Saddle Sore

I had a lovely long relaxing weekend, we'd Monday off work here.
I lunged Kika over poles on Friday, in the pessoa on Saturday and was brave on Sunday and Monday and got two lessons after lungeing herself for 10-15mins to make sure no kinks.
I've the masseuse/homeopath/accupuncturer(ist?) booked to come on Friday as my Guru reckons ovary issues may be stopping Kika engaging from behind and I think she looks off a bit behind when luneging - not so much that she gets more time off, but sticky/stiff when getting going so best to get checked - she did try to do the splits a week or two ago when loose schooling so may have twisted/jarred herself a bit typically 4 days after the osteo saw her
I also think I have to get my saddle checked again, L had me stick to rising trot and cantering off her back for fear of doing damage to her back ...it has been well documented what happens when Kika has back issues

The 2 lessons went well, nothing extravagant as neither one of us had done much in the way of ridden work in last 4 weeks or so. I had only spent 10mins in the saddle in that amount of time and while worked on the lunge Kika had an easy enough few weeks also betwen osteo and vaccines rewarding her with 2 days off each time she has had a placid stress free time of it.
We worked mostly in trot on circles, serpentines with small circles (volts) each time we met the track, lots of rein chagening and more canter work "en suspension" on Monday then Sunday. To say that my legs have been sore since is a bit of an understatement

My heels continue to be a bug-bear of mine, so still trying to work on keeping them down...i do however know that my problem on that front is two-fold. (1) i have honed the bad habit of using my heels rather than calves to get her to move and (2) if in doubt i grip with my knees = heels popping up.
My other tid-bit to pay more attention to are my reins, apparently i don't keep them taught. Each time my attention was brough to this fact on monday the reaction from Kika was instantaneous - i am sure that the lax reins jangling the bit in her mouth lead her to be frustrated so now that my attention has been brought to this i have another issue to try and remember when riding.
Gosh list is ever lengthening, heels, hands, reins, crooked position, looking down... C's 8 steps to "problem solving" mentioned in previous post is an ever increasing and never ending cycle for me - list of problems is growing and correction of abovementioned issues is slow!


We (Kika & I) have also been working on the lunge to get her to lengthen her stride in trot. The Guru says she strides well in walk and has a good ground covering stride in canter yet when she trots she gets herself all choppy and speedy as opposed to long and smooth.
However The Guru was well happy to report that that lesson is hitting home under saddle as well - so long as i don't harry her and push her out of her stride.
So more for me to pay attention to, as i said an ever-increasing list of issues to keep in mind when riding 
So I am sticking to only riding supervised for the moment as I am a hazard to my own mental health when left to my own devices!

I managed to get to the barn at lunch time today, Wednesday evenings can be dodgy to find a quiet arena to work in as wednesday is jumping day at the yard. An external instructor comes in and an arena is set aside for them with a course ready all day - so space is "limited" (I use inverted commas as there are still two indoors and an outdoor, not to mention the walker and lungeing arena...so sapce isn't exactly non-existant and I am not bemoaninf the facilities - i know full well how spoiled I am!
But with an easily distracted horse...not always ideal,

So I worked her in the pessoa at lunch time today - and she was a superstar, she really does enjoy working - I think my biggest problem when I am riding is consistency as evidenced from my issue list above consistency is something i struggle with in my contact and position all which contributes to my horse being fussy - can't say i blame her really!
She is just too inteligent for my good!

Weather was glorious here today, not exactly sunbathing weather as come on it's still winter! But with blue skies and the geese flying in their V overhead as i brought K and O out to their field for the afternoon I was hard pushed to make my way back to the office for the afternoon!
*swoon*
Weather was just so nice i wanted to spend the day pootling!