Riding is cool and I want to believe

It's amazing how simple riding can be, yet we make it so difficult. Kate, over at A Year with Horses, has a post today about what a difference it makes with her mare when Kate rides with her head up. Riding with your head up, looking up above your horse, unweights the front end, which allows the horse to use its hind end better and to turn more easily as your weight isn't dragging on the front. All because looking up changes how you sit in the saddle. Such a small thing, but so crucial.



Kate talked about this in an earlier post last week and I kept that thought in mind when working with India this weekend. I do think it helped because I was able to look in the direction I wanted to go and India would turn and trot in whatever direction I was looking. It's really very cool to be trotting along the long side of the arena, look left and have your horse turn to the left, then you look right and your horse turns and starts trotting in this new direction. No turning the reins, no leg signals, just by turning my head. Very cool. It also helped with our halts because my weight was already back since my head was up, so all I had to do was deeply exhale and sit deeper and she stopped.

Really, when it all comes together, riding is so much fun.

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We're still waiting to hear from the UGA oncology department on their second reading of Sparky's biopsy. My vet can't believe it's not cancer, as much as we want to believe.