Stop thinking, start riding

I learned one thing tonight, not to overanalyze while riding. I guess I have to let go of being afraid of staying on this plateau forever, and keep training and riding and trusting that we are improving and I’m being more consistent about schooling. Now I have to rethink undo how I approach lessons, stop analyzing, just ride and feel, even if I don’t understand, save it for later and just do whatever the exercise is, apply the aid, and try to work it out when schooling on my own. Which I’ve started to.

So, shut yap, listen and feel. No more excuses, like I get to this point and stagnate, I zone out when I ride, etc., etc. We are at a point where I do think we have made a lot of progress and we are improving, and when I think back to last winter and the winter before, I’ve gained back a lot of confidence and picked up some more feel—contact, how and when to use the aids and how much, etc. I know it sounds pretty nebulous, but it’s hard to quantify feel and even harder to describe it to non-riders, even non-dressage riders. I boarded at a small facility that bred Appys and taught western, and I remember one of the students watching me school and wanting to know why the reins weren’t loose.

Bleh. High-falutin’ hoohah. But, it’s what I do.