Champions!!!

 Follow the path of gratitude and blessings will follow. 

 

That was my fortune cookie at dinner Friday night. And it was perfect! This weekend was such a great weekend. I'm so grateful to God for all He has done for me. All my answered prayers... all of the big things... all of the little things. Ahhhh..... Just... grateful! 

Friday was the start of my staycation!! During my mental breakdown a few months back I scheduled a week off for a staycation, since we weren't planning on going to the beach because of our Out West Trip. (Well, it turns out that we're now going to the beach in July with Mike's mom but also haven't booked our Wyoming trip yet, so we'll see if that happens). I didn't necessarily mean to plan it right after our second Working Eq show, but I did. Which, bonus. :) It was nice to not have to go right back to the grind after a long show weekend. And.. the WE shows aren't nearly as exhausting, but still. 

Anyways... Judy and I had signed up for lessons with Shannon on Friday before the show so we headed up to Aiken. My lesson was a 2 and Judy's was at 3, so we were hoping to get there about 12:30 ish to give Teller time to settle. Unfortunately, despite leaving on time, we hit traffic on 20. I have no idea why... but we were stop and go and never got above 10 mph for about 45 minutes. Poor ponies. It was soooo hot too! I think we actually had the hottest most humid weekend of the entire year so far this weekend. Of course! At one point I jumped out and put their fans on even though I'm not sure it helped that much. Especially because we started going again fairly soon after I turned the fans on. Whoops. Oh well. We got to Stableview around 1 pm and Shannon had texted asking if we wanted to ride together at 2 because of schedule changes. Sure... works for us. I just told her that I wasn't sure we could get ready any earlier because of the traffic. I also didn't realize that she didn't have anyone before us... so we got tacked up and headed over to the big jump arena and XC warm up field. We warmed up a bit, not realizing she was waiting on us. Oh well. They needed their warm up and Teller needed to be lunged. 

 

We had a great lesson. And thank God for the breeze because it was amazing. It was so hot and muggy but the breeze made it really quite pleasant even! Our lesson was helpful as usual! I really do like Shannon. She had brought her metal gate which is really handy. We played with the bull line, the gate, the double slaloms, the drums, the figure 8, and the rounding poles (the switch cup and back for intro). She gave us super helpful hints/pointers. Stuff like... when doing the rounding pole you want a marching walk in and a steady rein back and want to ideally put your cup back without stopping your rein back. She had us ride the body part that was not straight to keep them straight. Like.. when we first started backing, if the hips swing left, move the hips back right. If the shoulders started going left, move the shoulders back right. It was helpful. She also explained that because of their vision, they think theres' a fence behind them and that's why they twist... For the bull line she told me to make sure Dan was not running because it would only get harder to get him to not run at it. If he got quick and didn't listen to my half halts, I needed to circle him... circle the bull.. circle the barrels...  That helped too. Then in the drums, she told me that he was too quick and just pulling himself along with his front limbs. And when I slowed him down AND rocked him back, his trot got real pretty. And duh.. I know this... I know I know this, but it was kind of nice to feel him slow down but ALSO rock back. You'd think I'd know this by now, but maybe it's just more nuanced feel. Between Lyric and Funny, I think I can feel it better.. or maybe I'm expecting more now. Either way... it couldn't just be slow... he also had to rock back. We played with the gate and she told me to make sure that I backed him far enough that his nose was past the standard. Because if the gate was short he could stick his head over it, but if the gate standard was tall or thick, he wouldn't necessarily be able to skip over it and it encourages him to chew on it. Ahhh.... good point! It definitely helped. So lots of good little pointers. Then she had us do a reverse gate. Which.. is not a left handed gate. It's a right handed gate but backwards. So you face the other way and instead of backing and then going forward, you go forward and then back. I think. I asked her if that would be something they could ask intro to do because it was going to confuse my spatially challenged brain and I'd rather not do it the day before the show if it wasn't an option. She said it was, so... darn! We went through it and it took a minute to switch my brain over, but we got it. Fun! Of course it was a regular gate at the show, but... still fun. 

