Well, as it turns out, I've found a new favorite saddle soap, thanks to my adventures in saddle cleaning last week.  So if you have tack to clean, I recommend using "Higher Standards", and no, I'm not getting paid to say that!

Anyways, it's been a long week.  It only ever seems that way in retrospect.  In it's midst, there never seem to be enough hours in the day.  Wednesday found me questioning myself, and Saturday found back with the same horse and feeling on top of the world.  Lola and I worked on those flying changes every day for a week, with much success might i add, and then shifted our focus the past three rides to correcting flaws in our sliding stops.  Which left me feeling a little frustrated on Thursday.  Thankfully, I had a friend around to tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself, which apparently I needed to hear from someone other than me.  I kept on trucking and finished a late night at the barn that saw all horses worked and each ride ended on a good note.  Come Saturday, Lola and I went back to working on stops, but this time we had the whole arena to ourselves so I opted to weigh our ride more heavily on just running straight.  So we fenced.  And we fenced.  And we fenced.  And I took note of how much better she is these days than the first couple of times we fenced.  She waited for her cues to lope, didn't get ahead of me as much as before, and while after the first time we actually stopped she did get a little excited, she came back to my hands much more easily than in the past.   The first stop was a really good stop.  I mean, really good.  She was straight, and responsive, and really got in the ground and stayed smooth up front.  The next couple of times she was a little excited about it.  She jabbed the ground, skipping like a stone in back.  So we went back to fencing.  I could feel her thinking about stopping, so I just kept her going.  And after a few times, she stopped anticipating.  And when she stopped anticipating, and ran straight, I asked her again.  And there it was, one of her best stops yet.  In my excitement, I hollered at a gal across the arena to bring her phone over and take a picture, because mine always finds itself on the charger in moments like this.  Oh, and I measured our slide.  7'8".  not at top speed.  and clean--no skipping. 

The point?  Just keep showing up.  Keep putting in the work.  There will be days where you feel like everything you think you know is wrong.  But.... then there will be rides that will make you feel on top of the world.  Cheers to everyone that is out there putting in the work.  Everyone that keeps saddling up.  May we all ride great horses.