After 3 Weeks of Not Being Ridden...

The weather these past few weeks has been horrid. First it was snow, then it was wind... lots and lots of wind.  Due to the terrible weather and lack of time, I was unable to ride for three weeks. My lesson was rescheduled for Friday afternoon, and much to my luck, there was ZERO wind. It was warm, sunny, and occasionally there would be a slight breeze that would come by. Perfect.

R.I.P. Jim Bob the Snowman

I gave Ypke a thorough grooming and saw that the woolly mammoth was shedding. Spring is coming! She was a bit of a brat as I was picking out her hooves, a stunt she hasn't pulled in a long time, but I refused to give up, so she ended up cooperating.

Before the lesson I did 20 minutes of groundwork and used clicker training to reinforce the good behavior.  I must say, she has been improving quite a bit!  She used to not want to halt while I was leading her, but now she typically only takes one extra step before halting.  Hopefully after several more ground work sessions we will consistently be halting right as I ask.

The moment of truth came when my trainer arrived and it was time to ride Ypke the Beast. She. Did. Awesome. This was one of those days where I wish someone had been recording.

She was consistently doing a western jog while maintaining collection (definitely not perfect collection, but this is a huge step for us). We were switching directions, doing small circles, and passing another horse without fussing! It truly is a wonderful feeling to be working in unison with a horse! With just slight calf pressure and a bit of a half halt, she would begin to round and I could feel a major difference. I didn't have to ask her to maintain collection either, she was just staying there by herself. This was done with a small amount of slack in the reins too.

Around halfway through the lesson, she got bored.  She stopped and pawed (I had vivid flashbacks to THAT day), but there was no way I was letting her roll. She began to break gait several times and started to become lazy.

Luckily, we were able to end on a great note though. I was really amazed with how well we did!  My equitation didn't suck, and Ypke and I were actually working with each other instead of against each other. Definitely a confidence building day!

Staring off into the sunny hills