This too shall pass.

On some days, riding is empowering.  On others, it can be infinitely humbling.  Tonight, as I bumbled around in my lesson, it definitely was one of the latter.  My position is feeling good, my balance has certainly improved, but a lot of other things have slid.  And they all begin with good contact, which comes from generating power behind and catching it in the reins when the horse stretches forward into the bit.

Needless to say, Derby generates about as much jet wash as a butterfly flapping from daisy to daisy. He creates little to no cosmic disturbance.   So tonight we worked on resetting the gauge on the working gaits.  We rode canter transitions.

Okay.  The next time I hear some uninformed twit say horseback riding isn’t work, isn’t exercise, I swear to God I am going to drag them by the collar to the barn and plunk them down on my saintly horse, and have them ride trot-canter-trot transitions.  Without bracing on the reins, while sitting softly in the saddle and not gripping with the legs.  In other words, holding one’s self up with one’s core.  It is hard work and my Lord, we have a long way to go.   I rode like the proverbial “soup sandwich.”

But it was really fun!  Half the time I wasn’t listening to Christy (sorry, Boss) because my inner voice was saying “Dang, he has a niiice canter.” As we did transitions, Derby started to really pick up his feet and roll, and he became a lot more responsive.

So this needs to be the new normal.  I know these moments of flopping incompetence will pass.  Probably not soon enough for my tastes, but soon enough we’ll start achieving some harmony and some grace.

And some power!