Good pony

 Quick ride because of helping a friend and life

Tacked up with the saddle. Hacked up to arena. Got off and set trot poles 3' apart. Only 3. Will need more next time. Did turn on the haunches in hand and it was actually quite lovely today. Not a correct dressage turn on the haunches but a move your shoulders one using your core. :) Got cookies. Then got on and rode. Did 10 minutes of trotting with some leg yields, some shoulder in, and the trot poles. Plus a few times over the single raised pole. Did a tiny bit of halfpass, sucked to the left. Right hind weak? 

Did canter both ways.. actually not too bad today. Didn't feel as disconnected or awful. .just weak. Also, couldn't resist and jumped a cross rail. :) 

hacked back home.

Got his dino gear last night so he got to wear it today! Rawr!! Staying somewhat snuggly and happy overall

Rough Day, shining star

 Rough day... 

Dan was good for our ride. Bareback arena ride. Did in hand stuff to start. Upset with turn on the forehand in hand even. sidepassed over pole well though. Got on and did our trot homework. Felt good. Decent baby halfpass. good shoulder ins. cantered once each way. Felt icky in the canter. Just not put together, four beat... front and hind disconnected. Did some poles... baby baby crossrails. Did stand on the surefoot pad for about 1 minute post ride!!!

untacked and put bridle on lyric since she was right there. When I was done with her, untacked her in the pasture and dan came up... I ws upset and crying and Dan... bless him.. was trying to console me in ways only a dino can. didn't quite let me hug him but... was comforting me. bless him. Lyric's in heat. So she was distracting him too. 

So grateful to God for him. 

Get your Crap together girls!

 Cry fest at the ashland arena with Kelli. Dan was kind but then told us to get over it! 

went for a hack. did the treadmill. did racoon loop to hoot and holler. saw a turkey. headed home

silly ponies in the wind today in the pasture

Super quicky

 Today was my day off, but... I had a doctors appointment in Athens this morning. Then I didn't really plan ahead and stopped at the grocery store, gas station, and chiropractor on my way home. Then I had Dr. Febles coming to do teeth that afternoon. I got home and had maybe just enough time to ride a horse... but not quite. So I changed and caught Funny.. and then got a text from them that they would be there in about 30 minutes. Doh. Never mind. Well, I could hop on Dan bareback and get his 10 minutes of trotting in at least. So I grabbed his bridle and caught him and hopped on. No bareback pad even. 

 

He was great and bless him.. we didn't really warm up.. we just got to trotting. We trotted in the pasture and worked on hills. He doesn't want to bend right but we got some good soft moments. Then I knew I was cutting it close on time and wanted them to be ready so I hopped off and brought them all in. And then, they were another 30 minutes on top of that. Doh! Oh well. I got a few little things done while I waited. But then I realized that Dan didn't need his teeth done, so he didn't even have to get sedated. It was just Funny. So I could have ridden him after. Oh well. It was nice to just chill after they were all done. 

  

We got a pretty sunset too! Although before I fed I tried to fix the water trough. I had put on shorts because I was hoping to get some sun on my pasty white legs. And they were short shorts! I was up trying to fix the trough and then fill in the dirt and saw a dog in the arena. It was a pyrenees. Funny got spooked adn then the horses were all of full alert! Then the owners showed up looking for her and I was so embarassed in my booty shorts with my pasty white legs. Whoops! Oh well, Luckily they got the dog. I hope they found the puppy that snuck out with the big dog too! But I got some pretty photos of them being on alert and then the sunset after I fed.

 

Playing Hooky!

 Today was a work day but... when I got to the farm, they only had 5 horses for me. Argh... I was annoyed because... that's NOT a full day of work. I could have done 5 horses and been done by 12:30 and had the whole rest of the day for another farm. And I've got about 8 people on the wait list. But... on the flip side, once I got over my annoyance... I was done by 1:30 (because they aren't the most efficient barn). And it was a nice day despite the 16 mph winds with gust up to 20. And I've got a doctors appointment tomorrow and then the horses have dentals in the afternoon, so I'm not sure if I will get to ride. So, I decided to embrace it and enjoy my day off to the fullest. I got home and changed clothes and grabbed Funny and we headed to Ashland. 

 

We met Kelli and watched her ride for a bit. Then she went and untacked while I warmed up and then she came and watched us. It was fun. And helpful. Funny was good. Better than she has been, but still too quick and braced. We started off with our square turns and almost transitions. Then we added in figure 8 serpentines.. or 3 loop serpentines. And that got us some fairly nice work. Then we cantered, and of course, it got harder. I tried very hard to slow my post. And really, the only way to make that work for me is to make my post very small. Kelli was like "don't post unless she pushes you up". Um.... girl... she is flinging me to Mars! It's taking all of my power to only post this big! I tried hard to give the reins every chance I could so we weren't hanging on each other. Kelli pointed out that she was pushing me to the inside in the canter so she told me to sink into my outside stirrup in the canter. That helped! Then the trot was quick again so we did more of the almost transitions and serpentines. And it helped. We had some decent moments and overall, she was much more ridable. 

 

After we finished Kelli mentioned that perhaps I should try a different tactic. She thought that maybe if I only trotted a circle or two, and then walked until she relaxed again.. then picked the trot back up and only trotted a three loop serpentine and then walked.... until she relaxed. Then trot again, but only while she's soft and quiet and relaxed. Then walk... as long as it takes, then trot again. And... ugh. It sounds awful! Ha! That's so not how I operate. It sounds so boring and like it would be unproductive. BUT... she does have a point. Funny and I both escalate and quickly and we're so task oriented that she sort of snowballs. Especially after we canter. And I have used that tactic before... After we canter, we almost have to walk for a bit before we can trot again. It's gotten better, so that I don't have to walk anymore. But perhaps if I don't let her build between walk breaks... she'll eventually stay calm and relaxed and slow more and more and we can build strength. It did seem to work at the end of our ride. I had her on the buckle and then picked her up and trotted a three loop and she was nice. Then she escalated. So then we walked.... and talked... and walked.. and then I picked up the trot again. And for about 5 strides, she felt pretty uphill and soft and balanced. And then she got quick. So we walked. So... we'll try it tomorrow or Thursday. I just don't know if it will work... I don't know if she hasn't been ridden for 45 minutes prior to doing that, if I'll even get 2 steps of nice trot before having to walk. And then, will I just piss her off and make her bored and irritated? Or anticipatory? But, I'll try it. Because maybe it will work. I imagine it won't happen overnight, but maybe after a month or so. We'll see.

 

Then we went for a hack. We walked down to the lake and then went over the newly finished bridge. She was great. Then we were gonna trot but she was getting quick so I made her walk. Good thing as a few deer ran out, so we walked to the creek and crossed it. Then we walked to the field with the start of the gallop track and then I let her canter. We cantered the walnut tree field and then the hay field all the way to the hay shed. She wasn't galloping but it was a nice canter. She was a little puffy when we finished, but immediately wanted to graze. Then we walked back home via the beaver dam and finished our ride. It was nice to be out in the woods with her again. 

 

We'll see if we get our lesson tomorrow or even have time to ride. But hopefully!