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…but I ain’t got wings, comin’ down is the hardest thing…Tom Petty really got it right – it’s the song that keeps looping through my head these past months. Tory and I have been home now for about 8 weeks and have made huge strides (pun somewhat intended) in working together. My right foot has a dull ache to it but I have no issues with it riding. My left knee has a scar from where I hit the ground from bailing off of Tory but it’s functional. Since the weather has improved, we have gotten busier so I haven’t been riding as much. I ride at least 2 to 3 times a week when I can.

My steadniess, timing of the aids and ability to move the horse around are all getting better. I am working on my sitting trot – not just the ability to sit the trot but to use my body correctly. The hips are always supposed to work in a back to front motion, especially in the trot and canter. With all the driving I’ve been doing, I’m getting stiff and lopsided again. When I’m not riding, I’m on the torture, I mean, Pilates reformer home machine I bought in January. That’s been helping to strengthen all my muscles. My hips aren’t following the horse’s motion in the right direction as much as I thought I was. My hips have been going more side to side which is motion against the horse, not motion with the horse. Need to work on that more. With all the difficulty I have had with the canter, that was part of it. From sitting trot to canter, the hips need to have the same motion so if I don’t have it in the sitting trot, I won’t have it in my canter transition.

We have finally broken through the canter ceiling, so to speak. I am able to get Tory into canter most of the time, nice transitions but still some not so nice moments. I’m learning to get this horse to fly…