Today we went out for a fairly long (for us) trail ride. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We received a little cold rain yesterday, and that helped green things up some. But today was in the low 60s with a bright, blue sky. As soon as I hopped on Bear I knew he was… Read more »
strip
Thinking in Circles
After our excellent ride in the indoor arena, today we had another beautiful day that just begged us to head out and about. We decided to start with some work on the strip and then do some meandering over on the second strip and the three hills. Somehow yesterday Brian and I started discussing circles,… Read more »
Doubling
I’ve continued to read through Martin Black’s book, and I spent quite a bit of time reading about doubling. I’ve encountered it before in his work and by others, but I never fully took the time to understand how it works. I’m certain I haven’t got it all down just yet, but today I put… Read more »
Two More Great Rides
On Tuesday we rode on the strip and on Wednesday we did a little turn around the second strip and the three hills. Both rides were fantastic. The weather has been phenomenal, and Steen has been relaxed and willing. On Tuesday I worked more on switching between the lope and the walk. After a few one-rein… Read more »
Frustrations in the Saddle
Bear and I are still working through our little trot issue. Both Tuesday and Wednesday we spent considerable time working in the gait, and while we made some progress each day, it wasn’t much. But I should be happy with where things are at. I was telling Robin how I don’t remember such issues last… Read more »
The Plan
As I mentioned in my last blog, I had a plan to work on our trotting for the next ride: warm up, move right into the lope for a while, cool down for a couple minutes, and then work on the trot. And I was quite surprised when the plan worked far better than I… Read more »
Cloudy Day, Long Ride
Last week I redesigned this blog again. I liked the old design for a long time and then it slowly started to annoy me, so we’ve got a totally fresh approach now. We didn’t ride Thursday or Friday, so we were keen to get out there today. My goal for the ride was to continue… Read more »
Sometimes I Just Want to Trot
I was out of town the last couple of days for work. It involved a long van ride to Minneapolis, a night program talking to lots of people, staying up way past my bedtime drinking beer with some of my fellow travelers, a restless night’s sleep, and another long van ride back to Iowa City.… Read more »
Steen So Soft
It was back to “work” today after our leisurely trail ride on Sunday followed by two much-needed days off for all of us. I was curious to see how Steen was feeling after his little break, and right when I first got on I thought we were in for a sub-par day. Starting out, Steen’s… Read more »
Slow and Steady
I don’t mean that we didn’t go fast at all, but rather I focused on keeping things more systematic. So that if anything did start to not go so well, I could easily slow down and work out the problems. After thinking more about my last ride, reading some things, and talking to Robin (it… Read more »