I have had writer’s block when it comes to this blog lately, and I realized that it is because my riding life has been going well. Most days are pleasant and simple. I seem to draw inspiration from the hard days, the days that are so incredibly frustrating yet so educational. I started this blog in the midst of some of the toughest times in my riding career. Currently, though, things are going remarkably well. Chance has been very good. His stomach is healing, and his attitude has greatly improved. The weather has been nice. Texas is experiencing that little window of time in which the weather is not hot, but not yet cool enough to make the horses wild.

Today, Chance was great. He had his hocks injected last week and we did not do much but hack, so today we worked on a couple of small singles. We started out trotting a cross-rail with a trot pole on the front and back side. He is often very sluggish to the first jump, as if he does not realize that he is actually going to to have work, so today I tapped him with a crop behind my leg and got him on a nice forward trot, before turning to the jump. Then, I put the crop down for the rest of my ride. He tends to wake up once we start jumping, and if I carry a crop the whole time he can get a little too fiery. After trotting the cross-rail a couple of times, my trainer made it a vertical. We trotted the vertical a few times, really working on staying straight after and getting the lead change on the straight-away (a struggle for us). Next we took a little break, then began cantering a little gate on a circle off of the right lead. The first time was slow and steady. However, when I do exercises like this I have a hard time keeping him slow as we continue to circle back to the jump. So, the next couple were a little to quick; but he did land on the correct lead each time. I finally was able to settle him a bit for the last couple, by sitting down in the saddle through the turn and keeping my shoulders back. I tend to get a little too forward, and jumping a single off a circle a few times really requires me to sit up and control his pace or he will just build and build and build.

Today was not the most exciting day. I had a good ride. A simple ride with no major breakthrough or big problem. But really that is how most days are like in this equestrian life. Perhaps I can begin to draw inspiration from the simple days because I sure am thankful to have fewer tough ones.