Instructive

[glenatron]

We had our first lesson with Julian in months, which was really enjoyable. Happy to report that in his opinion we're pretty much still where we were.

Unfortunately while there we noticed a bit of coolant dripping out from the corner of my car. Not looking great there. Between that and the broken wing, headlights, etcetera, it's not looking great for this car surviving the repairs it's going to need to be properly roadworthy again. That really sucks because I like it a lot. It's small, convenient, comfortable and fairly fuel-efficient. I got some tape to tape up the leaky pipe on the way home, then discovered that the pipe wasn't leaking, which says something about my mechanical skills.

In the afternoon sleepsy_mouse was feeling exhausted and ill so I took her home then dashed out to the yard and took Zorro out for a short ride through the valley and around the fields on the other side.He was not quite right, but whether that was emotional, physical or a combination thereof I'm not sure. Yesterday in the arena he was pretty good, so maybe he was just in an odd mood. On the whole he was fine, but not how he usually is- I guess it was our first solo ride in a while, though, which may have contributed.

I'm thinking a lot about straightness at the moment, seeing how we can improve that and get a lot of benefits in terms of going forward when we're riding out, so I'm trying to get his mind going the same way we are whenever he gives the impression he's thinking about other places out on the trail. It's something we come back to from time to time and this is definitely a time for it. I just wish we had more daylight to work with.

At least the birds were singing today and their songs were full of the idea that winter has an end, even if we are barely half way through as yet.

Comments

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, January riding is a real pain in the rear to deal with. I get a few of those not quite right days with Mocha, and sometimes the footing is such that straight and forward is the best thing to be working on.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

With Zorro's mind the straight and the forward are the first things to go as well if your vigilance drops for a second, so it's something that warrants frequent reminders.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Roll on spring! The short days and the dodgy ground make it so hard to plan anything in advance. But like you say, the birds are singing their hearts out - let's hope they're not a feathery bunch of misguided optimists...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I hope we don't have another temperature dive, though if we're going to I'd prefer for it to arrive sooner rather than later.