Ronin- Riding in the dark

I don't always blog about every ride...but I feel the need to share our most recent ride with you.

I have been going to the barn later in the day lately....and yesterday I decided to go at dusk. I took my usual 30-45 minutes to groom and tack up (I am a grooming perfectionistic, a horse-personal-hygiene maniac!! lol) and we proceeded to the arena. 
As far as lighting goes, our arena has two choices. We have  two rows of flourescent lights OR there is one single caged bulb on one longside that dimly lights the arena. Last night...just for the fun of it I chose the latter. :O)
It turns out that Ronin and I really like walking in the dark!! He did not spook at anything with the lights off....although when he sees his shadow he does think it is another horse. (....one of the many reasons to love horses). We walked in the dark for about twenty minutes (until it was too dark) and then turned the lights on and went about our ride. Escipion has really been challenging me lately by making me learn to be effective in a invisible way. My typical style of riding involves a lot of transitions and shapes....I am constantly playing with my horses body and mind in order to be effective. There is nothing wrong with being effective by using transitions and shapes, but it is only part of the puzzle. We have been working on being effective by using my bodies position, my seat, and my own balance on top of the horse to make things happen. I am still riding and using circles, transitions, leg yields....but I am spending much more time staying in one particular gait and influencing it with subtle changes in my body (like I said above).
Anyways...Ronin is developing a much better trot as a result of this work. He has a tendency (like most horses and definitly in TB's) to fall onto his forehand and rush, taking short flat strides...my goal is to ssssslllloooowwww his trot without interfering with his natural movement (that is that hard part!) and thus create an opportunity for him to get a better balance. Not only that but common sense says: a long slow stride with a longer range of motion builds stronger leaner muscles than short quick strides. Just like if your at the gym it is better for your muscles to lift weights or use the machines slowly. Another problem that is easy to run into when slowing a horses stride is lack of  "action" or engagement.
We did our trot work took a break (we took lots of breaks....:O)) then moved into some canter work. Our main focus in the canter now is to maintain a balanced canter with a clear moment of suspension (A definite three beats). Ronin has a little bit of a tendency to lose him rum-pum-pum in the canter to the right and tends to break to trot if he gets unbalanced....so my goal right now is to get a nice calm crisp transition into canter, maintain a few canter strides and ask for the trot BEFORE he even thinks about trotting. :O)
We had a wonderful ride yesterday and hopefully have many to come....