It is going to be a short post this evening since I need to get to bed in preparation for our PSG ride time tomorrow of 9:54 AM. It was a very busy day with the jog, ring familiarisation and welcome reception. With Ana's owner, coach, mom, and I we have all decided it is best for me to do an early morning ride and then put her back in the stall and bring her back out only half an hour before our actual ride. This is what we do with Oslo at the shows, so I feel confident in this method and we all think Ana will respond to it well. Therefore, we will do a ride at 7:30 AM and then let both of us rest until 9:15 AM when we will do a bunch more walking and then our final warm-up before heading down centre line!
I had a fantastic ride on Ana this morning. I took about 15 minutes first thing in the walk to just get her super supple and figure out how to get her more properly in front of the leg. This allowed me to really play around with the leg aid and connection without making either of us tired! Right from the start in the trot then she felt wonderful in front and I had a much better sense for how to ask for the lateral work. I felt that we really gelled well today and I am feeling fairly confident. There are still a number of things we need to practice before our actual test tomorrow, but we got the majority of the communication figured out now. A few things still need to be sorted like our walk/canter transitions, our half-pass steepness, centre lines, and the should fore to the left in the canter, especially before the pirouettes. I have confidence though that we can work some of these bugs out tomorrow morning, and if not, at least we have a better connection and understanding of each other now!
Ana's owner, Connie Bookless, has been terrific and her coach, Libby, has also been amazing! They are both so helpful and positive. Libby has taken the time to help mom and I during warm-up and Connie has provided me with the very important hints and tips for riding Miss Ana!
I apologize for not posting any pictures yet. We have had some internet issues, but we have all the photos loaded on the laptop now, so once we actually get a good internet connection with the laptop, I will make sure to post a bunch of pictures. It truly is beautiful here and we have been quite lucky with the weather here (knock on wood of course). My tan still has a long way to go, but at least it hasn't been too hot for riding. Just perfect actually.
That is all for tonight. Hopefully I have great news and pictures for tomorrow's post!
Goodnight!
Linds and Ana
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