Update

It's been a while since I have updated, so I must apologize. For a long time, it just felt like I had nothing to say, like there was nothing to report on. When I started thinking about it tho... there was a LOT to report on!  I just didn't see it at first.

One of my Christmas presents was a saddle. It's nothing special, just a wintec western, but it means that I have my own piece of equipment whenever I need/want it. When I got my tax return, I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to spend it on. I really, (and I mean REALLY) need a new pair of boots. My current pair are so beat up... the heels on both are busted, so they are basically flat shoes with torn up heels... it's terrible. But instead of getting a new pair of boots I bought... A Theraflex Western saddle pad and a set of 1/2" shims! 

It arrived in the mail last Thursday, and I got to try it out this past Saturday. I didn't do any riding (partly because it was raining, mostly because I need to work on some groundwork/online stuff.)  I think I'm going to need to get a second set of shims, tho.  My saddle is a bit narrow, and it also sits a bit downhill on Gwen, even though she herself is pretty level (she's just very narrow behind the whithers. I'm hoping that as I use the theraflex pad, she'll build a bit more muscle there).

Anyways.  I've been riding a lot more lately, and while I didn't think I was making much progress, when I actually considered where I had come from, I was blown away. The biggest difference I can see is in Gwen's trot. I think I've written before, in previous posts, that Gwen's trot is super speedy, jack-hammer trot. Seriously. It was /terrible/.   When I started riding, and wanting to trot, I approached it very carefully. I kinda figured, since she's an RBI, that her jack-hammer trot had a lot to do with tension and unconfidence. Her head would get real high, her ears would go back in that "I don't know what to do!!!" kind of way, and she would just trot as fast as she could because she was freaking out. So, when we started riding, I would just ask her for trot, and after two or three steps, she'd screech to a halt. I'd give her a little rub, wait until she gave me a bit of relaxation (usually she'd blow out or drop her head) and then we would walk again.

There were many days where I would only get two or three steps of trot out of her at all, and the rest of the time we would walk.  A couple months ago, I started asking her for a bit more. I'd let her do her two/three steps, come down to a walk, and then ask again. I'm sure we looked funning, going around the ring walking/trotting in two-three step intervals, but she was getting much better.  Her trot started smoothing out, and she lost a lot of that freak-out response when we first started.  Once she was doing that, I'd set a goal for myself.  Usually it was "I want to trot the short-length of the arena fence" so we'd trot that, and then walk the long side, and then trot the next short side, etc. She'd have a few moments of tension, but she really started understanding that it was OK to slow down if she needed too...

Now?  Shoot, we can go round and around the arena at a nice, comfortable trot!  It's not a western jog yet (I definitely have to post!) but it is lightyears away from where we were!  I'm super encouraged by this, and can't wait to see what the next few months hold.  Our next big task will be canter.

J