November show.....sounded like a good idea when it was 78

Lots of fairly insignificant and slightly significant things have happened since Octoberfest but I've been too lazy to write about them, so here's it in a nutshell. 

I decided to sign up for one more horseshow before winter weather really sets in.  I've realized that I'm a reactive rider and not a proactive rider and while I was able to recognize this at Octoberfest I was slow to react.  I'd like to go into the November show with that in mind and see if I can improve my rounds. 

November show you say?  Well it sounded like a good idea when it was 78 and I was clipping 3 inches of yak hair off of Annie.  And touching it up.  And reclipping it.  And telling myself that next year I'm just going to pay someone to do it. 

Last week I had a good lesson working on gymnastics, the gymnastic was set in the middle of the arena so I could turn into it from either direction.  I found that the easiest way was off the right, which was unusual since she's much more difficult to bend to the right.  To the left I had issues with her bulging her shoulder out and running out.  I think this is because she's more bendy to the left so she can be overly bendy when she wants to be, so it's something I need to keep in mind when I'm doing flatwork. 

This week the weather has been slightly ridiculous.  I elected not to ride on Monday due to a high wind warning and tree branches on the arena roof.  It gets pretty spooky and I just wasn't feeling it. 

Tuesday the wind was better but we were feeling the edges of hurricane Sandy so it was raining nonstop.  I've found that Annie doesn't do well being cooped up all day, add rain and wind and was a beast.  I ended up lunging her for 10 minutes until she snorted slightly less then had a tense and spooky ride.  Wednesday I figured she'd be fine but the herd came in with their tails on fire and Annie was once again a beast. 

That November show seemed less and less like a good idea.

Today she was much better, lazy even.  I did lots of cantering to make up for the lack of cantering all week and really worked hard on keeping the connection with my inside rein by TAKING the connection while bringing my elbow back.  For the first time Annie experimented with keeping her head down in the transition and not trying to pretzel her body into all sorts of shapes to avoid doing it.  Yeah Progress!!!!!  November show looking like a slightly less bad idea.