Another sweet day!

It was once again hugely beautiful today. Warm, sunny, and the PERFECT day to ride!:) Got my barn chores done, and had enough time to quickly knock the dirt off and hop on my boy. Fortunately, he was still clean from his bath yesterday, and was wearing his sheet because it was chilly this morning, so a quick grooming was sufficient. Got him tacked up, and headed out to the mare's pasture which is the "cut through" point. Headed back to the back 15 acres instead of the front pasture because I wanted to do some 'cross training' today instead of just drilling flatwork.

The only other time I had been in the back pasture was when we did our 'flat out' gallop up the hill. Today, I wanted to do some working and exploring. Began with a nice walk up one of the hills, trotted across the ups and downs of the top of the hill, trotted down a huge hill, trotted up a huge hill, then worked on some straight and bouncy trotting on the level straightaway. Found a log PERFECT for jumping; it was so perfect, it looked like a little cross country jump. Of course, I had to try it. He jumped over no problem, and cantered beautifully up the huge hill that is right after the jump. Stopped, walked back down and around, and did it again ... then again. Then reversed and jumped it the opposite way; two more times, and I was satisfied he was trotting in quietly and landing in a CANTER, not a gallop. Hacked back to the flat area, and decided to pick up a left lead canter. At that point, I sat DOWN in the saddle, and worked on some collection ... it was GORGEOUS, comfortable, balanced, uphill, and FABULOUS. Did a downward transition to a halt, asked for a turn on the forehand, then asked for the right lead. He gave it right off the bat, and though it was a little faster and more on the forehand than the left lead, he was certainly trying. Circled, walked, and we were done. It was a GREAT ride, and I would love to repeat it tomorrow.:)