Am I the only one who does this?  If we have a blowout at one part of the ring (ring.. hah.  pasture), then I associate bad things with that area and I tense up.  It's not just here, at the current barn.  The far side of the ring in Augusta was also plagued with demons.

The main spot in the pasture is tracking right and going by the outside of the lone jump.  But.. he's exploded there so many times, I'm sort of numb to it now.

When I rode yesterday, it was disgustingly hot.  We did a relatively short and easy ride before I reaffirmed to myself that I needed to go to the meadow before it became some huge issue in my head.  I'd carried the dressage whip with me because we needed to talk about some forward issues and because I wanted to use it to help train my thumbs and wrists and elbows et al.

(Side note:  holy shit.  I'm sure it's a no-brainer to anyone else, but I never conceptualized that putting my thumbs up would then turn my wrists and bring my elbows closer to my body.  It was a giant dur-hur-hur moment.)

I felt myself get a little antsy going down the road and, instead of doing yoga breaths, I pushed him into a trot.  All was well until the very end, when he tried to bolt and I slammed the brakes down.  I think the chiro needs to come back out.  But, yeah, overall:  successful ride to follow the craziness of Monday.