I don’t need a weather app….

     So far, there has been one common theme to every day…rain.  It doesn’t matter that the weather app says that there is less than 10% chance of rain for the entire day because it WILL rain.  Guaranteed.  In fact, it might just rain all day. At this point, it is useful to go to Google (or speak with Taylor Coester who dropped this little tidbit of info on me last year).  10% rain does not mean a 1 in 10 chance it will rain.  It means that at least 10% of the area will – for sure – get rain.  Why the arena at Laura’s is always in the designated area is beyond me.  However, the base is really solid, the footing is quite good, and it is groomed daily.  Her view is if you are willing to ride, then she is willing to teach because she has shelter.  Honestly, I’ve seen worse at Silverwood after a strong rain.  So, I remind the mare that she is an eventer at heart and that I once saw William Fox-Pitt ride a test in a truly torrential downpour.  So, off we go through - as opposed to - around the water.  The view from A above is the rare day (so far) with no rain. If you look closely at the far left corner you will see a hammock that has my name on it. :-) And yes, that is just a subset of the local peacock population in residence at C.

     Full training means four lessons/week.  Laura has standards of excellence and expectations that are resolute.  My little brain will be working overtime to sense how Galatea is moving and what I need to be doing to keep her uphill and through.  And, in the process of actually achieving that (yay team!), I may turn a circle into a square or an oval.  I will hear about it, immediately.  I will also hear immediately if I have actually sensed and reflexively corrected a bulging shoulder, lagging hindquarter, or lack of straightness.  And straightness is the holy grail here – make no mistake about that.  I am being pushed to evaluate every transition we make and stride we take.  If the transition is sloppy, it gets repeated.  Is the trot an 8?  Is it the best trot I have ever had?  It had better be before I do anything else. Strange as it may seem, this approach is helping me to ride by feel rather than analytically with my brain.**  Because my brain can only handle one thing at a time these days, I really need to be able to ride by feel so my brain can just focus on geometry and patterns.

    Right before Christmas the enormity of being away for four months hit me.  Where on earth I had come up with the idea of four months? Why not just one or two months?  However, I now realize that this sea change in how I ride is not going to occur in just a few lessons or months.  I may miss you all, but I am in this for the long haul.

**When I rode hunters, I would be cantering to fence 4 while reviewing how fence 3 went.  Same in dressage tests.  I would be turning at C and fussing about how the halt at X was not square.  I can’t recall which side of the brain is responsible, but whatever side it is I have to turn it off.