Third Ride Postpartum – Turning Circles!

-  I love the listening ear!  - 

I’ll keep it brief because, let’s face it - walk work is booorriiinggg to anyone but the avid dressage enthusiast… 

But that’s where we are at.  So the latest ride consisted of – and I’m sure you’ve guessed it - perfecting our 20m circle.

Copper has struggled with the 20m circle for a while; keeping consistent bend through out the circle and not losing it by popping out his ribs or shoulders 3/4 of the way around.

At first I thought it was a strength issue, that he wasn’t strong enough to keep carrying his weight in his quarters and step deeply enough underneath himself with his inside hind, but now I’m wondering if it wasn’t a suppleness issue all along.

He isn’t strong at all at the moment, he has no topline and hardly any muscle tone. He’s in a total paddock-kept state. Yet we got the best 20m circle work I’ve had from him for a while.  Yes, it took a lot of goes around before we completed a perfect 20m circle on both reins without losing the bend once, but we did get there!

And boy, was his walk ever so lovely afterwards. His back was soft, rounded, and supple, and I could really feel him reaching underneath himself with his hind.  The quality of his gait was 100% of what he can give me right now, and I was so chuffed!

It’s like sitting on a marshmallow that can read your mind! The connection was unbelievable and that’s what I love about dressage.  Really. 

Circles. So simple, yet so darn effective when done correctly that it just blows my mind!

Oh, and it was hard work for me too!  I could feel my abs after that ride with just the right amount of I’ve-been-working. So far, there hasn’t been an regression on my healing after having Little Pumpkin, so that’s a good thing.  We are both on the way to getting fit again!

See ya,

bonita