 

After our lesson we hacked them through the arena and around the dressage arena and then back out to the cross country field. We were tempted to walk through the water if they didn't have it roped off, but... they didn't even have water in the complex. And... mostly because they ended up setting up the course in the big jump arena not in the cross country field. I didn't want to get charged for "cross country schooling" too, so we just hacked on the edge and then headed back. The ponies got rinsed off and then we headed to Liz's house. Cindy had beat us there because her lesson was earlier and she got our stalls all set up. We parked in the pasture so we couldn't turn them out. But we couldn't have anyways because the kids had parked their truck in the pasture and Dan would have totally chewed on it. Plus... we were giggling because of ALL THE HORSES.... these particular three together... just seemed like a really bad idea to try to turn out together. Not because they would be aggressive.. but because it would turn into a giant frat party. Ha ha... Lots of "hold my beers" and "watch this" and... shenanigans. It just seemed like a really bad idea! Plus, it's hot and muggy and buggy so they were quite happy in their stalls with fans and Liz has the awesome extended patios so they were quite content. 

 

We had a lovely evening with chinese food and had great conversation. I forgot how fun Cindy is! And my fortune from my cookie was perfect! We had early ride times so we headed to bed fairly early. Sadly Liz got sick so she couldn't join us. She was supposed to come up that day and spend the weekend with us, but was puking. Oooh no! Stay away my friend! I wasn't sure if she was going to come up the next day or not, so I ended up sleeping on the couch that night. Which wasn't too bad. 

We got up early and headed to Stable View. I had to give Dan a bath because he had rolled in Liz's paddock and was dirty! And Judy wanted to lunge Teller and let him get settled. Man.. it was so hot and humid and miserable though. Like... ridiculous! Dan wasn't even dry when I tacked up but it didn't matter because we were both getting sweaty already anyways. We got tacked up and headed over to warm up with Judy. Dan warmed up pretty well and seemed quite happy in that fancy footing. We practiced our things and he felt pretty darn good. Then it was our turn. He was a very good boy and we had a pretty good test. Our biggest issue was that I coudn't find centerline! In the beginning or the end. And I think one of my walk circles was too big. Probably a 10 meter vs 5 meter. Oops. And then across the diagonal I half halted too big because I was thinking he was going to lengthen across it but then... I kept half halting when I didn't need to, so he almost broke into the walk. She must have missed that part though because he scored an 8! She liked his big floaty gaits! We ended up with a 63.5... a 65.0?? I can't remember. That put us in 2nd, which yay! Judy's test was two after mine so we stayed and watched and it was LOVELY! Like... she nailed it! And she won the dressage, which I knew she would after watching her test. I was so excited for her. She's worked so hard! But I was also excited to be in second place after that. Because... that belt buckle y'all! :) 

 

We watched a few and then headed back and hosed them off. Then we brought them back to graze while we cheered Cindy on. She did novice 1 and was awesome. They won the dressage. So whooo hooo! And fun and successful day! After that we put all the boys in the trailers with the fans and went to do our course walk. They had the obstacles in the arena next to the dressage ring, so that was kind of cool. It was a fun course! We did our walk and came up with a plan. Then we took the boys back home and put them back in the stalls for the day. We all showered and felt so much better. It was SOOOO hot! Judy went to dinner with Katherine so Cindy and I ate leftover Chinese and watched a stupid movie. She also had two baby birds from her horse trailer and one of them was very friendly and learning to fly so he hung out with us. And sat on my head a good chunk of the movie. Hee hee. Fun.

Sunday morning was an even earlier morning! I decided to bathe Dan at Liz's so he could maybe dry... and it was easier than trying to wrangle him at Stable View. He was SOOO dirty though. I wasn't sure I got it all off, but... only so much I could do. We got to Stable View and parked in the day parking again and got tacked up. Judy walked over with us and did a short lunge while we started warming up. They were kind and put the bull line in warm up as well as a jump and the drums. In our course walk I realized that the bull line was very close to the livestock pen, so my plan was to circle left and make a circle to regroup before charging in to the pen, especially since I would be going from one handed riding. And then the jump was a nice long approach and then a very short distance from the backside to the figure 8. So I had made sure I could circle between the two because otherwise we'd be cantering the figure 8. Shannon was laughing at me saying "you're really worried about this". Um yes ma'am.. have you met Dan?? ha ha. So in the warm up I practiced trotting the jump a few times... then I practiced the bull line a good bit, making sure he stayed slow. He felt really good but I might have overdone it just a teeny bit. Or maybe not... 

