canter woes + 2pointober

This post is kinda all over the place bc... well, maybe I'm a bit all over the place. And no recent riding pics because it's been dark... boo. Instead, enjoy a random assortment of fotos, starting with Chesney eating Izzy's lead rope.

it's hard to avoid blur when playing tug of war with a vurry large animal

Last night's ride was a planned dressage school. I really appreciate everyone's feedback on yesterday's question re: running martingales. So thanks!!! I wanted to give it another go sans martingale just to really see where we were... and it wasn't good. 

Our right lead canter. It just... God, it just really really sucks. And I was wavering between seething: fortheloveofallthingsholyjustputyourheaddownforonesinglefuckingcircle.... 
and feeling like I ought to apologize to the mare for riding so poorly. Ughhhhhh. Not fun. 

It's particularly frustrating because our trot is really finally starting to come along (even if we didn't do a very good job of demonstrating that at the show). But I just need to remind myself: I started dressage in the spring. We are only now getting consistent trot work. Why on earth should I expect the canter to happen any faster??? 

this may not look like much, but it's still mega progress in my book

On the plus side tho: I did more 2point practice! Yay? I did two sets during the ride, and was able to see some improvement during the second set - up to almost 5 min!! This included some walk, trot, ground poles, and a tiny line of Xs set 2 strides apart. I figured, if the whole purpose of a solid position is to stay out of the way over fences, why not give it a shot? (I also wanted to see how well Isabel could get back to 'work' after a couple jumps. She did very well with this!)

Tuesday night was intended to be a simple bareback bop around the arena. Annnnd, it ended up being even simpler than intended. Some kids left the ring about 15 min after I started, and turned off the arena lights prematurely. Our lights are already on the fritz, and refused to come back on. So... even tho the moonlight was strong, and Isabel was being good, I called it a day with our 15 min bareback working walk. 

Interesting notes: I felt a little more stable than I expected to, and it was enlightening to feel all the various ways Isabel's rib cage and spine move around. I also played around with trying to use my thighs more, and found her to be quite responsive. On the other hand, it was glaringly obvious how much tension I'm holding in my own hips and seat. So I'd definitely like to get out bareback again soon, and maybe even trot? (tho we'll see if this happens or not)

'um, i actually prefer not to be sat on. k thx bai' -isabel