Almost as good as ... (you know what)

I had a really amazing ride today. This quite surprised me because I spend all last evening throwing up due to a huge 'pissing contest' at work. (There is a reason why there are so few female executives in the automotive industry!), I can't let the guard down at work so I'll bring it home and then there goes my stomach... And I am still very upset that our sweet cat Tom died of suspected poisoning the day before. In addition, Saumur scratched his cornea and needs antibiotic ointment in his eye. What else? Oh yeah, Chambord's new saddle doesn't fit and I'm the one having to deal with the seller. With all that 'bagagge' I was wondering if I could keep it together in my lesson.

The beauty of dressage is that it takes all my concentration. I have to focus so hard on what's going on that all other worries take a back seat. Sandy had me warm up Saumur in the canter, with a focus on an even tempo, going all around the arena, paying attention to going deep in the corners. My focus lately has been on keeping my center of gravity low, and my stomach and thigh muscles relaxed. I'm a rather tense person to begin with (yes, JP, here you have it in writing) and back in the days when German riding instructors were military inspired  they yelled for straight and straighter. That can backfire (at least for me) because in all the effort to be 'straight' the muscles tense.

After really good canter work we moved into shoulder in at the trot, half-pass right from D to B, 10m circle at B, and then half-pass left to G. Same on the other side. It felt really effortless. To loosen it up Sandy asked us for medium trot from K to M, collected at M and also medium from H to F. She wanted me to get the medium feel in the collected trot, and it really helped me to think 'passage'.

So why did I title this post "Almost as good as... (you know what)"? It's because our medium trot, especially the one from K to M, felt absolutely incredible. It was harmony, pure and simple. We were floating, and we really moved as one. Do I need to get more specific than that??