May recap, June goals
NATRC ride: done! Relatively successful on all counts.
Additional 15-mile day: check, two long days in a row even!
Canter work: check! Not as much as I’d hoped, but we’re working on it.
I’m finding that my canter seat is better in the dressage saddle and tall boots, so last Thursday we did that and worked on cantering where we could. It’s not clear to me what exactly the differences are; I think I ride more ‘properly’ in tall boots since that was drilled in to me for so long. My theory right now is that I should aim to do one ride weekly in dressage gear to work on my canter issues, with the hopes that it will eventually transfer to endurance tack.
Total May mileage: 117.6. For all that it felt like a lazy, not-doing-anything month.. we still managed to get some solid rides in there.
We’re still settling in at around 25 miles weekly. It works for us – we did *7* miles the week after Mt Diablo, and some weeks are closer to 30. I’d love to back off her physical workload. I know that theoretically I’m probably overtraining. Unfortunately, if I do that.. and I did in December.. I have a very amped-up horse who gets obnoxious, spooky, and naughty.
(The first week of December, we did one ride of 7 miles. The second week, we did two rides totalling 8 miles. The third week she bucked me off.)
June goals:
– weekly canter work in dressage tack
– get out to Wilder once, if doable in the first two weeks (18-22 miles)
– one speed work weekly (possibly in dressage tack?)
– downhill trotting through some of the Fireworks trail
Hey, if your horse is thriving on the mileage, it's not too much! And it doesn't sound like she's got any symptoms of being worn down – no mystery illnesses, no puffy legs, good attitude, and she looks great!
Just found your blog and was wondering: when you say that your canter is better in dressage boots, what do you ride in normally? When I met my current trainer, she told me to switch from rubber boots to Blundstones and half chaps as it would help my heel position. Now that I have been riding almost three years, I am starting to think about buying leather boots, so if that could potentially improve my riding, all the better. 😉
Hiking shoes – sort of a hiking boot/tennis shoe cross that ends up leaning more towards tennis shoes. I'll probably go back to Ariat Terrains when I wear these out by the end of the year. I *just* realized, though: I don't ride in the dressage saddle in those shoes since they're lacking a defined heel. My endurance saddle has stirrups with a wider footbed. Perhaps my heel doesn't go down quite as well in those?
I started in paddock boots and half chaps, then switched to leather tall boots, and when I went full-time trail rider switched back to short boots/shoes & half chaps. Originally I was a hunter/jumper rider, so tall boots were standard! Perhaps because of how I broke them in years and years ago, and the muscle memory that goes along with them, my heels seem to just 'drop' in the tall boots in a way that they don't in other shoes.
Next scientific experiment: tall boots in endurance saddle!
Would definitely recommend leather tall boots, I'm pretty fond of mine 🙂