 

We went to the arena and adjusted our pole. She rang the bell pretty quickly after so we circled around and then halted to salute. Dan was a bit quick and runny. Ackk... no, no, no, we spent so much time getting you rocked back! But it was go time, so.. off we went. I did manged to get him rocked back mostly and we had a pretty darn good round. Mostly! He did the drums well and the bridge wonderfully. The bull line went great except I "threw" my pole into the barrel instead of placing it. I got a "careful" comment. Yep! Whoops! We did our left turn but he went feral and squirted around that turn like his tail was on fire. And then I couldn't stop him. He almost ran into the livestock pen. I had to half halt him hard and then actually halt him. And reinback for good measure because NO SIR! I was sort of embarassed! But then he walked nicely into the pen and we finished that well. He was great to the jump and actually trotted until the last stride. He landed in the canter and we did our turn. I think I may have goosed him with the spur because he got a tiny bit rowdy but I got him back under control and then we did the figure 8 nicely. He did the rounding poles decently although he got a tiny bit stuck in the reinback. But he was pretty straight. And then he did the gate great!! It was a tiny bit sticky but really quite nice and he didn't eat it or even try to touch it. Good boy. Our double slalom was really quite good (Of course.. ha ha.. now that I've been practicing half the size!). We trotted around to the final obstacle, the jug and I almost trotted to the halt but decided to walk in case he was going to charge through me again. But I walked him too soon so we had too many walk steps. But he was square and immobile. We had a nice trot through the finish flags and a nice halt. Good pony! Mostly! ha ha. We ended up somehow winning the EOH! I guess she really liked his nice forward stride! I was surprised. I figured we'd be in the top three, because Judy and Kristin had nice rounds too. But yay for us!!! Judy and Teller came in third, behind Kristin. 

Our EOH round

We stayed and watched the rest of the rounds for intro. And Dan was happy and friendly and even let some random lady pet him. She mentioned how sweet he was and I was like... "he's not usually"!. Doh! But he was. I think he's a happy camper in this job. After that the boys got a bath and sat at the trailer while we ate lunch. Then we loaded them up and put the fans back on, including the extra fans we plugged into the elecric generator and Judy's battery operated one. Judy and I went to volunteer. We were timers for the speed rounds. Which was fun! We got up front seats to watch the speed rounds and it was helpful to see the times as they were happening and hear some of the judges comments. Fun! Then we went and let the ponies graze again and took them through the misting station while we waited for them to calculate points. The awards ceremony was at 1:30. :) And Dan and I won champion!!! Whooo hooo!! Judy won reserve champion. Whooo hooo!! And Cindy won champion. Whooo hooo!!! What a fantastic outcome for us all. :) That puts me in the lead for that belt buckle. hee hee... So exciting!

  

We took celebratory photos and then reloaded and headed home. What a great weekend! And it was so nice to have such friendly officials and competitors. It's neat that we're "in" on it from the early stages as it's getting popular here. We're the "cool kids" now and kind of know the other competitors. It's neat! 

 

Playdate!

Today was a fascinating day.... 

I was hoping to sleep in because it was supposed to be raining all day, or at least all morning, so I figured maybe I could sleep in. Especially since I had opened the far field so maybe the horses would stay out there. But nope... 7:15 or so... Dan started banging. Non-stop. Fine... FINE... I'm up. Jeeze! But when I went out to feed he was in Lyrics stall and not facing them. He was facing the hay stall. Odd... and staring. So... I looked and the black cat with socks was on the hay pile. And he just stayed there. And didn't move when I came close. So.. yeah... Dan looked concerned. So I went and got Mike and we came back out to investigate. Mike is the cat whisperer and convinced him to get in the carrier with some treats. Dan was relieved. But man did that cat stink! So... he sat in the carrier while I fed and then I took him to the clinic. Dan told me his name was Toby... I thought Spaghetti Jones was better, but... Toby it is. Anyways... Toby is now in the office chilling and recovering from his wound care, neuter, vaccines, and medications. And Dan is glad we saved him. 

