Getting in the Zone

Frat Boy has been a bit of a piss ant under saddle as of late. It is entirely my fault though and I own up to that. Life has gotten insanely busy as it always does this time of the year with work, school and the rainy season. Looking back Eeyore has been getting 4-5 days off between rides on the regular since the middle of September. I’ve long since learned that he needs more consistent riding than that to remain my steady eddy boy, so when I hopped on him last night I took the emotion out of it and rode him through his early shenanigans fully knowing that if I got my butt in the saddle more frequently I wouldn’t have to spend 20 minutes letting him blow off steam followed by getting 15 minutes of amazing work before he decides life is too hard to continue on and then dealing with a pissy pants boy again.

With the show looming in the near future and a 5 day trip to FL for work two weeks before it, I’m trying to squeeze in as much solid work as I can. I only have two weekends before the show once I take out the trip, so there isn’t much time. We won’t be perfecting much in the next three weeks but I can get him back into the mental space of working again which will go a long way to having a pleasurable experience.

To that effect I rode last night with the simple plan of working on his mental game and the right bend. Because the right bend is going to kill me. We are sufficient enough for our current level going left at the walk, trot, sitting trot and canter. The canter is becoming way more balanced and I can get several strides of a true uphill canter before he loses it due to lack of strength and stamina. He is trying and giving me his all and that is all I can ask for.

The right though? It is like his brain melts out. While he tries going left and is focused, to the right he all of a sudden finds everything else in the world so much more interesting to look at. He loses his relaxation the moment we change directions. Now, before all well meaning readers start yelling “Pain! Saddle fit! Chiropractor!” at me, I assure you all the horse CAN bend right. In fact he can bend himself into a pretzel when he chooses to. For some reason he has decided bending right is something he won’t do. I’m sure my own body is doing something different to the right than the left which adds to it as well. So we ride the struggle bus a bit that direction and I’d like to clean it up a bit before the show.

After about 45 minutes, I hopped off and declared that I will be riding him every day this week to get his butt back in shape and his head screwed on straight again.

Then I looked at the forecast.

Well, damn. Looks like he will get another 3 days off between rides. I need to hit the lottery so I can cover my arena and still ride in weather like this.

Outside of trying to get back into work mode, I’ve splurged on some new items online which should be arriving today – yay! – and then I need to make up my mind if I will be going the day before the show or hauling in the day of. It will rely heavily on my ride times which I am guessing will be later in the day as the show runs high to low and I’m in the lowest division. I have a lot of back and forth thoughts about this but am holding off exposing you all to my inner madness until I have all the information in front of me, so prepare yourselves for that nonsense.