Tonight I went out and put in my first "non-lesson" ride since the horses returned to their regular summer barn. It was warm and sunny, and I rode late enough in the evening that I missed the heat of the day, so it was *almost* a comfortable ride....... except for the flies that were really into swarming right in my, and the horse's, face. About 30 seconds into the ride, one flew up my nose and has yet to come out again.

I was on my usual big easygoing warmblood lesson horse, the one I rode all winter. She was a bit bothered by the flies, and a bit tired from an earlier lesson in the day, but she was a good sport about everything, and the flies really dropped off once we got moving. She was a little on the pokey side tonight, but did everything I asked and didn't fall out of her gaits at all. I used to lose her canter constantly -- and I mean CONSTANTLY -- so she and I have both come a long way with that. I'm also no longer afraid to tap her back up with the whip if I need to, which helps, though in hindsight I don't think I had to touch her with it at all tonight.

To clarify, when I say I was previously "afraid" to use my whip to reinforce my leg, what I mean was, I used to assume that the error was always mine as a rider, and would err on the side of not using the whip as I didn't want to tap the horse for my own shortcomings. Now, I'm much more confident about timing with it when it IS needed, though I'm sparing with it still and only use it enough to get the job done.

I worked on sitting trot quite a bit tonight, and it was really clicking. I had a bit of bounce at first as I shifted my pelvic angle around trying to find that sweet spot, but once I was there everything was nice and loosey goosey and my bum didn't leave the saddle at all. I was even able to maintain it at a not-painfully-slow trot, so that was cool! All that practice, thumping around over the winter (sorry, horse!) is finally paying off. I don't feel like I have to FIERCELY CONCENTRATE to keep it all together anymore. It's coming to me a lot more naturally, though I still have off days, and I do have to make frequent adjustments.

The canter work was decent. She was a bit stiff to one side, which isn't unusual for her, especially when she's tired, but unfortunately we did end up in a bit of a "stiffness loop," as feeling the stiffness in her was making me tense up a bit as the movement felt a bit different. We weren't as good at staying properly on the track in that direction, but I focused more on the movement itself than on precision steering. My right leg kept wanting to creep forward on me, which was an old problem I had when I was just starting back into cantering again. Every now and then it pops up again. Don't know why, and fighting it doesn't really help either, but I've learned to ride through it and just shrug it off as a "thing."

However, that aside, we did do some pretty nice 15 and 10 metre circles at both canter and trot! I did a 15m circle canter figure 8 with a flying change, twice in each direction, and she stayed balanced through it, the circles stayed pretty round, and she gave me the lead change when I asked for it instead of just when she felt like it!

We wound things down with more sitting trot, and did some serpentines. By now I was really warmed up and so was she, so she was easier to sit to and it felt great.

I also worked on using mostly my seat muscles to collect her trot, which was a fun exercise. I'm still not sure how to break down exactly *how* my body is telling her to collect but stay trotting, but whatever it is, it seems to be working. A combination of a very slight blocking with the seat, and a shortening and repeated slight half-halts with the hands, while keeping my leg on to keep the "gas pedal" on and keep her in the gait. Conversely, to extend, I open my hips and knees, let my seat completely go with the flow, add leg and have a giving hand.

It's so very cool to ride such an adjustable horse, and one who's such a good sport. She's chill enough to carry total beginners and very small children, but has the training to keep allowing someone to "unlock" different aids with her. As my riding has progressed, I've gotten more and more out of her that was there this whole time. I just didn't know how to access it!

After all that, I walked her back to the barn, and my coach said "Oh, did you give up because of the bugs?" Haha. All that and I guess I had been riding for MAYBE 25 minutes? I guess I packed a lot in, because it FELT like a long ride!

In summary: my body was doing some funky canter stuff, but it still got the job done, and my sitting trot was some of the best I've ever ridden on this horse! Even though it wasn't as "OMG YES" as Friday's ride was (I still haven't recapped that one -- oops!!) it was really satisfying, and I've come such a very long way!!!