Bareback bliss

December has descended and with it came a severe drop in temperature. Around mid-day Wednesday, the temp in the the Baltimore area dropped from 62 to, oh, about 40 (which means the temperature at the farm, also known as the Carrollmuda Triangle dropped to 35). YIKES! The ponies fared well, but it's definitely time for those heavy weight blankets to be pulled out. Caesar is still sporting his au naturel blanket as I haven't made a move to purchase clippers or hire someone to do it. That probably served him well this week, but he needs to get some of that fur removed! For a Thoroughbred who spent several years racing and then several more as a stall boarded horse, he has fully acclimated to winter outside 24/7 (or at least his coat has)! Seriously, he is so fuzzy that when I look down at his neck while riding, he seems like a different horse (a not so narrow horse, ahem :)

This week was very busy and loooong, and it was made longer by the fact that I only rode on Wednesday and Friday. I hate it when that happens. Alas, those rides were quite good. I had initially planned for last week to be week 2 of a relaxed two-week schedule (read: bareback and hacking only), but then I had the opportunity to work with my friend Cherie (awesomeness once again!) and to do a clinic with Sally Cousins (fun and confidence building!). So on Saturday and Sunday, I just did some walking and bareback dressage. Caesar was a champ. My rides this week were not only few and far between but they were brief: 35 minutes on Wednesday and 30 minutes tonight. But...they...were...awesome :) And I have a few theories for why.
-Riding bareback really helps me achieve a better position and better control/use of my seat and leg aides
-I spent about 10 minutes just letting Caesar walk at a slow pace on a long rein, asking only that he stay straight and focused. With the weather so cold, any horse can benefit from slow walking to warm up.
-Then I gathered up the reins a bit to achieve some light contact and asked for a forward, in front of my leg walk (which we have been working on a lot in the past two weeks).
-After 5 minutes of this, I asked for some suppleness and even more connection and, bam, I got it. He was moving around all nice and forward and round like a dressage pony. A bit more walking like this and then onto the trot. While there were still ugly moments (um, my down transition from the canter bareback is still a bit bumpy which leads to loss of connection to say the least), the ride(s) was fantastic!
-I focused on relaxing my overactive right leg and engaging my lazy left leg more (thanks for the tip, Cherie) which seemed to help achieve more symmetry in both the walk and trot. I also focused on using my core to elongate my legs and stretch through my heels (a visual image that worked well). Each time I did this, I really felt Caesar's back stretch up.

While I don't prefer to ride for such a short time and I really don't prefer to ride in the indoor (though I am SO grateful to have access to one), these two rides this week were phenomenal! A year ago at this time, my riding was an absolute disaster. I am not exaggerating. I could barely get Caesar to walk around the indoor straight and forward. And the trot was a continual banking in or falling out. It was terrible. From November to January I lived in rider anguish thinking there was no hope. ICK! So of course when fall hit, I got a bit nervous. Even though I have made so much progress this year, I still feared (and, honestly, still do) that we would be sucked into the vacuum of bad riding this winter. The streak of bad riding probably had little to do with it being winter, but being stuck in the indoor from November to March surely did not help. Flash forward to tonight when I would have been happy with straight and forward (leaps beyond last year), and what do I get? Caesar was forward, straight, balanced, rhythmic and supple for most of the ride. And that felt like a million bucks :)

So, check plus for good rides this week! I have a jump lesson on Sunday so I'll actually pull out a saddle for tomorrow's ride. But the days of bareback riding will continue. In fact, I've put this Thinline bareback pad on my Christmas list:



I've been borrowing a friend's bareback pad for over a year, and I feel both Caesar and I deserve an upgrade :)

In jewelry news, my final project, a hollow form barn, is in the works. Hope to get some pictures up soon. I am hoping to get some Christmas gifts fashioned soon as well as a few commissioned pieces completed for my dear friend, Linn. It will be a busy few weeks in the studio!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!