Search for the mystical

As I rode Violet on Saturday after judging all day, Marcy came up and asked how she was.  I said she was pretty good.  As I walked away from that, I thought about how training works.

Judging spot, my photo

I had the same ride two weeks prior, after judging, and was gushing about how perfect the pony is and how surprised I was.  This time, the response was "she's pretty good".

I can remember a time, not that long ago, when I would have been beaming with that "pretty good" ride.  So what changed, if it wasn't the ride?

RH Winter III day 1 - photo from Rocking Horse FB page

Marcy has been saying to me for years now that I can no longer expect "just good" to be good enough. When I have these fantastic rides, that is Violet's way of showing me that she CAN give me those rides, and I need to expect them.  I'm guessing this is what is happening now.  Now that I know she can do it, I expect it and nothing less.  The spectacular is now normal and we are continuously looking for a new spectacular.

This is pretty difficult to do when you ride once a week, but we're working on it.

Start of Day 2 - photo from Rocking Horse FB page

So we had that "pretty good" ride in the field where she stayed engaged and pushing, did some turns on the haunches, did some leg yielding and bending, worked on forward and back at the canter, all out in the field behind the barn.  It was really nice.  And after that, we hacked through the exhibitors area, through the ship in field with all it's activity and then trotted around the jumping ring, where they were finishing up the day's competition.  And she was everything I always hoped she could be.

Last day of Winter III - photo from Rocking Horse FB page

And maybe THAT should be our new spectacular!