So anyways... after that I rode Lyric at home. Dan and Funny came galloping up as I got Lyric out of the pasture. Goobers. And then they followed us back. But Dan rolled. And oh my goodness he was NEON orange.. NEON ORANGE! It had rained all night so that red clay was super sticky. Dude.... DUDE!!!! Oh well. After I rode Lyric I took Funny to Ashland and then once we got home.. it was Dan's turn. I had invited Judy and Teller and Kirsten and Eiffel over for a play date. I figured we could run through the obstacles. So... I debated hosing Dan off or just brushing him off. Luckily by the time it was his turn, he was dry... so I opted to just brush him off. 

 

We got to use our new breastcollar because his "giraffe tugs" had arrived. Ha! I custom ordered him a breastcollar and she sent it to me and it fit, but... the strap that goes to the cinch was WAY too short so she remade it for me and shipped me new tugs too, since they were on the last hole. She joked and said she felt like she was making tugs for a giraffe. Ha ha.. I mean... ;) Anyways... it fits now. Almost. Ha. Now it's a hair too big, but I can shorten it and/or punch holes so we're fine. 

 

We walked on foot up to the arena because I told the girls that Jean's horses may come galloping up. Instead it was MY mares.. They came in hot and loud! Hussies! Sorry.. I'm so sorry my horses are awful! We all made it to the arena and then the girls came rip roaring towards the arena. Good gravy. Luckily everyone eventually settled and we had a fun ride. 

It was fun sharing my arena with friends. Although I'm a dumbass and can't do geometry or math or read for comprehension. Part of the reason my double slalom line was so hard was because I made it way too short! ha ha. It was supposed to be 23' apart instead of 20. Which, no big deal. But then I had set my second line of poles only 10 feet out instead of 23' out. Oops. No wonder!!! Plus, you're supposed to have more than 5 total. It's 5 and 5, not... 3 and 2. Oh... Dang. Good thing Kirsten set us straight!

We had fun though. We warmed up and then took turns going through the obstacles and giving each other pointers. It was nice to have friends over enjoying the arena with me. And I got some good pointers. AND... I wore my "jeans" and they worked with my cowboy boots and spurs, though I did put my rowel spurs back on. Although I didn't canter so.. we'll see how that goes. So yeah... it was a fun "dress rehearsal" kind of... even with him being orange ;) 

WE test practice

We met Sharon and Baylor today for a ride. But first I rode in the arena to practice our test. I tacked up and today I put the saddle slightly more forward to see if that changed things. I do think it slid back some, so.. maybe I need the breastcollar. Or maybe that's just where it needs to sit and me putting it more forward is wrong? I don't quite know. He was moving well though. 

 

We had a good ride. Every once in a blue moon he felt like he took a lame step but overall he felt good and it was never more than two steps at a time. He was trying and we even got some good sit it felt like. Not just running and pulling with his forehand. Our canters were pretty decent too and his right lead felt pretty darn good today! We did our "strength training" and got some nice work and then got out. And then we ran through the test twice. His halts are getting pretty square and his reinback is getting smoother. Yay. 

We were close to being done but not quite when Jen and Kelly rode through with Skillet and Quantico. They asked if they could come in the arena briefly for desensitization and I agreed. We chatted briefly and Dan said hi to them both. He even got his photo taken. ;) After they left, I finished up with my canters and got a nice trot and then we met Sharon. 

We had a lovely hack. They were both good boys. She didn't mind me practicing our "water crossing" in the cross country field. I wanted to keep him from snorkeling. Of course after he did it correct, I let him play in it and then we did the water treadmill briefly. Then we went and did a proper hack. It was fun. We even did a fair amount of trotting. The boys were both so good. But good gravy Dan is filthy! Ha ha. So gross!

 

Lesson with Liz

Another great lesson with Liz! As usual, when we first started Liz watched him and touched him. She felt like he had fascial restrictions on the right side of his neck. He was struggling to bend to the right. So she did some work and recommended that I adjust him and do some fascial work for him. (If I put my left hand (recieving hand) on his right neck.. that will help). She also felt like his right stifle was unhappy. Yep.. I feel that too. But she did say that overall she thought he felt very happy and good. Yay! She even got on him to show me a trick for getting the bend on the right. And she said that his walk and body felt happier and better than even 5 years ago when she sat on him. So that's encouraging!! And not to worry.. she only walked and she wore my helmet. And Dan was super. 

