Finesse - oh boy!

It was quite hot today, so I went to the stables in flip-flops. I was meant to get changed into riding boots later and ride finesse in the saddle. But silly me, I forgot to take my socks with me. So I rode bareback.

We haven't done finesse in a while. Maybe that's why todays ride was filled with "Oh boy's!" Juliano was very energetic today so at first we had problems relaxing and slowing down. We have to work on straightness, that's for sure. Juliano wanted to do small circles today and the chiropractor we saw on Monday told us to ride straight for a while. That's what made Juliano brace a bit and speed up even more. Another oh boy was when I picked up the reins. He was much more comfortable with traveling with his head down. So we mixed both, I asked for a bit of contact on a straight, when he settled in it he got to travel with his head low again and do a small circle.





The thing about riding finesse bareback on J is my balance. When he gets tense and rushy I loose my balance for few seconds and this makes him rush even faster. This is not a problem when we do freestyle, cause than we stay more in sync. It took us while to overcome this today. By the end of the ride I worked out a way to stay relaxed. I figured that if I pull my toes down, instead of heal down my seat is much more relaxed. This was even easier to do with no boots on :) so maybe it was a good thing I forgot my socks!