This weekend had frustrating moments and glorious aha moments. On Saturday I had a lesson with ET that was so frustrating I wanted to cry. I have mentioned it before but for some reason in lessons and at shows we cannot pickup the right lead to save our lives. At home that is still the weaker lead but I rarely miss a transition. That makes it even more nerve wracking when we miss 8/10 transitions in our lessons lately. 
We wrapped up Saturdays lesson with a good transition but it left me a little down because it feels like when I get them it is more luck than accuracy. ET and I decided it would be a good move to have a lesson on Sunday as well in order to build on the previous days work. HALLELUJAH people we finally nailed down the issue. Because I wasn’t doing anything significant with my body that could be pinpointed it was very difficult for ET to instruct me on what to change.
Baby horses love baths… (not)
Then he suggested sitting deeper in my inside seat bone, lengthening my inside leg – keeping it at the girth but not blocking, and lightly pushing into the canter with my left leg and what do you know we got the transition every time.
I also think that it helped that I decided to ride in my dressage saddle again. I had been riding Annie exclusively in my jump saddle because originally the dressage saddle was tipping me on her but now that she has evened out some the dressage saddle allows me to use my body much more effectively on the flat. I guess we will see if this trend of good transitions continues to this coming weekends lessons. For the first time in weeks I feel like we are finally making good progress on the flat. Such is the life of green horses!
On a totally unrelated note as I finally invested in a truck tent for horse show camping (thanks Amanda) and because I anticipate being alone 90% of the time I wanted to find a way to have a bed on one side and room for changing on the other… I got sucked into this rabbit hole and somehow ended up buying this stupid blue thing and now I am out $ and still need to find something to sleep on because it is literally a hole that you fall into and it doesn’t stay inflated…
Any campers have cot or air mattress recommendations?
Hehe at least you got it to inflate. My friend bought the same thing and we were both in the back yard spinning around and around trying to make it work, never did.
That’s totally a giant smurf vag.
ROTFL!
Yeah now I can never sleep on it…
So cool you figured out the transition issues! That’s a great breakthrough. Sometimes green baby horses are like a leaky boat, you fix one thing and they find a new thing to puzzle you with! Glad you have a trainer that you trust to work through things with. I’ve seen that inflatable banana thing and wondered about, I’ll save my $$ now! I love a good ol’ aerobed. They’re comfy and reliable in my experience. Would a twin fit in your truck bed tho? This thing looks cool too…
https://www.amazon.com/FoldNGo-Single-Memory-Mattress-27-Inch/dp/B00J22373O
I think since the truck tent is with my bed down maybe? They make a truck bed mattress so I am going to use those measurements.
If your truck is big enough, I highly recommend getting a real mattress. We got a cheap one from IKEA and it’s so, so much better than sleeping on an inflatable. However, our camper top is on 100% of the time, so we don’t have to do set up/ move it.
Check out Journey to 100 Miles post on her truck camping set up: http://fit2continue.blogspot.com/2015/04/foxcatcher-25-what-worked-and-what-didnt.html She uses this: https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Products-Jamboree-Military-Folding/dp/B005GHMT06
Because I have a GN I can’t have a camper top so a full mattress isn’t really feasible. I just ordered a cot/ mattress combo so we will see how that works this coming trip. Fingers crossed it is semi comfortable.
Blegh I am not a fan of camping, but kudos to you!
I camp a lot and the best cot I’ve found is the Alps Mountaineering Escalade. Currently available on Sierra trading post for $65ish. Fold a comforter for a pad and you are all set or I bought a queen memory foam topper and cut it in half, which is exactly cot size.