It’s too hot to ride in afternoons now. I’ve enjoyed nearly seven years of retirement of “sleeping in”. (I spent 42 years and six months getting up at horrible early morning time clocks!) Fancy is an intriguing challenge that inspires me to change back into a day light person.
Being mature woman of sound mind, I’ve decided that the worst part of getting up dreadfully early in the morning, 8:30, is the getting up part.
I forgot about coffee.
Patterson Performance arena is a wonderful place to ride.
Fancy and I played with stopping. Fancy knows the game about stopping at a target (barrel). She “forgot” just once and passed the barrel. I gave her treats today when she stopped. Treats accelerate her performance.
We rode around the arena, curving thru obstacles with me relying on leg and body position cues.
We worked on speed and direction control with a horsemanship stick which is practicing for bridleless riding. I had a fun morning!
We ended up cantering in a half arena circle. We did not fully rely on my body and leg cues. Rein was needed! At the end, she was very close to succeeding when my body energy ran out. (No food-No coffee) Both of us were done!
More fun tomorrow morning!