It feels like spring here! It’s amazine how quickly the weather can change. Before I left Holland it was freezing with snow everywhere and now it’s 11 degrees and sunny.
The last week and a bit I have jumped back into training full force and I’m really happy with the breakthroughs I’ve had with Vitall. The system we figured out for the 1 tempi’s seems to be working but everyday we have to tweak it in some way. It really shows you how you have to be diverse and not just stick to one way. We’ve had to be flexible in training Vitall, sometimes he is easier off the wall and other days it’s easier on the quarter line. Today he was better on the wall and doing the changes on the short side. The short side was easier because he had less space to run away. We are getting up to 4-5 solid now. The day we get 15 I think I will kiss the ground.
The other day we introduced connecting the Piaff, Passage doing small transitions in and out. The key for the transitions is not to push him out too quick, otherwise he just drops in the back and becomes hollow. Anky said it doesn’t matter if it takes 10 steps, just slowly ask him to come out by sitting a little forward so my weight is off his back, put my legs a little bit back and have open contact to make sure I’m not blocking him with my hands. It took a couple tries but after a few we got it. It felt fantastic and I was so pleased with him. It’s such a thrill to start connecting the pieces of the puzzle together (puzzle being GP). Makes me smile everyday.
The other horse I ride is a young horse owned by a friend of mine. Balin is a 4yr SambaHit/DeNiro and he is back at work after his winter break. He spent all last week on the lunge line burning some energy but over the last few rides he also feels really good. I think he is happy to be back at work.
Other than training, I have started back at the gym after a long break. My muscles weren’t so happy after the first day but they recovered and I am back into a routine. I have also caught up with my friends here it always takes me a week to get back into my routine but now I feel good to be back.
The picture is Oslo still pretending to be Jet lagged and not going for his afternoon walk.
