It was a lovely ride!

The DOR was out for the first ride in a long time Sunday evening. She came out with my junior support crew member Dakota. It was a really good time and made us both tired. She gets a bit winded, that is what happens when you sit around doing nothing strenuous for too long. I got tired because she had me working at a trot (well really a nice slow jog) for about 20 minutes. I know I threatened to use a jackhammer trot if she was going to make me work on being collected...but I just couldn't do it to her, she was so excited to be riding and I didn't want to ruin it. Maybe the next time. I have been sitting around doing nothing for a bit too. She worked with different arena riding patterns so I wouldn't get bored. She was using "101 ARENA EXERCISES A RINGSIDE GUIDE FOR HORSE AND RIDER by Cherry Hill " Dakota would call out an exercise and we would do it...I think he was looking for the ones with the most turns.
I was working on my collected trot. As you may recall the DOR thinks that I don't use my hind end enough, which in turn makes my back lazy. She wants me to tuck myself up and under, which will also keep my back strong. Well the same goes for her, she needs to work on sitting and standing straighter. So we are both working on our form.

Don't tell the DOR is put this picture up, she worries about things like this. Dakota did the picture taking and requested that I make sure this one is posted. What I want to know is does my butt look big in this photo? I have talked to Dakota about taking pictures of my butt, he can take all he wants of the DORs, but after the vet said I was looking a bit plump I am a bit sensitive about my butt.

Here I am checking in with the DOR, I wanted to make sure she was still doing fine. I didn't want to overwork her. Every time we got by the mounting block I stopped...just in case she needed to get off. I even used my nose to push it into just the right spot for her, but she wanted to keep on playing. We had a 45 minute ride, probably longer than either one of us needed until we are in better shape.

Because Dakota asked so nicely I ended the evening with a little barrel jump for him.
I had a super good time and it was nice to have the DOR back riding. She was giggling and humming almost the entire time. According to Dakota she also had a giant grin on her face.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR