The
2nd Resonance
Repatterning session was last Saturday and I didn't
ride Sunday or Monday. That gave us some 'time for it to
settle in' as it was a long weekend.
Monday there was a news report about some new medical
thing and the prognosis: "Cautiously extremely
optimistic." When I heard that I thought it was
kinda funny.
Tuesday's ride
Then I had my ride on Tuesday.
You know that line, "Who are you and what have you
done with him?" Well, this was like, "Who
are you and what have you done with my horse?"
It was an incredibly normal ride. Yes, we had some
bunnies - no flinching. A squirrel hopped up into the
tree - a little moment of hard eyes staring. The dog
was around. There was a flashy thing by the gate which
warranted a small sideways step. And I even got off
before the cement truck decided to turn around in the
neighbors driveway. (yay for me!)
Uh?
So, yeah, now I get it: "Cautiously extremely
optimistic."
Wednesday's ride
Today, bunnies hopping around. Chickens hiding in
the bushes. Killer squirrel hopping in the tree.
Although I think it was the killer chicken she caught out of
the corner of her eye that resulted in one of those
spook-stumble-trip-nothing-happened things. Like they
try to spook but they trip instead and don't want anyone to
have noticed. On a long rein, no
less. As in, stayed on a long rein and continued on
like nothing happened. No panic.
We continued on, did our loop the other way and then back
to he same place and she didn't even bat an eye.
About that time I started to suspect something was
wrong. Like there was a big cosmic joke going on and
any minute now some alien would jump out of the bushes and
shout 'Smile! You're on Candid Camera!' in some
bizarre mirror universe kind of way.
So I decided, "ok, let's up the ante a little!"
This week's progression is about transitions. Our
'advanced' topic of the day was the lengthened
trot. "little trot," "trot,"
and "big trot" are my commands on the ground so I
thought I'd make it easier on her by overlaying them with
the riding cues.
HA!
I must be doing something so that there comes a point
where the next thing is "canter." I'm not entirely
sure what that is but I will for sure be on the lookout for
it. Why do I say this? Because after a few transitions
she picked up a canter. OR, and this is also very
likely, it's a lot easier to do canter than big trot.
In any event, we were cantering along the long wall (not
in the corner by the barn at 10am with no dogs) (come
to think of it, the dog was on the other side of the
bush...) in a very light cadenced canter, no panic,
balanced, calm.
(!)
Time to quit while we're ahead! And, miracle of
miracles, she came back to a trot, then a walk, then a
standstill.
Then we proceeded with "little trot,"
"trot," and "big trot" but this time
without verbal cues and I got "little trot,"
"trot," and "big trot."
OK - "Cautiously extremely
optimistic."
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