More loping

Friday night we decided to try for an evening ride. We tacked up and headed out. At the end of the work week, there is nothing better than a nice quiet ride. We worked on a little speed control and riding side-by-side. But mostly we just took it easy. The ride back under the almost-full moon was quite nice.

Refreshed by Friday night's ride we were ready to get after it on Saturday. We trotted out to our regular spot and then tried a long lope. Jessie is getting much better. She is much easier to control at the lope and she is getting much more coordinated (or, maybe it's me). We found a wide spot and I had Ranae critique me as we rode circles, then came through the middle, and tried for a lead change. You really have to turn off a lot of brain switches when you ask your spouse for help. I try to take what she says without comment. Her main point was I was moving my upper body too much when trying to prevent Jess from breaking into a trot. I asked her to give me a short cue when she saw me doing it so I could hear her and work on it. We worked a little more but it didn't really click.

On the way back we did the tumbleweed game. There are these big tumbleweeds and one at a time we had to ride through them in a weaving pattern using only leg pressure. I was fun and both horses did pretty well.

Sunday we went for a bit longer ride and we tried loping side-by-side. Both horses got pretty speedy. We worked on it for a while then just rode for a while. We found a different big field and did some independent loping exercises. Ranae was doing pretty well with Dusty. Jessie was kinda all over the place and had her heart set on heading for home every time I dropped the reins. We loped for a good 10 minutes, I'd say, and with the heat she was working up a good sweat. Ranae and I got together while the horses got their air back and discussed our experience and then we did another short lope which we both thought was improved over the first.

On the way back, we found one big circle some other horses had used, so we tried to lope their circle. Jessie was breaking down on the far side of the circle and I heard Ranae give the cue that I was moving my upper body. "Hmmm", I thought, "I didn't feel it". The next time around it was like a spotlight came on. As Jessie tried to break down I could feel my whole upper body doing the wave as I urged her forward. I was able to catch myself before I got the "cue" again and the lope felt really good.