Weird day

 Dan and I headed to Ashland today. Again. :) I'm anxiously awaiting my arena repairs so I can ride at home some, but I still do love hacking too!

I started in the arena on the ground doing our pillar work. I had the unicorn fanny pack full of timothy pellets, so Dan was much more interested in playing with me. We got some good work, even without me bribing him non-stop. Yay! And his pillar 2 and 3 are fine. (Although tougher with treats because then he curls trying to find the treat when I touch his chest to ask him to do pillars 2 and 3). 

 

After that we went and lunged for a few minutes. Like, literally 6 min total I think, based on my video. Ha! He was a good boy and there were no shenanigans or even really any attempts. 

 

Then I put on his bridle. Today we tried the ported bit with the roller for the tongue. Yeah... that's a no go. Dan got his tongue over it as soon as I asked him to halt and back. Granted, after I raised it he didn't get his tongue over again, but he wouldn't stop chewing on it. And not in a good way. Plus he felt like he spent a lot of the ride behind the vertical and curled. He was soft in the contact. And maybe he was just playing with it instead of being anxious about it, but.. I didn't like it. Kelli agreed. But we put in a good chunk of riding time working on our pillars under saddle. I'm not sure what I need to do... whether I'm just rushing too fast... working too long... or there's a piece I'm missing. But he seems like he can do Pillar 1, 2 and 3 easily in hand. When I get on... I can get pillar 1. And I even feel like I can get a half halt, but to get an actual rein back or static pillar 2 with a step back... he gets all fussy and I have to ask with my hands. And when I go to do pillar 3... he gets anxious and fussy and rooty... he comes out of pillar 1, and fights me in pillar 2 and usually, moves the wrong leg back first. And I'm clueless... clearly I have no clue which leg is going to move first because it's always the one I'm not aiming for. And watching the video... he actually has a much better abduction when he starts, vs stepping back first. Which makes me wonder if I'm doing it wrong... over asking??? Or is he cheating somehow by going sideways first. So.... sigh. I'm not sure what to do.

 

Anyways... we rode longer than we should have because I was trying to give Kelli time and not rush her. But I did try to be cognizant of that and not drill pillars 2 and 3 again. And again. But I may not have been as successful as I'd like to have been regarding that. Sigh. 

 

After our arena ride, we went out on the trails. I went back to the trailer first to drop off my pivo and cavesson and decided to switch Dan to the ported super lightweight bit instead of the roller one since he was still chompy. Then off we went. We just had a nice long walk with a tiny bit of trot. We played in the lake a tiny bit and then headed home. When we got back to the parking area, I did take Dan into the arena for 5 more minutes to see if he liked the new bit any better. He was MUCH quieter in his mouth and didn't get his tongue over the bit, even without a flash. Granted, the trail ride was no pressure and in the arena I didn't do a ton or push it because he had already been worked so hard. But... it seemed like he liked it. I'll ride in it again tomorrow and see. 

Dan got a rinse and we headed home. They all got ulcer tea tonight with dinner and they seemed to like it. Tomorrow I'll ride Dan in the morning and then they've got Dr. Barrows coming to do foot x-rays on all and then Dr. Febles coming to do teeth on all. Yikes! Big day. I'm hoping to also do some bodywork on them all in between too, but we'll see if that happens. If not, I'll do it this weekend when the rain hits.