Thursday, 5 October 2017

Kick in the Pants

I love riding, I truly do. But, sometimes I need a bit of a kick in the pants to go out to the barn. The abrupt change in seasons hasn't helped. Last night I was enjoying my comfy couch and didn't particularly want to leave the warmth and brightness of the house. As the evening got later I was thinking that I might just go out to check on Kachina and make sure she was staying warm but forgo riding. But... there was a 2ptober baseline score to get!

Cute fuzzy pony wasn't cold anymore

I dragged myself out, found my horse by moonlight, and brought her in to tack up. It was 10pm by the time I finally mounted up but I was really glad I decided to ride because I ended up having a great ride! I focused on staying balanced over Kachina's centre, balanced both side to side and front to back. I also focused on keeping steady light connection with my hands, pushing out my mid-back to keep an upright upper body, and keeping my legs in contact with the saddle and Kachina's sides. Kachina responded well to my focused riding and was quick to soften over her topline. I did some two-point at the trot and then moved onto canter. Kachina amazed me by stretching down and blowing at the canter. I've never felt her relax so much at the canter before so I gave her lots of praise and ended the ride there.

Blurry screenshot of two-point!
(Feel free to critique, but please remember I'm a dressage rider ;-)
also note that while my hands are close to her neck, they aren't touching!)

Checking my time

I had set up my tripod to video the ride but unfortunately my phone ran out of memory so it only recorded the first half. It's too bad that I don't have media of the better moments but either way it was a great ride and I'm grateful for 2ptober for giving me the kick in the pants that I needed!

Two-point gif, not as terrible as I feared!

Btw, baseline time = 2:05
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8 comments:

  1. KateRose5 October 2017 at 10:03

    Nicely done! 10pm is my bedtime haha. I think your two point looks great! I was feeling too lazy last night to get Mystic's saddle (was just going to ride bareback) but then remembered two-pointober was due.

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    1. AutonomousDressage5 October 2017 at 10:31

      Oh trust me, 10pm is my normal bedtime too!

      I'm happy to hear that you used a saddle, over 2 minutes of two point bareback would be ridiculously impressive!!

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  2. TeresaA5 October 2017 at 10:23

    I cannot fathom riding at 10 - I'm in bed either reading or sleeping (what else can you do in bed?LOL).

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    Replies
    1. AutonomousDressage5 October 2017 at 10:32

      Riding at 10 is definitely late for me, but the things we do for 2ptober!

      Delete
  3. emma6 October 2017 at 10:02

    Seasonal changes are so hard sometimes. Bleh. But yay for 2ptober to provide that much needed motivation!! Also I love the photographic evidence lol!!!

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  4. Unknown11 October 2017 at 11:35

    The change in daylight and temps always makes it hard for me to get motivated, but 99.9% of the time, I'm always glad when I get to the barn that I left the house.

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  5. Syari24 September 2018 at 08:57

    GBU All

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  6. DCAja4 February 2019 at 22:51

    very nice horse!

    ReplyDelete

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