Worth it!

 I almost didn't ride today. I woke up at 5 am with a migraine... was finally sleeping well, for the first time in weeks.. when my alarm went off at 8:30. Kelly had texted cancelling my lesson since it was raining. Ugh... so I sat in bed for a few minutes messing with my phone. I realized that if I wanted to ride...it currently looked like the 10-noon time was going to be my best bet so I got up and went and fed. But.. it's COLD! And WET. And miserable. Like... really cold, seep into your bones icky damp cold. So I left them in their stalls and came inside and ate breakfast. And then I sat on the computer and debated staying home and doing stuff. Only I just wanted to nap. Not do stuff. I'm tired.... soooo tired. But then I came across a friend who had ridden in the rain. And she mentioned rewarding herself with a cup of hot chocolate, so.. I decided to go! And I'm so glad I did. 

I put on my warm riding clothes and off we went. Poor Dan had to go naked because I didn't want his quarter sheet to create any muscle soreness or alter his gait at all (ie.. I wanted to assess his injections and see if they were working). So he was a bit cold and amped up. Then because of the show tomorrow there was a port-a-potty and 3 tents up in the jump arena.. and Caroline was up there moving things, so Dan was on high alert. I figured I'd go up and visit and say hi for our warm up hack but Dan was on edge so... we didn't get that close. ha ha! We started off in the XC field and once we entered the open space he spun and tried to bolt... twice. I never saw a real reason. Goober. So then we got to the edge of the XC field and he saw the tent and toilet and froze. I tried to calm him and let him breathe and asked him to go investigate and he said no. So.. after her calmed down a little I let him turn and I thought we would go back towards the arenas and try again. Still NOPE. ha ha. OH well, fine.. let's just go dressage then. So we did. It was interspersed randomly with halts and stares when Caroline made noise or another truck pulled in or... whatever. But we got through it. I just let him look for a few and then gently nudged him back to work. He was a little bit braced in the head and neck... not really braced, but not the nice "chandelier swingy hanging head" feel. We got some nice work though. And guess what?!! We got back our counter canter to the right! We started with a shallow loop and then made it steeper on try 2. As we got back to true canter he half swapped, but I pulled him down to a trot quickly and carried on... and then we just went for the full 3 loop and he held it!! Whooo hooo! Then I let him lengthen down centerline and we quit. Prior to that we also did some leg yields at the trot, half pass at the trot, canter lengthen, and stretchy work and trot serpentines. Good boy.


Then we tried again to go say hi to Caroline. And this time we succeeded! :) It took a bit and he was super snorty and about to jump out of his skin! Man.. side note... his butt looks great and he muscled up but boy is taut and tight!!  :) Anyways.. we finally got over the tent fear and walked past (way off to the side past it, but past it) and said hi to Caroline. Then we hacked down to the lake and then back because it was too freaking cold to stay out longer! Good boy!

And I did have hot chocolate when I got home! And King Cake :) so yay!