Soggy arena ride

 

We rode at home today. And... while it was a good ride, he wasn't quite right feeling. I couldn't tell if he was lame... it was super subtle. He was just struggling a little bit in the right lead canter. He felt disunited and not as willing. I had to keep after him. And his tongue came out once. And in the trot, he felt a little bit like he wasn't wanting to lift his back. But... he was good and trying. And we got some butt foam. So.... I don't know. It wasn't bad enough to stop or pinpoint where, but... I just felt like he was struggling a little bit today.

 

We did see a turtle in the culdesac on our way to the arena. :) He didn't care. The turtle... and Dan. Neither of them cared. 

 

And... he's a goober. He was distracting me while I was riding Lyric. Hee hee1

 

Finally!

Finally!! It's been a week since I've ridden Danny. And I think he missed me! He's been a bit more willing to hang out and a bit more "hovery". :) I love you too bubs! 

  

We headed to Ashland after I got back from the vet with Lyric. And we had a lovely ride! We took a nice long hack in the woods and fields. We saw some deer... and saw the goslings! Still 6 babies! Yay. Then we went to the XC field and did the water treadmill. It was deep with the rain!

  

Then we headed to the arena to do a little bit of our "collected" work and our canters. He was good! His canters are feeling better and better. And I'm getting better at my aids. We got the "wrong lead" on purpose both times on the rail and then he held the shallow (but not quite as shallow) serpentine and even held the right lead around the short side tracking left. Our walk to canters are nice but the canter to walks are struggling a little. It's better when it's more of a single step to change leads, although we're still strung out. But progress!! We played with the trot half passes too. 

 

Then we headed up to the jump arena to cool off. I couldn't help myself... there was one green vertical that was low... maybe 2'. Maybe 2'3". So we trotted it. And then we cantered it. Wheee. He felt good and wasn't panicking. Then we explored the woods above the stadium arena because Dan wanted to go straight up the hill! Okay dude! 

 

He was a very good boy and we had fun! 

 

 

 

 

Change of plans

Today was a crazy day! I had a plan... ride Funny at home... then ride Dan at home... then meet Kelli at Ashland with Lyric. And I was running a little behind because I had to pick up my contacts. But I got Funny ridden. I was walking out to the pasture with the halter and decided that I would change into a tank top as the sun had come out and it was getting HOT! So I went inside and when I came back out... the three younguns were galloping across the pasture like fools! It was like a darn strip show! Funny literally cantered out of both hind fly boots... Dan's fly mask was off... and Lyrics came off too! I have no idea what set them off... maybe it was just for fun? They finally stopped and when I walked up they were literally panting and sweating! ha ha. Goobers. I went to catch Dan but was giving everyone a cookie and realized Lyric had lost TWO SHOES! A front left and a right hind. Seriously girl!? Ugh... Okay, well... can't ride you today then. Darnit. So... I guess I'll take Dan to Ashland instead. But since we were meeting Kelli, I gave them the cookies and then headed back to the house. I had given myself barely enough time for a short ride on Dan at home and would be able to make it to meet Kelli if I ate lunch on the way to Ashland. So.. this way, I could at least eat lunch at home and not rush. So I left them to decompress and went to eat.

 

Unfortunately Kelli and I miscommunicated so I didn't realize she was running way late and had Dan loaded up and was pulling out before I realized she was going to be at least an hour. Doh! Okay, well... at this point.. I'm already committed. Plus I texted Patrick and he said he could come by this evening so I didn't want to wait and potentially miss Patrick, since it was amazing that he was coming today! 

 

So... we got there and tacked up and headed out for a nice hack by ourselves. I told Kelli to text when she got there and we'd come back up and meet her. So we headed out and had a blast. We did some trotting, some cantering... we played on the gallop track (but no galloping yet). We did our water treadmill therapy. Then we headed back to meet Kelli and saw 5 goslings in the beaver dam area with their parents. yay! 

 

We met Kelli and again, I thought she was going to be tacked up already but she had just gotten there... so we hung out and chatted a bit while she tacked up and then we headed to the arena. We did some dressage work and he was pretty darn good! He was more bent in his body today it felt like. But the canter was harder. He didn't really want to stay in the canter. We did some shallow serpentines and I think... I really think... he did a clean flying change from the right lead to the left! I wasn't asking for it... and he was supposed to be doing a shallow serpentine, but I'm pretty sure it was clean! Neato!! Another time he swapped in front. But then he also held the counter canter too. His trot and lateral work was good though. And at times he got a little bouncy! It's hard to tell if he's getting collected and sitting or if he's trying to avoid work or... both? But no tongue. And he felt a bit like he was excited too! 

 

So then we went for a short cool down hack to the lake and back. It was a good day! We made up for our week off of riding with a really long ride today. :)