The New and Improved Liberty

Today I went riding with a couple friends, Teresa and Karen.  We went to Benbrook Lake and rode the south trail.  We got Candy Kanes from the trees and moseyed down the trail and talked. It was great, relaxing fun. 

I say that Liberty is the new and improved Liberty b/c he is just very mellow now. The two lessons I have had with Shea and the subsequent practice on my part are helping him get right in his head and teaching me to ride him very differently.  He is now responding softly to my requests and even backed a little ways up a hill while the others were riding off.  I'm able to ride him in a bit, which I never thought I'd be able to do.

I think I have decided to ride CP this year.  I'm not for sure yet, but since I won't even get to do a ride before the beginning of April and I don't think that I'm going to be able to ride a lot until April, it doesn't seem fair to Liberty to expect him to do Open if I'm only going to ride 3-5 rides this year.  i haven't decided, but, like Maggie, a lot of my friends are riding this year in Novice and CP and I'm not sure I want to compete in Open more than I want to ride with my friends. Also, since I'm working on getting Liberty to be calmer and work more on obstacles, it occurs to me that backing off the speed for a year might do us some good. The flip side is that with the working out I'm doing, I may really feel ready to step up the pace for us both in spring. Not a decision I have to make today.