Had a brief but good ride this morning. Canter continued to flow a lot better, and I think she only broke out of it at an unplanned time once (maaaaybe twice?) this ride. Though it did take a LOT of encouragement to keep her moving forward.

The biggest thing was that sitting trot worked a lot better this morning. I was nice and sticky, and while I kept it to quite a small slow trot (didn't want to push my luck and lose the feel), I really did stay with her very nicely. There were three things I did to make it happen: use the inside-back of my thighs supportively, use my lower abs to lift my pelvic bone, and let some of the bounce drop down into my heel on alternating legs. It took a lot of concentration to keep all three things up at once -- I kept forgetting about using my abs to lift -- and I realized quite a ways into this that I was baring my teeth with the concentration and probably looked insane.  I texted my coach with an "imaginary judge's comment." "Horse should be more expressive than rider." Oh well. I'll do what I have to do now to get the muscle memory. Fix the facial expressions later. 😜

In miscellaneous barn follies: I couldn't figure out how to get into the hayloft because I was pushing on the middle of the door instead of the side away from the hinges. Ummmm basic physics?? So I worked that one out. Manure pile gate appeared to be frozen solid to the ground but it was an illusion. Got it open but prior to that the wheelbarrow had slid all the way down the icy hill, so I intentionally dumped a bunch of poop and shavings and spread them around for traction. It actually worked really well!