A week of Kat's workouts

Monday: I just lunged Kat because when I was done lunging her I got a phone call from my mom and got very side tracked and ran out of time. Whoops.

Wild pony says, "what? This line isn't to show off my acrobatics?"

Happy rider after a super fun schooling session

Tuesday: Lunged before riding and man I'm glad we did - we had some really crazy pony moments! But the ride itself was a complete delight. I've been working on lengthening and shortening the canter off my seat and she was light, round, and sensitive to my aids. At the end of the session I popped over one fence and left it there because she took it like an old pro hunter - quiet, balanced, almost bored. Hopped off and lots of pets for the pony.

I saw this dog on Instagram (@lor_jagger_kiko) and instantly fell in love with looking up all the #headtilt photos. SO CUTE

Wednesday: We went for an adventure walk that involved a hardcore spook at Brio, prancing past the goats, and straight refusing to walk past the Nature Academy set-up in the woods. The hills were good, she stayed under control, and she broke a sweat. Winning!

Thursday: Off - farrier/vet visit. When the farrier saw Kat he asked, "has she grown?" Apparently her muscling has changed enough for him to make several comments about how good she looks!

Kat adamantly DID NOT WANT me to take a photo of her new sheet

Friday: After a warm up of walk-trot transitions, leg yields, and some counter canter, I rode through a 2-stride set at 2', then changed it to a 1-stride and started raising the rails. We finished at 3'6" with just two airy verticals off both leads and she felt unbelievable. She stayed completely turned in to my seat, connected over her back, quiet through the combination, and quiet after the fences. Totally a steady-eddy. I crossed my stirrups and ran through training test 2 and 3 while practicing my sitting trot (especially in the downward transition from trot to canter, ugh, so hard) and when I took her down to the barn she was barely sweating. Uhm. Horse. Please don't be so fit, it's frightening.

Lucy as a puppy was the CUTEST

Saturday: A flat school where after the warm up I crossed my stirrups and worked a lot on her connection through the transitions. With JM on Matheo I've been doing a LOT of work on turning the transitions into suppling and gymnasticizing exercises rather than just tests of obedience. It's way hard for me, but also very good. Kat likes to suck behind the leg in the halt/trot transition (or even walk/trot, honestly) so it was really good to focus on halting and bringing the hind legs further under her body and then stepping into the trot rather than lurching into it. Really good balance and I definitely felt sore (45 minute no-stirrup ride + a lesson with JM + 7 hours of teaching lessons in one day makes for a tired Kate). Super proud of my mare!

Sunday: This session was all about turning! And bending! And balance, and staying in front of the leg, and all the other pieces I'd been working on. We didn't work for very long, maybe 30 minutes. The only new thing that we hadn't done earlier in the week was a very shallow serpentine up the centerline at the canter. Mostly turning every two strides to get her really attuned to my seat for guiding her shoulders.

I also found this Pomeranian that looks like a fox on Instagram (@quincyfox) and I want to snuggle it

Stay tuned for Las Vegas updates this week - will do my best to keep you posted as to how the adventure is going! I can't wait - my horse has never felt better.