Calling Collect

Just a glimpse.

Shootim

A piano tuning cancellation and a bit of reshuffling of the schedule by Kirsten and we had a day off. Yay!  At 6:00 a.m. it was too windy to row, so we had a nice sleep in.  After a nice session at the piano we took a trip to the barn.  

Shootim was playful when turned out.  He jumped around like a baby goat. I joined him with lead rope and whip and went through his ground work.  We both gave it less than our best, not great but ok.  We have to improve at the sidepass.  After some successes, I took him back in to saddle up.

We worked under saddle in the round pen with better results than the ground work.  Today we used a shank snaffle.  Trainer Jack was there and encouraged me to gather him up and attempt some collection at the canter.  At our last session, Trainer Susan had recommended starting the same thing.  I would keep a leg on him, urging him forward while holding his front end back.  It was really cool to feel his back round under me and his back end reach under.  It was my first time asking, so I didn't ask for long.  Once he had done it both ways, I backed him and got off.  Besides, my thighs were cramping up.

Mountain Biking

Today's MTB map.

We got the bikes ready and travelled to Swedetown trails in Calumet.  Trails were very good, mostly dry and mostly cleared of leaves.  There was one confusing bit where the ski trails are being modified.  We worked our way around it.