Anyways.. she wanted to sit on him to help explain something to me that I wasn't getting. So she had him walking to the right and pulled the reins up taut and put them in one hand. Then she slid her right hand as far forward down the reins as she could reach and held her hand there on the right. It wasn't pulling him... but it was a barrier. Like a side rein kind of. It created an encouragement to bend because if he was bent, then it was soft and if he got straight or counterbent, there was a little bit of pressure. But not pulling him! And I had to keep my inside leg on to encourage bend. And when we track right, I really also have to put my left leg back a bit to keep him from swinging his haunches out to cheat. 

So then we did the same thing in the trot. Kind of. I had shorter reins today and asked for bend. She did make me sit the trot. And it hurt at first! He was a bit bouncy and that wide twist was killing my seat bones. I did find that if I slid back a little bit in the saddle, it was much better. I kind of wish I had gone one seat size smaller on the saddle because I feel like maybe that would have made it easier. But.. I could manage to sit the trot if I kept him a little small and stayed in the back of the saddle. Which, wasn't too hard to do. We also played with my stirrup length but I think we ended up back where we started. Which, included my right stirrup being one hole shorter. Yep.. that's still a thing. But honestly, I'm wondering if it's less to do with my crookedness and more to do with saddle slip from him being essentially kind of lame on the right hind. Regardless, they felt and even looked even when I was a hole off. Odd. Oh well.. We'll keep an eye on things. 

 

We did some canter work too. And it was nice both ways. The left lead was harder today. He didn't want to pick it up and then almost ran us into the jump. Goober! But we did get a few good steps that way and a lot of good steps on the right lead. He felt rounder and more supple in his canter! Yay!

So then we called it quits. He worked hard and was trying but was getting fatigued. Liz suggested that I start him on Adequan, ice him if possible, and then I threw out shockwave. She still thinks that he's not bad enough to try osphos yet. She thinks I should keep that one in my back pocket for "last ditch effort". 

 

So... it was a good boy and we had a good ride, but.. yeah, that stifle is going to be our limiting factor. 

WE Lesson

We went to Kay's farm (this time for WE obstacles, not Beanie dressage lessons) today. She had scheduled Shannon Yee to come and teach some lessons, so we joined in.  It's such a lovely place and so close. It only took us 15 minutes to get there. I think Kay and Michael are going to be getting into the WE now too. Yay!

I got tacked up and was all excited to use my new breastcollar and cinch and new bootcut riding tights. I was going to wear my smartpak shirt because it matched pretty well.  And... the cinch doesn't fit. NOOO! It's barely longer than the non-custom one (sadness) but the middle piece for the chest is about 6" too short! Even on the very last hole. Ugh... sadness. I so wanted to use it tonight. I'm extra bummed because it's not really what I would call turquoise.. more of a greenish blue.. and then a minty blue. Sigh.. oh well. The "blue" and brown cinch is more turquoise, but that's a 30" and apparently his other cinches are 32". so.. not sure it'll fit. Sigh... I'm striking out left and right here... But it does match both his bosal's nicely, so.. that's a win. 

Anyways... so I rode without it. I got on and warmed up but probably should have done a bit more. They were getting through the lessons early, so I kind of felt like they were waiting on me. And, I might not have gotten on as early as I thought too. So, I did a quick walk trot and canter and then we started the obstacles. She didn't bring all of them, but she had most of them. Sadly not the double slalom, which sucks because that's the one I felt like I wanted the most help with. Oh well. We did the drums and it was the same theory. And a rope gate instead of a wooden gate, but fine. It was helpful. She even had us do the side pass and back the L, which.. dan did way better than I expected. :) So yay for that!

Switch cup: Practice my halts and timing. Prepare... 3 strides out at least start with "Think halt" and shorten the step and tighten my core.. then Sit... then ask for the halt, WITH my legs on, so he doesn't splat. If I overshoot it and we are going to get to a halt too soon, just walk him into it. 

