Monday was a well-deserved rest day for all of us. We aren't allowed to ride the horses Monday here in the show grounds (I think it has to do with there being no Steward on the grounds that day), so I handwalked the boys in the morning and evening. Lana and I spent most of the afternoon asleep in our hotel room as we were pretty wiped out from the past week or so.
Today we were back to work. I rode Victor lightly in the morning, and worked a little on the changes (since he seems to have forgotten how to do them this past weekend LOL). They got better but not as secure as I would like.
I had a lesson with Leslie on Bolero which was very good for both of us. He was actually very good, but I'm always way too cautious about pushing him and really making him work and use his body. Leslie wasn't going to have any of that tentative riding, and it was good to learn to really push on him and not worry about what might happen. He responded quite well although he felt tense and was a little spooky throughout the ride. However he's going to have to learn to deal with it if he wants to be an FEI horse (or if I do LOL).
I was fortunate enough to get into the CDI with Victor this weekend, which made me happy! The jog is tomorrow and the GP is on Thursday. My goal is to try and ride a little cleaner this weekend (clean up some of those little mistakes in the extended trot, improve on my extended walk, improve on the piaffe, and make the pirouettes slightly smaller). I don't want to do too much differently than I did last weekend, I think mostly the connection and activity are the biggest things that need work. If he's too high or too stiff in the neck then that seems to be the crux of many of our issues. Also it's supposed to be pretty hot, and the GP is in the afternoon, which may also cause us some problems.
Weeeeeeee great news on GP, best of luck. I hope all goes well with both boys and that you have fun!
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