Wilting

oh lord.  It's over 80 degrees in Seattle which means that all the things stop. Work stops, traffic stops, brains stop, horses stop.  So. Much. Stopping.

Had we been in heavy work I would have given Prair some light hacks over the weekend and then stood under the hose with her - but since we've has so much down time I was eager to get back to work even if we both ended up with some mild heatstroke. :)

That being said, Saturday we had a great hack out in the sunshine.  I lunged her prior to getting on and was thrilled to see her Big, Beautiful, Floaty Trot back.  I missed it.  I think the combo of her new shoes and 2 weeks off gave us some seriously impressive gaits. The heat was definitely taking the edge off her freshness so I don't think the lunge session was necessary, but I was having too much fun watching her go round, and round and round and round.  (swoon).

I hopped on, and we got right to work. Lots of transitions to tune us both up, and lots of Medium to Working transitions within our gaits.  Prair felt pretty exceptional.  She was right there for me and I think happy to be getting a bit of a workout.  I threw in some shoulder in and leg yields to really make me focus on my outside aids then we finished working over a cavaletti at the canter and trying to recreate the bouncy, adjustable canter we finished the show with (two weeks ago..).

We cooled out, hosed off and called it a day.

Sunday was even hotter (ughhhh) so I chickened out and rode in the shade of the indoor.  Prair was a little more amped up, but still very rideable which allowed me to continue the work on transitions. 

It felt like we'd have this great bouncy trot that I could turn it into a canter just as easily as a nice forward halt.... but then we'd trot another 1/2 circle and the option for a nice clean halt would disappear. 

I tried to ride fairly aggressively in terms of really encouraging a quick hind end while staying mindful of when that perfect/squishy/turn-into-anything trot became a trot that I couldn't adjust.  When I felt that perfect balance slip away, we'd walk, or canter, or halt. 

Prair figured out pretty quick that tipping on her forehand meant we did something harder (halt, leg yield, etc) and she rose to the occasion.  It felt like she was working so well (and consistently) that I crossed my stirrups and tortured myself a little with lots of sitting trot work (ow).

We finished with a run through of First Level 1 and 2 which were.... accurate but a bit hectic.  Granted I rode them in a 20x40 ring, so they probably should have felt hectic, but still.  I had the feeling that I was trying to catch up to the movements rather then easing into them.

Maybe one day we'll show a dressage test again. (this was a year ago, eek!)

All in all, a great couple of first rides back. I'm grateful for the oppressive heat which is probably the only thing that kept Prairie from being a total lunatic.  Today it's 90 and muggy as all get out.  I know that's a temperate day for everyone in the rest of the country but around here no one is used to it (especially the horses).  So, Prair gets a cold hosing, I get a Popsicle and we'll return to some regularly scheduled business tomorrow with a lesson early enough to avoid cooking alive.

As of right now we're aiming for another 'A' show in two weeks.  Me in the 2'6" stuff and S in the Pre-Greens.