Bull line: Half halt him going into it so he doesn't "race" through it. Half halt if needed again... keep him slower and rocked back on his haunches. It changes his trot from dragging along with his front end, to quite nice and lovely. And once he starts rushing the bull line, it'll be harder to get him to stop. and it gives me more time to manuever the pole. Those big strides eat up that distance. 

Single slalom: show change of bend, but yes.. ride it tight and "straight" vs big loops. and slow him down again so it's pretty. it's not a speed round yet. 

Ring the bell and back the L: She made us back the L... think of it like "back, back, back, back, then turn the hips (like a reverse turn on the forehand) then turn the shoulders (reverse turn on the haunches) and then keep backing... and eventually smooth it out into one smooth motion vs hips then shoulders. 

drums: Move my shoulders in.. but not just my shoulders. my belly button because I can move my shoulders and have my hips twisted the other way. Turn my whole body to the barrel and watch the barrel. aim for bigger circles. ride the center of the "doorway" everytime and ride one straight step before changing directions so it's not so sudden. Again, PREPARE the transitions (gait and direction). At home, while schooling, stay on the circle until he softens and relaxes and then let him out. If it takes 7 circles on A barrel, then don't go to B barrel til it's good. 

Gate: just... don't let him touch it or eat it. Seriously frowned upon. So retrain it. Even at home.. just go "park" next to things and don't allow him to mouth it or touch it. May need to take Linda's advice and add fake decor so he isn't tempted even at home. First attempt was icky but second and third were pretty decent. Right handed. apparently it's always right handed I guess... unless it's a reverse gate maybe? Guess I should check. 

Side pass: he did better than I thought... you have to walk in straight to it, through the markers, then do a turn to get him lined up (so like a pivot.. not a turn on the haunches or forehand). And you can't step over it to start.. you have to start next to it and then go sideways. She had the second pole spaced out and you had to turn around and go the other way. Which was kind of handy. He does that pivot from outside rein on the right to outside rein on the left (right side pass to left side pass) better than he did backing the L the other direction. So note to self. 

Good pony! Shannon also gave me some other helpful advice. Like..take my rear cinch off.. it's blocking my leg. And... add spurs. Easier than a whip doing EOH and he does need to be a little quicker to my aids. And then I'm not "spanking" him. But note to self.. in warm up... do "shock and awe" and make sure he's moving off each leg... one foot at a time.  I need to refine my aids so that I can maneuver him at the gate, and on the side pass, and for the backing. I need to make sure he's hot off my aids for go and stop too. And I should do a litle canter to warm up too to help loosen him up and get him more fluid.

But very good boy. He got lots of cheers. And was friendly and nice to Cindy (who came to say hi and watch) and Laura (same) and Shannon (trainer). And then Kay's daughter in law came up after we had finished and I was letting him graze while I talked to Judy. She wanted to pet him and he was friendly to her. Good pony!! He's in a good mood I guess. He also liked his fuzzy cinch too, even though it's silly looking. Hopefully once it breaks in it won't look so new, but also not look dingy. 

Also I liked my boot cut tights.. and will order more. But I might go down a size. They are a little high waisted too. And the sweat in my butt crack felt like it was pretty noticeable. I didn't get to ask Judy though discretely in time. Also I realized I had the tag down my crack the whole time.. it was soggy. Ewwwww! ha ha.

On the way home, I got a little in my head.. the devil was telling me lies... that Dan and i weren't good enough... I needed to be more competitive. Even Shannon said something to the effect of... "he can't play... he kind of has to be a tool... make him behave and do his job instead of costing you points cause he's mouthy".  More or less. And... she's not wrong. But also.. the whole point is to have fun with it. But I do want to be competitive and I do want him to look nice. And feel good in his body. So .. not today satan, not today. And the videos' showed a happy Dan who was quite nice. And I'll keep encouraging him to rock back on his haunches and use his hiney and maybe, he won't mind it as much. Now that his noltrex is kicking in and then I'll shockwave him again. So I'll balance being a bit more adamant that we do things correctly while still allowing him to have fun and not insisting if he's telling me it hurts or that it's no fun. A delicate balance but I think we can do it. And if not.. we'll just keep eating the obstacles and having fun :) 

Glorious Day!

