I had another great ride on Gus today. Same ol' warmup as usual - lunge work followed by shoulder stretches undersaddle plus the 10m half circles. Gus was really acting oddly today though. I do think his eyes are starting to bother him more and more though. He kept flinching when we went by the arena windows and the sunlight hit his eye ... definitely knew that eventually his sight would start to fail, but hopefully he overcomes this new obstacle like he does everything else.
Our trot work started off with 3-loop serpentines. Then I did the 20m, 15m, 10m spiral circles at B/E. We did this same exercise a couple months back and it really helps get Gus to sit down and work off his haunches. Gus definitely still wants to travel on his forehand, but thankfully if we slow down and I raise my hands up (think "saddleseat" hands) I can get Gus to rock back on his hindend and work properly.
Canter work wasn't anything special today. Just a 20m circle plus half a trip around the arena. Me and baby (yup, I'm expecting my first in July ... officially 20 weeks today!!!) just can't handle the rocking motion of the canter anymore. Gus was a good sport though and he had nice, clean transitions. I think canter work will mainly be on the lunge, least for the time being.
Surprisingly enough, I can now comfortably sit the trot again. Posting trot is nearly impossible ... can't get myself and my big butt (and belly) out of the saddle. So I just work on tightening my core and absorbing the bounce there. Seemed to help a lot and I thought our trot work was much improved, all things considered.
Gringo didn't get worked today, but he did get a nice, long grooming session. He is shedding like there's no tomorrow. It's ridiculous! I probably took off a small waste basket full of hair today. Gringo's always been an early shedder ... so that's nothing new. I just don't want to bring all of his hair home with me, especially considering that he's got grey hair and the interior of my car is black. Uggh.
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