November 1st - 9:22pm

Staying up a bit talking to friends and getting eaten alive by a mosquito. Probably going to regret this in the morning but oh well. The ring was dry enough to go back to full work so thats where we were today. I was on Rodrigo duty today so spent most of the morning longing. All of them were very good though so its not too much trouble working with them now though. Some of them I actually enjoy.
After it was two jumping lessons. One on Boss and one on Herodes. We worked on correcting an unwanted drift on Boss. Im not sure how much I was actually able to get accomplished but the ride did bring about a conversation with Martin that had some good points (as usual). As a rider, learning the feel of what is going on with the horse and understanding what needs to occur. Creating the correct action/reaction with a horse which in turn creates a horse that will carry itself independently. Which then allows the rider to control their steps in the most subtle of ways. And that subtle control is what turns out the best rounds. The winning Maclay round, the winning USHJA derby handy round and the rounds that go into an Olympic gold. Herodes was more of the same. Feeling out the horse, creating the actions/reactions you want then riding that out in a successful course. With Herodes we also worked on my position. Apparently Ive started riding somewhat back/defensively with my body to the fences then scrambling a bit at the fence to get to the middle then ending up ahead (old habit). Once he pointed it out it took a few tries but I got it corrected a bit. Lighter infront of the fence, staying in the middle and not collapsing on their withers/neck after. The feel was definitely a bit strange on the landing side but every change, good or bad, feels weird at first.
Im sure there was more to both those lessons and other important stuff Martin said that I just cant think of at the moment. But Im way tired snd weve got an early morning tomorrow!