Still Standing...

The Masked Mare says,
"No standing on this horse!"

Some of my blogging buddies have been letting it be known that their equestrian goal is to stand up on a horse.  Bob and Emme, you know I'm talking about you, you crazy kids!  These two deserve serious props, and I fully believe both will accomplish their goal.  The idea of standing on a horse sounds like fun to me, and I'm pretty sure I tried it, with very little success, when I was a kid.  However, at this point in my life my goal is pretty much just to be standing when I get off the horse.

Today, even though the Black Lung continues, the Boy and I sucked it up and headed down to the barn before we headed off to the doctor's office.  Sug's still on the IR with her corneal ulcer - we've got another re-check with my vet tomorrow and I have high hopes- so we decided that I would warm James up for Noah. 

Possibly not the best idea I ever had.  Which was followed by what could have been the second not-best idea, which was "Let's ride outside." (I said this even know it was a bit windy and he hadn't been ridden the day before. Oh well, as eventing great Jimmy Wofford says, stupid should hurt.) Normally, this would not have been a big deal, but given I haven't ridden above a walk in 2 weeks it had "Potential Distaster" written all over it.

James was frisky, but controllable for the most part.  That being said, I learned it's probably I good thing I never got to be a jockey, as I would have gotten left in the gate every time.  Sug can be pretty quick with a spook, but with James it was like breathe and...What-The-Heck-Am-I Doing-On-The-Other -Side -Of-the-Ring????  We spent the first 10 minutes of the trot work doing shoulder in and haunches in to keep James' attention off all the trolls that were lurking ringside.  I was happy because I did not get frustrated or lose my patience.  It was a "James, you are being a boob but I understand why and we will work through this" kind of thing.  After a couple more "Let's see if she can stick" moments, he settled down into a nice working trot.  We played with that, and a touch of canter, and finished my part of the ride on a good note.

A couple of good looking boys.

James was relaxed, but we decided to (finally) be smart and finish up in the indoor.  Noah and James worked on transitions.  A lot of trot to walk and back up again, and then some trot-canter-trot.  He really worked on sinking into his heels, keeping his lower legs still, using his weight to bring the horse back and  keeping his elbows fluid and following. 

Then we cooled him out, brought him out to the field and spent several minutes doing scratches and snuggles while Sug ignored us and munched hay.  The Sainted One is not a snuggler, and is easily disgusted by PDA.

And I'm still standing.  Mission accomplished.