Sit the Trot

 Finally I feel like a have a few minutes to blog about my last clinic with the lovely Sue Martin. Sue is an amazing trainer and rider who has lived and worked in both Colorado and California and we are so lucky to have her back here. As a barn we have worked with her quite a bit now, having her locally through Covid was truly wonderful and every single rider who works with her has told me they adore riding with her and get an absolute ton from her each time she comes. We have been trying to do every other month with Sue, people can usually stretch their budget to be able to ride this often, and especially as we were utterly devoid of shows in 2020 it allowed us to have some learning opportunities instead of competing opportunities and each rider and horse combination have made huge progression as time has gone on. Its so cool to see! Personally I have had progression forward each time I see her, my aims from this last clinic are getting more refined and quicker as a whole, quicker...

 It's been a crazy few weeks, who am I kidding, its been a crazy few bluddy years. I feel like I hardly have time to catch my breath some days but it is better than being bored I suppose! Willough is doing wonderfully well. She took a few days after her neck injection/ time off to really get back to feeling good and I had some panicky days where she felt unlevel, keen as ever but a bit funky. I panicked, spoke with Sara, texted vets, spoke more with Sara and was just told (by the vet) to keep going with light work for a few days and see how that went. I was thankful when she just kept getting better and sounder, such a stupid panic. We played this week with a cool lateral exercise. Basically if you are on the right rein, you come off the wall at M, half pass to around the quarter line, change bend/ flexion and ride a shallow loop to your left to around the second quarter line then leg yield back to the wall. We played in all paces with it- finally adding a flying change during the ...

 Its the new year and today I had my first lesson back on my sweet Willough after her neck injection a week or so ago then she got a short break followed by some light riding from our dear Lauren (Saras assistant trainer). Her school report from the trainers was pretty much 'did as asked but is an overachiever' hehe. Light work, she laughs in the face of light work (bwahaha).... Well she was awesome today... Also awesome at testing my seat and showing off as she spooked and jumped around. Knowing Miss W,  I am pretty sure she was telling me that she feels real good, also maybe a little of how mad she is that I was away from the barn (and not riding her for the whole of the last week). I mean, I can be honest and tell you, I didn't have the best brakes today (she was a little bit on fire)!  And it has taken me a good year or so, but I trust her now, she isn't doing it to deck her person, it's just her way! So (and maybe falsely so) I feel safe and happy enough when s...