I'm still ruminating on my thoughts about this weekend's Centered Riding clinic (that Cinna and I attended), but in the meantime, enjoy some of my favorite photos. The lack of prep leading up to this clinic (between daaaaaays of rain and some stress at work) had me super apprehensive about taking her, but I dug down deep and went anyway. The first day we started out kind of a hot mess, but over the course of our hour lesson, things improved immensely. We ended on a really good note, and I was excited about day two!
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| At least the outfit was on point even if there were shenanigans, right? haha #priorities |
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| Some words of encouragement from the clinic organizer, who had watched her spinning around like a top over the lunch break as I tried to acclimate her to the arena. |
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| Audibly breathing, which is why I'm making such weird faces in most of the pics haha. |
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| I was scolded by my husband for my perpetual RBF (that's just what I look like when I concentrate!) so I had to try harder to smile the next day. |
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| Pretty representative of the first half -- either trotting at Mach 10 or giraffing. |
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| But we ended up here, so I was thrilled! |
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| Probably singing? Have to breathe to sing! |
Day two went even better -- the horse I got on at the clinic was basically the one I got off the day before, so we were able to jump in and work on new concepts immediately instead of spending half the lesson trying to defuse the bomb I was sitting on... novel concept!
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| Came out walking like this, instead of having to ride through an hour of a Tasmanian Devil impersonations first. |
At the end of the ride, the clinician was very complimentary about the improvement from the beginning of session one to the end of session two, and she also had some thoughts on how complicated Cinna can be, and how she really tested a rider's ability to stay centered. I went in to the clinic hoping to get some techniques to help me bring her "down" when she's "up" so we can work together in a positive cycle instead of a negative one, and it definitely delivered.
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| Still had to bust out the #dramaticSpanishmare signature move from time to time 🤷 |
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| Even managed a little canter! |
I probably just wasted all my good photos and will have to reuse them when I actually have time to write about the clinic in depth (assuming I find that time?) but I don't even care, I'm so proud of my baby horse! (and yes, I know 6 is technically not a baby anymore, but she'll always be a baby to me!)
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| This mare <3 |
Even when she's being bad, she's still cute.
ReplyDeleteIf she hadn't perfected that skill by now, she'd be dead.... haha.
DeleteI got a ton out of my CR clinic a few years ago. I want to try to bring her back. I love the change in her. And yes, these spanish horses can be complicated. So many thoughts and feelings all at once.
ReplyDeleteI was initially a little skeptical about the concept but I really enjoyed auditing last year, and I enjoyed riding this year even more. It made a HUGE difference with Cinna -- I really hope I can carve out some time to write about it soon!
DeleteShe's so gorgeous! Glad you were able to go, AND have a great experience!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I'm super glad I did it.
DeleteShe looks lovely at the end of the session - nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I was quite pleased with where we ended each day.
DeleteSo great you enjoyed yourself!
ReplyDeleteIt was a good reminder of how fun it can be to push myself outside my comfort zone!
DeleteBut despite it all - look at those happy, interested ears! Such a good girl. And good on you pushing through and finding such a sweet ending.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd paid a lot of attention to her ears in the photos, but your comment made me go back and look. Looks like a 50-50 split of happy forward ears and then one flicked back listening to me... wow! And thank you -- working through all the rough stuff first made me appreciate where we ended up so much more.
DeleteAwwww, so happy for you! She looks so good! And that matching game is on point!
ReplyDeleteHaha I literally told the clinician on the first day that I kind of expected to be a hot mess, but at least we'd be a well-dressed hot mess ;)
DeleteWhat an awesome experience for you and that baby horse! And no, 6 is def still a baby! Goose had a baby brain until he was ten so it's fine haha. So glad you got to go on an adventure and that it ended up well, good job you for sticking with it after a rough start!
ReplyDeleteYeah it's tricky with baroque horses too, because they just DO NOT mature mentally like some other breeds. Cinna's dam wasn't even saddle trained until 6 and she didn't really mellow out until she was 9 or 10. For the most part, 8 seems to be the magic number with them so I feel like we're on track for her to be a pretty solid citizen at that point. I was just spoiled because Ruby was kind of a solid citizen from day one (probably that little dash of QH blood hahaha).
DeleteWhat a neat clinic concept - we don't have that kind of thing accessible here!! Sounds like a really great and informative clinic. What a good girl.
ReplyDeleteEven if you don't have a clinician local to you, there are some centered riding books! ;) I actually do own them so I need to dig them out and do more reading lol
DeleteI like your teal and maroon outfits! Looks like she improved a lot in 2 days.
ReplyDeleteThanks! The change from the start of day one to the end of day two was pretty astonishing 😁
DeleteYou guys look fantastic! The photos are fabulous :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I was SO pleased with her :)
DeleteYou guys look lovely in your photos! I've always wanted to do a centered riding clinic. jealous!
ReplyDeleteAww thank you! After experiencing it, would definitely recommend! It was interesting to watch how different horses and riders reacted to the different principles. There was one horse in the clinic who would basically stop dead if his rider had "hard eyes" haha. Whereas mine just reacted by starting to spook at everything 🙄
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