a row, is quite a bit of work, and I wouldn’t want to be unfair to Rio by asking him to do something that he wasn’t physically fit for. So, I’m super motivated to focus on upping our training routine and to continuing to increase both of  our fitness levels. I am uncomfortable doing too much jumping without Trainer present, and I feel like Rio and I are in such a transition phase with our canter, that I’m wanting to take more lessons now then would typically be necessary. I really want to stay focused and put the work in, so we can hopefully start doing some more shows this summer.

Trainer had set up an awesome gymnastic line for our jump lesson yesterday, a bounce to a one stride to a 2 stride. I haven’t done any gymnastics with Rio since back in August when I first got him. It was awesome to feel how much he has changed since then!

Rio4.5.17a from Kelly on Vimeo.

Initially, I had no say when Rio took off- and he definitely prefers the long spot. Thanks to a lot of hard work and guidance from Trainer, I now have a way more adjustable horse. We still have a long way to go, but Rio occasionally takes my opinion into consideration these days, and it feels so good! Even when I insisted  he add an extra step at the start of the gymnastic (aka chip lol) he was strong and smart enough to get through the line just fine- aka he is going to be my adult ammy dream and save my ass every which way!!

Rio4.45.17b from Kelly on Vimeo.

So who else loves gymnastics?!