 Oh how I love Tuesdays!! (wait... today is Tuesday right? yes.. it is!). It was a beautiful day too. God has really blessed up with a most amazing year weather wise this year. This is what every summer to feel like! Green grass, blue skies, fluffy clouds, no humidity, lovely breeze, and sunshine! Ahhhh. It got a little toasty at times today when the sun came out and the breeze died but overall it was glorious!

 

I ended up riding Dan first after spending the morning doing adult things... Did some scheduling, shipped my trode back, and then spent a good bit on the phone with the bank. And did some laundry. And ate breakfast. But then I decided to go ride. Kelli couldn't join me that early so I decided to ride Dan at home first. Which worked out well.

I brought him in and we walked our raised poles twice. I noticed that his left hind was puffy laterally and he had a large scrape across his hock and cannon bone. Dang son! I don't know what he scraped it on or if he got kicked, but... it took some hair off! It looked more superficial though, although it was pretty puffy. I figured a bit of exercise might help and if he was sore, we could just practice the gate, so we carried on. And he was fine. I honestly forgot he was puffy because I didn't feel anything. 

We warmed up and did some walk work. We practiced our "refined aids" and responses to my leg and then did some leg yields on the rail. Then we did the slalom poles at the walk and the cloverleaf at the walk. And then we played with the gate. It's definitely getting less problematic and I'm figuring out the best way to maneuever. We even had our BEST pass through yet today!! He was almost perfect and I don't think we would have even let any cows out. Yay! Cookies for that sir!

We did walk the double slalom and didn't bother trotting it today because I figured we may just be better off walking it. Though I do need to check the rules to make sure I can walk it. We trotted the single slalom and it sounds like that one is more of a very shallow line vs the double slaloms. So we should be okay with that. We also did some general dressage work... working on our bend. Which is much improved lately. Yay! I just need to make sure I'm not nagging with my inside leg. We did some leg yielding too.

Then we did the walking leg yield on the rail and then turned in and cantered. And the right lead canter was okay. Not great, but not bad. And the transition was maybe better. Then we did the left lead and ... wow! That made a magnificent improvement! He was round and lifting his back and very collected feeling. Like a beach ball! It was lovely. I didn't make him hold it long and gave him cookies for that. We tried again both ways and it got a little better to the left. 

We finished with a bit more trotting and then did some transitions. His backing is getting quite good and smooth too. I do think that I need to "sharpen" him up in my warm ups more. He starts off rather dull to the aids and sluggish but after we canter and do some transitions, he gets quicker and more engaged. So I'll have to remember that at the show. Even though we don't have to canter in our test, I should probably canter in warm up. For dressage and ease of handling. And then we've got a lesson Thursday at a new farm so I'll ask Shannon about whether she thinks we'll score better walking or trotting and see if she has any other hints for us. 

Good pony! After I got off, I walked him through the poles again and the doofus tripped hard and almost fell down. Dude! Pick your feet up! Which, reminded me that his leg was all scraped up. It didn't look much better but also didn't look worse, so... I cold hosed him a tiny bit with his rinse. And then he got to go spend the rest of the day chilling. 

 

Except when I brought Lyric back from our ride and turned her out, he walked up to say hi and I had turned my back and heard a squeal and a thud and they had clearly argued! I don't know if Lyric kicked Dan or Dan kicked Lyric but they both looked fine, so... jeepers! 

Escapees

Ooops!!! I worked today and checked my text messages and had one from Mike that the horses were loose! I think... I think... I took hay out via the pasture gate and pulled it close, but not latched behind me. And then after I dropped hay, I went back in via the stalls. So the horses managed to nudge it open and all three of them were in the front yard. Mike said he heard a noise and looked out and saw Funny and Lyric grazing in the front yard. Then he heard clip clops and went out and Dan was on the front porch investigating the cat beds and bowls. Ha ha. That sounds about right! I'm glad he didn't eat the regumate bottles I had setting out for a client to pick up! 

Luckily Mike was able to shoo them towards the garage and then got a halter and lead rope and was able to catch Dan first and put him back. Then he got the other two. Phew!! Thanks babe!