Getting back to good

Last weekend our ride went really, really well. Sunday we nailed it and of course there was nobody around with a camera. This weekend- well I had someone around who could take pictures... but, yeah.

Saturday morning I fed and pulled Aruba out to ride. I don't think she was so thrilled with being pulled away from her food to go work. Her attitude showed. Lately when I go to bring her out of the stall, as soon as I get through the gate and close it, she starts bouncing around and gettin jiggy with it. She is in a big stall, but for anyone who has ever been kicked or in a confined space with a horse bouncing around, you know how quick the walls seem to move in on you and there is little you can do about it.

I started wetting my halter before putting it on her. Weaver and some of the Hamilton nylon web halters have this bad thing about shrinkage. They fit fine the day you bring them home, then shrink after the first washing. Wet them down again and they stretch to the size of one bigger than you bought or to fitting a small elephant. *eyeroll* With the weather heating up, I think she likes the cool, wet halter, besides it fitting like it should and being comfortable on her again. It works for us both so we will go with that.

I have gotten my dress boots back for riding her English again, only to have one of my spur straps break, so with those replaced, new ones all oiled up and put on, I grabbed the dressage saddle and tacked her up. I need to get her another bit so I don't have to keep swapping that back and forth, but for now I had put it back on her English bridle. I mounted up and moved her off in a walk.

On the bottom of the training triangle is the word Rhythm. A few of the triangles may change it up from there, but for the most part they all start with Rhythm. Aruba has a good, steady and consistent rhythm to her walk. We can be doing big circles or small, but her rhythm remains consistently the same.

Last weekend we discovered that going to the left for her is not her better side. Her right side it turns out is her stronger side and she does better going that way. Funny thing is, going to the left is better from my riding standpoint, where going to the right- it all falls apart. This is why I keep telling this mare it is not all about her. I need to work on things too.

So for Saturday I leave you with two pictures that I have gotten from hubby so far. They show the sorta good and the not so much. Both can be improved upon, so feel free in the comments to point out what you see and we can discuss it. This is good for us visual folks to figure out what to look for and what not to.
 

This first pic is a bit blurry, but for the most part you can see her position and mine.

So let's hear it...

***Edit*** Blogger keeps showing and removing the pics on me. Not sure if it is just my computer or if it is that way for everyone.  If you can't see them, let me know and I can email them or something.