Conditioning in the heat!

Covered a cool 14 miles in not so cool weather. It was high 80's, but with nearly still air it felt super hot. There's an interesting haze over the area due to multiple fires (over 20 at this point) in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The sky isn't the normal pretty blue color and from Sharptail where we rode, Denver was in a fog.

Anyway, it was super fun riding with Christy and her friend Melissa. Z did great and there was plenty of horse left at the end of the 14 miles. I wonder if she could do a 50 soon. She's also having no back issues - which is great! Using my green gel pad and it's working beautifully. I had her wear boots on all 4 today (bares in front, gloves in back). I was glad as she seemed to move out with no reservations. We joked about her "engine" a lot of the ride.

Z did great loading in the trailer. I was prepped to spend 10 or 15 mins helping her feel ok in the trailer, but she loaded right up! Yesterday's prep work was well served.

I would have ridden other horses, but D and I had a date with the tennis court. I did a BFL run in the morning, rode the 14 miles, then played an hour of tennis. Feeling energetic and great.

Fun!

Light day

Cowboy and Chrissy - she got on a little but she was feeling nervous today.

Light riding on Gem in english saddle - he was lethargic! Practiced our new dressage a little bit.

Some trailer loading with Z. Big progress.

Too tired to do much. Big conditioning ride tomorrow.

Our first dressage lesson

I found a new dressage instructor last weekend and I scheduled a lesson as quickly as I could. Tono day was the first lesson and I chose Gem as my partner. It was a fantastic lesson and i will go again next week. i also committed to practice with Gem at home. Looking forward to this new area for my horsemanship joruney. I'm truly hoping to go to a schooling show this summer.

Things I learned:

1) when cantering, the inside leg is the gas and the outside leg goes back
2) Gem really falls on the left shoulder - is he favoring a leg?
3) my legs need to be further back and my thighs should open more
4) no neck bending in dressage really
5) Use my inside leg to keep him cantering

6) transition down by straightening my lower back (essentially, stop riding - but a different slant than I've used in the past)