Why are canter poles so hard?

I had a horsey-filled weekend this past weekend. I mean, what better way to spend your day? Rio is probably staying cleaner then he ever has in his life at this point. Sometimes I forget how therapeutic grooming is, but this week has reminded me. Every time I come to the barn to lesson or hack on another horse Rio gets a thorough grooming and gets stuffed full of treats. It’s possible that I’m creating a full blown monster but oh well! Since he is moving home to my parents at the end of the week my mom and I are the only ones that will have to deal with the demon I’m creating for a good long while.

Outside of doting on Rio, there has also been a fair bit of saddle time. I had Friday off at work, and I was able to lesson on my BFF’s hunk, Dalton, on Friday and Saturday. I jumped him for the first time! We kept it simple with some very small single verticals, but it was fun and challenging none the less. He is a very different ride from Rio, and is helping to revive some skills I haven’t utilized in ages. I would describe Dalton as a very dynamic ride, meaning he can change his way of going completely dependent on the ride you give him. If you ask correctly and are there and correct with all your aids and timing, he is SO FRIGGIN FANCY. I don’t think I’ve ridden too many horses with that kind of talent to be honest. He is sensitive and powerful, and so fun when all the pieces come together. No new riding media of Dalton at the moment, but I promise to get some soon!

He truly gives Rio a run for his money in the looks department too

I was also able to lesson on Cash Saturday, and hack Harvey. Cash is one of the steadfast lesson horses at my barn, and Harvey belongs to a dear barnmate of mine. Cash and I had a great lesson together focusing predominately on gymnastic type exercises. We started with simple ground poles set in a bounce and I kept allowing Cash to do the add versus getting a good canter and maintaining the rhythm. God damnit you’d think I’d be able to ride ground polls on a very straightforward school horse but NOOOOO! Lol I kid off course, because let’s be real, we all know that ground poles are the work of the devil.

Be sure to watch the video to see me stumble my way through the ground poles towards the end. We eventually redeemed ourselves.

Outside of the devil poles, we had a great ride. Cash is such a fantastic steady eddy that I really got to focus on correcting my own position through the gymnastics and focusing on the finer points of my riding. It is REALLY nice to get to work soley on myself knowing that my horse is very seasoned and knows his job, I have to admit.

I feel like the combination of riding Dalton and the lesson horses at my barn is perfect, I get to revive and strengthen some skills I feel like I haven’t used in years when I ride Dalton, and I get to really focus on the precision on my own riding when I ride the lesson horses.

Outside of these 2 lessons, I also got to hack the most magical unicorn in all the land, aka Harvey. A total dreamboat who does jumpers with his dad, Harvey and I had a lovely hack where neither of us had to work on much at all. Instead, we both got to relax and enjoy the lovely day. We did a bit of stretching and lengthening versus collecting just to vary it up, but mostly we just stretched our legs and felt happy to be alive.

 

I better be careful riding all these good looking horses… can’t have Rio getting dethroned as the hunkiest guy around!!!

 

P.s. Did anyone notice my naked wrists in that red Kastel shirt??? I got it a couple weeks ago on clearance from Dover for $30 bucks. I thought I had scored an amazing deal, but it does NOT fit like my other Kastels! It is the “color block” style where the sides of the shirt are also black (not just the mesh underarms) and it is shorter in the body and the sleeves then traditional Kastel shirts. I TRULY hope they haven’t changed the fit of all the styles, because if that is the case I will be so friggin disappointed. They have always been my go-to fit wise and this color block style just does not fit right. Whomp whomp!

Also a huge thanks to my hubs for the video and pics!

 

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