Shining at Lengthenings, Meltdowns on Leg Yields

For two weeks, my riding has been slowed considerably while I rehab a tendon...my own damn tendon. You see, after a week of riding the sitting trot and gearing up my running mileage, I managed to strain the hip flexor on my left side. It's excruciating, persistent and incredibly frustrating. I'm the queen of powering through injuries, so a week+ of mandated rest/slow down time feels like an eternity.

Don't feel too sorry for me, though. I've been perfecting my pizza dough, keeping my house clean, and eating way too much delicious food for my own good. Plus? I've been experimenting with interesting ways to walk my dogs and try to keep Guinness in some sort of work.

Yes, that's my notorious run-away dog clipped to my saddle D-ring by way of an extendable leash. While I don't recommend anyone else try this, Guinness is really well behaved with stupid dogs and my little dog (despite her escape artist tendencies) is trained to absolutely (no excuses) stay to the left of me. I bike with Lyra regularly, and run with her daily, this is drilled into her brain. Do not attempt unless you are confident in your training, even then be aware of all the things that could go horribly wrong. (This has been a "The More You Know" moment.) My other dog was busy being his awesome off-leash safe, avoiding cars like a badass self. 

Besides stupid tricks with animals, I have been able to do a little bit of light schooling. I even managed to catch some of it on video. I'm really excited to share these videos with you as they show glimpses of the work I've been getting (and some of the work I'd like to get less of ...).

Let's start with the end of my ride last Saturday. Here Guinness and I are working on trot lengthenings. They are really starting to come around, but Guinness and I are having communication problems and sometimes it takes awhile to get to the really good work. My sore hips blocking the movement isn't really helping. Despite this, I think we ended up with some solid work. I'd be happy to get that last lengthen in a test! Of special note to me is the consistency I have in the bridle. Our work on relaxation has clearly been paying off. Anyway, enough blabbering ... check out the video!

Of course, our schooling session wasn't all this mannerly! I managed to catch one of Pig's famous tantrums on video. Pig was taking extreme offense to being asked to move laterally to the right with his haunches. This response is pretty typically of Pig. I'll get this when he doesn't really want to play. It's not impossible to deal with, but can be frustrating. The only way to get him to go forward is to completely release all aids and walk it off for a bit. Here you go!

Ever had a ride with meltdowns and fancy moments all mixed together? It's pretty typical for us ...