48-Hour Spring

Today was the second day of our 48-hour spring here in Ohio. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow and stuff and get down to 9 degrees overnight. Fan. Tastic.

Before I ramble on about Lex, though: I can't believe I forgot to mention that I rode Miles! You can read about it (and see video) on Tracy's blog. He was so nice to me, even though I haven't jumped a stick since October. Tracy picked a really good horse and I think 2'6" is in the very near future for them. She's also really generous to share Miles with me at all. I only ride Lex these days, so getting on a horse who knows what his job is reminded me that I'm not the worst rider in the world.

Anyway, back in GreenieLand, it was 63 degrees and GORGEOUS today. I went to Columbus with my department chair (who's also an old friend of mine) to have lunch with another mutual friend/colleague, and as much as I enjoyed it, I was also eager to get to the barn and take advantage of the weather and try not to think about tomorrow.

Lex was a good girl. She was fresh and a little silly, but mostly that just came out as forward. When I remembered to post under her rhythm, she slowed down without much fuss. We're not quite getting the connection we had in the indoor, but that's okay. It's exciting to be outside and watch the horses gallop around and see what the dogs are doing and generally express joie de vivre. She didn't do a single bad thing and I felt good about the ride even if we weren't dressage gods. We're never going to be dressage gods. We're going to be jumper gods. :D

My trainer will be here in a month to do a clinic, so I've decided it's time for some goals. By the time Chris gets here, I want to:

1. Have a canter I can control on both leads. I don't mean it has to be a perfect hack-winning canter or that it should be a canter we can jump out of. I just want to be able to ask for the canter, get a canter instead of a hand-gallop, and be able to transition to the trot or circle when I want to.

2. Really get that connection solidified at the trot. We're getting closer. We lose contact still, but at least there's something to lose.

3. Trot cross-rails.

We did this once. We can do it again.

I think that's reasonable, right? What do you think?