For this Monday, I wanted to continue working on transitions as well as shortening and lengthening, though the end result was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of keeping to the plan. I clearly need a lot more practice when it comes to planning my own riding.
The good news, however, were that some stretches I’ve been doing seem to have worked to make mounting up a bit less uncomfortable. Still feeling a bit stiff, but I’ll keep at those and see it it keeps improving. I can tell my seat isn’t great without being reminded of using my stomach properly with some regularity, so that’s another one to keep in mind.
As for Barka, I am quite pleased with her at a trot. It is definitely her best gait and she gets quite supple after a bit of work. I rode with spurs today and she was quite a bit more “electric”, almost enough to make me tense up a bit, but she behaved. The canter came more easily that way, though getting it right every time is still a work in progress. Once she’s a bit stronger, I’ll need to do a session focused on canter transitions, but right now it would frustrate her pretty quickly.