What a Workout!

Today Rusty and I had our first lesson with Marie in several months! I feel it's important to take lessons when I can because bad riding habits can crop up without an instructor watching me and catching them. I'd like to take lessons more often, but finances are tight.

Today Rusty and I worked on "The Maze". The Maze is a triangle of jumping poles or PVC pipes surrounded by six poles set at angles to bracket the triangle. This is hard to describe without being able to draw it. I'll try to post a pic of The Maze so you can see what it's like.

Anyway, starting at the trot, you enter the inner circle around the triangle at one of the gaps in the outer brackets. You can go in and out of the gaps and around the triangle in many different patterns. You can change directions, too. This exercise really helps the horse work his hindquarters and be better balanced. There can be no speed demons here! The turns are tight and can be tricky!

After we trotted the maze, we cantered it! We didn't change direction mid-maze, but I was able to canter around the center triangle full circle and then exit through the gap! It was quite a workout for both of us! I'm looking forward to working on The Maze more with Rusty. Wow!