Updates on the canter, uveitis and etc

I haven’t written yet about my time with Buckshot about a week ago. The weather was just a touch cooler (if you can call the low 90’s cooler! LOL) and Buckshot and I had some great rides. I worked on the lope with him. My instructor has me working on twisting or shifting my seat, to help me match his rhythm, so that my seat stays in the saddle. We did a number of lopes with me concentrating on this. Some were quite good. Some weren’t. I started to get frustrated by my lack of progress in this.

But I have to remember and encourage myself that to improve my skills at the canter will take some time. Just as it did years ago at the posting trot. Today I love the posting trot. I have developed some tips that really helped me with it, and there have been times Buckshot and I have just floated along as one at the trot. Heavenly!

So I will need to be patient with myself on the canter as well. And I have to remember not to overdo it and bore Buckshot to death with it. I alternated the canter work with some patterns, and some precision work, at both the walk and the trot. And a few times, I stopped him in the middle of the arena and gave him a long rein. And don’t you know, he would walk slowly over to the gate!! As if to say, “I think we’ve done enough today, don’t you?” What a kidder! I would redirect him to do something else for a few more minutes. When we had ridden for about an hour, I said to him, “okay, we’ll do our cool down now” and started walking him around the perimeter of the arena. I think the term “cool down” is one of his favorite terms! He knows that it means the end of the riding is near, and so are his post-ride treats!

On the issue of moon blindness, his symptoms have gone away, this past week and weekend I haven’t seen the symptoms I saw (or thought I saw) earlier. But we are going to have the vet check it out soon. I’ll keep you posted on this.

This past weekend (July 17-18) it was beastly hot at the farm. High 90’s and high humidity. I rode Buckshot both on Saturday and Sunday, but for much shorter times. We worked on some patterns and exercises from the book “101 Arena Exercises” by Cherry Hill. Buckshot did very well with everything we tried. And we did a few canters! On Sunday, we only did a few canters, but they were great. My seat stayed in the saddle and found his rhythm, and his pace was great – not rushing. A great day for both of us, regardless of the miserable weather!

PS Thank you to Story for becoming a follower of my blog! I really appreciate it! I am trying to follow the steps to become an official "Follower" of the blogs noted on the right side of my blog. The first time I tried it, something didn't work right, so I undid it. But now I have added a tiny pic of myself to my profile and will again sign up to become a Follower of these great blogs. I'll do it slowly, to make sure I am doing it correctly. Thank you again, Story! You made my day!