Forward March!

Happens to me on a daily basis...

 

Boot Camp for Alex is in full swing.  Little did I know that it would be Boot Camp for me too!  It's amazing how much fitness I can lose when we have a little down time.  

Sunday's pointers from my mom turned into.  quasi lesson, which in all reality, we probably needed for a good kick in the butt. I lunged Alex and then clombed aboard to see what 

the day would bring. After a quick warm-up, mom started in with the directions :-) 

I was to ask Alex to stretch and then ask for forward, turning his head and giving with the inside rein to encourage the stretch down and push forward. While I know this exercise from previous horses, it was nice to have someone on the ground reminding me to PUSH!

Alex did pretty well, but he only gets a few "lengthened" steps out before his head comes up and we have to circle or halt to refocus. 

His canter was ok, no bucks, but our departs are so ugly! Lots to work on there. 

Overall, mom pronounced him much improved 

in movement and just in need of consistent work on FORWARD to continue building his strength.

Tonight it was more of the same. Alex and I worked our butts off and were just about to quit when a whinnying horse in the distance inspired one of Alex's baby fits. Of course we had to keep working until I won that battle :-)

Otherwise it was a good productive night, still a LONG way to go. 

Alex still seems comfortable with the saddle, so that's good, I'm probably going to be annoyingly parinoid about that for several months, but so far so good!

Day 4 of 4 in a row tomorrow before a well deserved Wednesday off.