Another morning ride

I rode for about 40 minutes this morning, including cool out (though she didn't break much of a sweat). The ride was good, though I was stiffer than yesterday and so was the horse. Coincidence? Probably not. They seem to go together.

Which is not to say there was anything bad about the ride, not at all. The trot needed a lot of push. In hindsight I would have been better to have tapped her up early and not squeezed her every stride, urrghh, but it wasn't too bad the whole time. I did a few more transitions today, though some of them, especially trot to canter, were a bit sloppy. My body wasn't quite as limber as yesterday, as mentioned, but still pretty good. I followed fairly well in canter, although I was much stiffer and somewhat bouncy to the right. Sitting trot was not-to-bad although I kept it slow to minimize bounce while I played around with my body.

I continue to be better able to sustain canter, and not have her break on me. It helps that I can sit it more confidently, which means I feel like I can adjust my hands or my leg or whatever I need without the whole thing falling apart. I was doing some half-halt-and-push to make her step under. She was back to reefing on the reins a little, but it's still not as obnoxious as it was, and I prevented most of her post-canter leaning by half halting pretty sharply and pushing her forward, and/or circling her with a high inside hand.

At the end of the ride I cooled her out on a long rein and eventually she started picking her own path. She would curve around towards X and start to slow to a halt. I would bump her a bit with my legs until she moved past it. Then repeat. Repeat. She tried the gate a couple of times. I never touched the reins, just pushed her on with a bit of leg to see where she'd try next. I eventually hopped off her in a corner where I don't habitually dismount.

My saddle got very crooked by the end of it. My hips are tensing a bit just recounting that cool out walk. Ooof. I'm going to go back to using the thick pink pad again, as the saddle never seemed to shift with it the way it has for the last several rides. I only made that connection today, but it makes sense.

I'm feeling generally a lot more relaxed and confident riding, lately, than I was for a while. This is good! Definitely helps to get things accomplished and makes for much more fun!