Dare and Mandros July 21st

I rode Mandros at about 12 today. It was hot but there was a breeze. I only rode him about 30 mins because of the heat. I tried to get out to the barn early, but I had a migraine this morning.

The trot work was good and we got to work on the sitting trot for a few minutes. I think its going pretty well. Hopefully I can get a lesson soon so I can get some feedback. He did well in the canter to the right, although he did break once. To the left was pretty bad, he broke 4 times. He isnt acting like he is hurting at all and he is doing really well when we stretch his leg. I think Im just babying him. This is another reason I need to have a lesson soon. I need to know when to push him. I give him ALOT of walk breaks. Most of the 30 mins we work is walking, at least half the time or more. I would have pushed him today, but like I said, it was really hot. I gotta get my butt out to the barn earlier!

Once we did the canter work, I asked him to collect up into a very collected sitting trot. We did several circles of that and he did really well. Im still having some trouble with the half pass at the trot. I can sometimes get it to the right, he tries to rush throught it, but I can never get it to the left. Laterals are easier for me to do while sitting the trot, and I dont get alot of time to practice collected work/sitting trot. I think my goal is going to be to get to the barn earlier and miss the heat. Also, to push him a little more. Now that I think of it, we arent doing that much work.

The video is from Saturday. Oh, and his trot is insanely hard to sit. Ask Kate, she knows! Enjoy the video!