Ahhhhh... good day

 Ahhh, I'm starting to feel like myself again after the chaos of last week. Granted, this will now be the third day in a row with a migraine. Which, isn't terrible, but now that I've gotten to where I don't have them every day... having one sucks! But.. the pill eventually kicked in. 

I slept in a tiny bit, but still managed to get a good nights sleep. I got a little laundry done and got the stalls cleaned and animals fed. Then I hauled Dan out to Ashland to ride. We had a good ride. We did a warm up hack around the little lake and then went to work in the dressage ring. We got some decent work today! He's trying really hard to listen to my seat aids and I'm trying really hard to be consistent with them. Whoo hooo!

Then we met Kelli and Eleene for a trail ride. There was about 100 geese in the field so Dan and I politely walked them away so that Marvin didn't freak out. Then we went to the lake and then around it. Then they were heading back, so Dan and I left them and went back to Racoon Loop to go up Hoot and Holler and get one more hill trot in. Poor Dan was sad his buddies left him. But he was good and we had fun trotting up the hill. He got a nice rinse and then we stopped and got more hay on the way home. Then I was able to run a bunch of other errands and still managed to get Dan adjusted and acupunctured before dinner! He was so good. He's really getting into his bodywork now. :) 

Good Ride

 Rode at home. Nothing spectacular, but good stuff

My heart is happy as is my bank account

 XC schooling at Chatt with Dan. He put a bunch of deposits in my bank account because I messed up but he went anyways. and forgave me.

jumped all the things... mostly training..

big table over ditch... bad footing he said no, good footing, okay. 

winged training table first try

then hung out while i volunteered

20 minutes beats no minutes!

 Long day.... stopped raining, mike out of town, and now I have to work tomorrow, so... snuck in a quick ride. 

Just 20 minutes but got some good work in. Much better in the right rein connection. focused on refining my aids.. timing the lateral aids with the barrel roll vs just constant nagging.. ie.. encourage the inside hind vs all the time. acceptable canter half pass considering where we've been and quite nice trot half pass.

Hmmmm.... but good boy

 So.... Today I spent the majority of my day "babysitting" Funny to make sure she behaved herself. I didn't go see Mom, who just got back from Greece, Italy, and Spain. I didn't go ride at Ashland or anywhere else. But, we did ride at home and I did get Dan clipped! Finally! And I got Funny grazed and changed her bandage and pulled off her bloody gauze. And did some laundry and some dishes and also even managed to hang out with Mike and get ice cream and dinner. So... yay!

We had an okay ride. I set all the jumps down to poles on the ground and once we were warmed up we did that. We got pretty decent at it. I didn't do a ton because it's still supposed to be a lighter ride. We also played a tiny bit with the half-pass and... I sort of feel like we got it as good as we have in the past, but still not great. We did a good medium trot and then mostly just worked on the correct bend. I was focusing on my seat and aids. He felt very uphill, but he still felt like he wanted to twist going to the left. Argh. I could alter my seat and core and legs a little and it would get better, but not consistently. But we finished with some good work and called it a day. Hopefully I can get him adjusted and acupunctured tomorrow. And maybe that will help. And maybe his neck injections need longer to kick in. He felt pretty amazing in the hind end though and felt really uphill like he was sitting!

He was so hot and sweaty so I gave him a bath and then put him in his stall with some hay to keep Funny company and dry off. I had lunch and then after I ate and grazed Funny, he got his haircut. He was soooo good. Like.. I just put him in the crossties and did all of him. Legs, body, T-rex in the butt... Well, there was one moment where he freaked out for some reason and pulled back, but... then he was fine. And he let me do his poll even, and most of his face. I still can't get right around his ears and up on his forehead by his ears, but much closer than previously. Honestly, I think the flymask helped. He had so many flies going after his sweaty face crustries that I put the mask on while I did his body. And he let me get all the way up his ear base with it on, whereas before he'd get ticklish halfway up his neck. So... good to know. 

He looks so shiny and dark! Hopefully he'll feel much better and be easier to keep clean now. 

Back in the Saddle

 Yay! We got to ride today. And we got to go pick up Funny!!

We headed to Ashland for our "light ride" back after his injections. He felt good!!! No neck biting and he felt good behind. Granted, I didn't collect him up but still. We hacked around Ashland and had a nice ride. We did a little trotting and even a tiny bit of canter! We finished in the XC field and Caroline had put out a few new jumps. It was so hard not to pop over them. But nope, not today Holly.. be good! Dan was so dirty and nasty though! He desperately needs to be clipped! That is on the agenda for tomorrow. So after our ride, I just rinsed him and then we went to go get Funny.

He was a little rude to her. Butthead. He wasn't nasty but was a bit overzealous in his behavior.. more on the bitey game side than the mutual grooming side. And once we got home.. I unloaded him first, thinking he desperately had to pee, then I got her off quickly so she didn't try to turn around and halfway down the ramp, he lunged at her. Which meant she spun. NO DANIEL... we don't need baby girl spinning on her freshly scoped stifles. Ugh. I managed to get him turned out and her in her stall. And then I put him in his stall to keep her company as he gets to go out tonight. I left them alone for maybe 2 hours and came back.... he had beheaded her stuffed animal! Daniel!!!! Seriously!? You are a heathen sir, a heathen!