Basics - and showtime...

Winds has been enjoying his fall at home - mostly focusing on basics and figuring out how to become even more of a unicorn so that when I actually do have time to show up and ride, I feel like a masterful jock - instead of a lumpy sack of slightly spoiled apples. 

Mostly this has been a focus on staying forward and getting lighter to the aids, whether that is reminding him that"go" means "go NOW" or getting his tushy laterally mobile with the lightest of nudges.

I think he's stronger than he was in the spring, so having a few weeks at home with nothing but time to slow down and school has been helpful - and also extremely productive.  He feels fresh, and sharp (in a good way) and super eager.

My rides have been sparse - but great.  I'm clearly out of riding shape which is horrifying to me, but easily remedied by clearing my schedule and taking my stirrups away. 

However, even with a less than sticky seat or solid core - I'm enjoying our rides.  Winds is alert, on task and so responsive it feels like I'm driving a really fancy sports car- with an automatic transmission.

Which is to say, it's really, really fun and doesn't require a ton of muscle.

That's not to say I couldn't use some... eek.

Winds doesn't quite get to pack it in for the winter though.  We added one final trip to the calendar, which means next week we head to Paso Robles for two weeks of sunshine (I hope) and exploring a new showpark. 

The schedule is weird, so we only end up showing on wed, thurs and fri - which makes for long days but 4 days off in between weeks - so hopefully his highness finds that satisfactory.

The goal is to get one more solid outing at 3'3" without any weird crash-like incidents as well as getting me in the ring one more time to play with my new-found forward buttons.  There is a Derby to add if all is going well - but mostly I'm looking forward to getting a few rounds in, packing a VRBO full of barn ladies, and putting a nice little capstone on our season.