A good week:)

Well, it's time to start weather-dodging here in GA. It has been *exceptionally wet and rainy here lately; the lake that literally experts were counting down the days until it went dry a year ago is at it's highest levels in YEARS. The news people literally were counting down the days until our drinking water ran dry, and now the lake that's closest to me is almost 10 feet above full pool. Amazing how things change! Rode Tiki Friday, then he got Saturday off, then showed like a champ Sunday. Gave him Monday off, and that turned into a Tuesday off as well since my son had his fall break Mon-Wed, and that meant I could sleep IN! Rode him Wednesday, and he was AWESOME. He felt so good I smiled the entire time I was on his back. He's much more easily coming underneath me and staying straight. He's light off my leg, and quiet during our rides. The canter felt very light and rhythmical, and I worked over some more small jumps. I have 3 jumps set parallel with the long side. Since there's still large piles of footing on the ends of the ring, I jumped the center jump off both diagonals. One side has a tall crossrail, and the other side I piled the cavelletti's on top of each other. He's starting to really listen and wait to the base of each jump. That's what I wanted! I cantered right lead over the caveletti, right lead over the vertical, left lead over the crossrail, left lead over the vertical. Rinse, repeat about 3 more times. I halted each time after the jumps so he stayed straight and listened to me.

Thursday I did butt work in his pasture. The baby was in a BAD mood for some reason. It started when a lone horse took off at a gallop across the pasture to join his herd mates. Tiki tried to take off as well, and didn't take it well when I told him NO. From then on, even though we were walking hills, he kept startling, trying to trot up the hills, and doing his level best to evade my leg. Let him finish with a FAST gallop through the pasture, and it felt ... angry. Sorry, Bud.

Today I managed to get in a ride before the rain; Warmed up fully in my 2-point, then sat and pulled him together. He felt great. Worked trot/canter transitions, and walk/canter transitions. Those are getting MUCH better! Schooled a few changes (which were OK), then cantered him 3 times over a TINY crossrail, asking for a flying change after each time. His canter coming into it was like a metronome, which is EXACTLY what I want:) Much better than yesterday. He'll have the weekend off because I'm training at a horseshow that he won't be at.