Singing in the Rain

Today it POURED rain at the barn, glory be! At about nine in the morning, however, the rain hadn't started but the sky was overcast and a brisk breeze was blowing from the west. We actually got to ride outdoors today on the the dressage court in 80-something degree weather! It felt like Christmas-- it really did.

In the 20m x 60m space we schooled lots of canter-- simple trans's, counter canter, ten meter circles, trans's through trot. I focused on keeping Delphi's neck lower with her frame rounder over her back. She is definitely learning to maintain it better in canter but I could keep her even that little bit more round/deep/low especially in the medium canter and counter canter.

She is getting more consistent but I need to keep developing the tendency for Delphi to lower and relax her neck when I give toward her withers. She must be as elastic and through in the collected and the extended gaits as she is in the working gaits.

Working on canter in the outdoor arena:

Monkey on My Back

My ride times for Delphi's last show were prior to 7am, which meant in order to have time to feed, clean her stall, lunge, and warm up we had to leave the hotel long before the continental breakfast was served, and the in-room coffee service had everything to make coffee but no actual coffee. Never mind, I thought, I'll just grab a cup at the show concession stand.

Which wasn't open at the hour we got there and by the time it did I was already mounted. So here I am at 5:30 in the morning sucking down a cold, nasty diet coke just for the sake of the caffeine. I looked it up later: a typical cup of coffee has about 200mg of caffeine while a soda has about 80mg. It was enough to keep a headache at bay but only just.

There I was in the 100+ degree heat having to slurp down a coke zero every couple of hours just to stay functional. Ridiculous! I have vowed to kick my caffeine habit so this week I've cut back to a single diet soda per day, and then only when the headache, nausea, and irritability are no longer to be borne.

I want to be free to focus my best effort in all situations, and being caught off guard in an unfamiliar environment really drove home my dependency on caffeine. I'm trying my best to get the monkey off my back.

Braiding with caffeine withdrawal shakes is NOT my idea of efficiency at a show: