She's back!

Despair had begun to set in yesterday... or maybe I just missed my TNT this week :(  After my lesson last Monday I gave my back and Tilly's back a break, so she got some time off.  On Wednesday I made a trip to Atlanta to borrow my buddy's saddle.  When I returned, I was delighted to find that it fit great! buuuut, Tilly was WILD!! 

I'll admit I was worried.  Did she not like the saddle?  Were her ulcers acting up?  Was she just fresh after the time off?  I had to figure something out after she bolted across the arena from a "have a nice day" bag.  Oh, irony!

So today I went back to our old goldie exercise over poles. 

Tilly wanted to move out really big so I just focused on half halts and an authentic connection.  Since all the saddle problems began in July both Tilly and I have been just getting by in our training.  She started to set her neck against the discomfort of the saddle.  Interestingly, I feel exactly the same way.  My neck and back have been so achy that I've gotten stiff in an attempt to push through the pain.  Luckily I found some great living social deals for massages in Aiken :)  I'm closer to being pain free and after today's ride, I think Tilly is too!

Since she was in the habit of setting her neck I did a lot of exercises in change of bend.  Counter canter always loosens her up and improves the trot so we did little serpentines all over the field around the arena.  It worked great!  So I took to same idea and applied it to the trot.  We were basically weaving our way around... tiny 10 meter serpentines to keep the bend changing and softening.  By the end of the ride, we were back to simple changes on a 20 meter circle.   I was so excited to feel her on my aids, picking up the counter canter so easily and then switching back.

Tomorrow I'll work on getting her more collected and improving the quality of the trot.  She still felt a bit choppy today.  Wish us luck! 

The JJ Tate clinic is coming up next weekend and I want  to be ready to work on flying changes!!