Interval Training and Upcoming crazy days..

I got home early enough from work last night and decided it was too nice out not to ride. It would be an arena work night. Maggie always starts out a little on the hot side but after a few minutes of circles, figure eights, and other loosening up excercises at the walk and trot, she will USUALLY settle in. Not last night. She just got hotter and more amped up the more we worked.  We spent alot of time just walking , bending, working on hind end releases and few trot rails . I tried to mix it up to keep her thinking about anything other than wanting to go go go... We worked for over an hour and Maggie was winded but not acting the least bit tired. We walked out of the arena to go work in another section of the pasture in order stay out of the way of flying arrows. (Tom was training) We worked in a big circle at a trot . Eventually she settled into a nice soft (for her) trot. I worked on a lot of up/down transitions while on a serpentine . At one point, Maggie popped into a canter when I accidently added too much leg (she is hyper sensitive to leg pressure) and it was such a nice up transition  I let her continue. I kept her in a large circle and she cantered and cantered, and cantered. At first things started out a little speedier than I would have preferred but it was controllable.  I just directed her to keep her on the circle  and didn't worry too much about the speed as long as she didn't try to turn and burn... which she can do quite well. Cantering is a funny thing. The only way a horse learns not to hurry and scurrry in a canter is to let them hurry and scurry and begin offering occasionally with your seat and legs to come back to a slower speed. I offered  4 times before  Maggie decided that maybe this wasn't so much fun after all. She finally dropped her speed to a canter that was much more enjoyable to ride. Another half halt, and finally a break into a trot... It took a while but we eventually got there. The hardest thing with riding her is that she has no withers.When she is tense , cantering on a circle, she is anything but soft and collected yet , so she tends to push through her outside shoulder. This causes the saddle to want to also go that direction. Its a challenge to try to stay balanced in this situation, keep your outside leg on her  but not so much that I am causing the saddle to shift more. The best thing to do is to focus on staying relaxed, breathe and keep my weight slightly more on the inside seat bone. It's not easy when your flying around at a gallop in this state! I am sure my riding position was anything but pretty !  We went the other direction and Maggie started out fast again but came off her speed much more quickly. Thank God. I wasn't sure I had another round like the first in me! It was an extremely tiring ride.

 Last  night's work out was what I will consider an interval training session. I need to get more disciplined and start checking her recovery rates. Next time that will be the plan.

As for the rest of this week,  it is going to be brutal at the office. Probably won't get another ride in until Friday night if I am lucky.

This is also big weekend coming up, with lots of activities going on. Saturday is mileage day for Maggie so we will probably go back and do another 10 mile ride.

Sunday, Grace will head to her new home.

and last but not least..

 Sunday is the 5K I have been training for. Yep, gonna do it.  Pray I make it through!