Sightseeing

yes, this is real life.

I'm trying to get over feeling guilty for not "working" every time I sit on my pony.

When it comes to riding, I can be a little bit of an over-achiever. I like to work. I like to work HARD. And I'm a bit of a perfectionist. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it WELL. While I'm not super-competitive when it comes to showing, I'm very serious about my training and I want to be the very best I can be as a rider and trainer.

So that leads to me over-schooling my pony and often crossing the line between well-balanced practice and drilling.

Especially for Dino, who is loathe to participate in dressage to begin with and vastly prefers the trail riding and the jumping, he can easily get fed up with my desire to do hard flatwork schooling sessions every day. It's important for him, and for me, to make time for more low-key rides.

So yesterday after a stressful day at work, I dressed homeboy up in his western cowpony outfit and set out for a walk around the farm. I told myself that I was NOT going to give in to the temptation to do "real work" and we were just going to spend time together walking the hills and exploring the property.

I wish I had grabbed my phone to take some pictures because it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I so enjoyed our ride, just walking along and taking in the gorgeous day. We trotted for like... five seconds along a fenceline, but that was the extent of our "work", and letting Dino just do his thing and relax without my constant demands made it a lovely forward, stretching trot up a little slope.

We had a wonderful time on our ride, and I hope that the more I'm able to spend days just walking, trail riding, and doing fitness work the happier Dino will be to oblige my desire to work hard in the ring.