more dressage at home

 sunday after shockwavapalooza

found a sore spot left lumbar

good ride but falling into old habits

photos still on phone

Xc schooling at pine top

 xc at pine top

photos: model, pine top schooling and on fire

dressage at home

 good ride at home. overall less quick and more balanced but maybe more braced in neck and less soft in topline. but had good moments. canters felt nice. got two lovely walk to canters. worked on our transitions being quieter. overall great ride. did some canter serpentines. leg yields. tried trot half pass. acceptable for starting out one way and not happenign the other. did some lengthenings but still not really any change except one time a slight change. worked on halts. 

good pony. 

snuggled with christy but didn't get any body work done. 

Fitness-ish Hack

 Today was COLD! So cold! And busy. We had Patrick at 7:30 this morning and it was a windchill of 24 degrees. Brrrr!!! They all got their feet done and then they got to go back out while I went inside and got feeling back to my toes and fingers. I ate a bowl of cereal and then tried to decide what I wanted to do. I was still soooo cold! But after I sat my toes in front of the space heater a bit longer I got motivated. I figured I would go ride her at Ashland because on Friday Liz was coming for a lesson and then Christy was coming for bodywork, so we can't go to Ashland then. And then on Saturday we're going XC schooling at Pine Top, so.. felt like it was a good day to go to Ashland. Plus it was cold enough that a long hack was probably better than dressage. Except by the time I got decided and warmed up enough we didn't have much time because I had a dr's appt in athens at 3:30. But we made it work.

 

We got to Ashland and I put the dressage saddle on. Dumb choice. My stirrups are too long to ride in the woods for more than a walk. They're bordering on too long in the arena, but definitely too long for the bigger trot and canter in the fields. But we made do. We did some hills and trotted a good bit. Then we had a nice canter on the gallop track. Then we went back to the cross country field and trotted into the water. I thought perhaps that since we did it a few days ago.... but nope. She slammed on the brakes and spun at the last minute. BAD Funny! Seriously... you're gonna get us a refusal for that nonsense! She danced around for a bit but finally went in and then of course she was fine to trot right in after that. Ugh. Guess we'll keep working on that! Then we did a nice pretty trot in the field and a nice pretty canter and then another nice trot. And then I had to go! 

 

But it was a nice day and we got some good work done and had fun!

Jump Day

 went to ashland to jump. whole farm to ourselves

hacked to lake - tons of turtles. then went to xc and did banks, ditches and water. water is still an issue, especially banks to water in and out today. but got it. then popped a few. stopped at triple log... darnit. i just need to ride. then jumped in stadium. trotted in between chunks. much calmer. good girl. swapping behind... pain? Stifles? ovaries? ugh...

then went back to lake and did some more trotting. scared of geese but geese were brawling. ha ha

good day!

photos: jump day

videos: geese fights

New Hacking Spot and new friend

 Went for a hack with Karen and Alf at Heritage.

good place. got lost kinda of... did the little loop twice. ha ha. whoops. fun trails, but narrow and steep but found some spots for trotting. fun bridge. funny was good with alf. made faces a few times but he was also up her butt a bit. good pony

little canter in the field at the end.

fun!

photos: heritage, cuties, and beautiful day

Pre work ride

 Okay, so... daylight savings isn't soooo bad. Although I was exhausted yesterday and ready for bed so early. I still didn't get to sleep til after 11, but.. better than midnight. I didn't have to leave for work til 10:40 am, so.. I was hoping to sneak in a ride. I got up at 7:30 and then decided to hit snooze for another 30 minutes. I got the ponies fed, ate breakfast, did some laundry and then decided I had just enough time left to ride. 

I grabbed Funny and did a speed groom and tack. I got on and we headed up to the arena. It was pretty this morning... quite warm and slightly foggy after all the rain. We did a little shoulder in at the walk and then we went to trot since time was running low. She started out quite good and overall we had a pretty decent ride. She got a little squirrely and was tossing her head a good bit, but after a little bit of an arugment, we both agreed to compromise and we got a happier connection. Tracking left is still harder, but we had some good moments. It's definitely better when my body cooperates. She got a little fussy again today and a little proppy but no bucking. (I do think that's a pre-heat thing because she's not been glaringly in heat but snuggling up close to Dan and I think I noticed her in heat today, so hopefully that's all it is). 

We cantered and the right lead canter was lovely and the left got really quite nice. Then things got a bit quicker again but I did manage some really nice trot after too. Then we played with shoulder in at the trot, and sitting trot, and she was really good! She did peter out at the end but a little bit of leg kept her going. And we tried a half pass at the walk which was decent. I forgot to try it at the trot. Oh, and we also had a most lovely upward walk to trot transition where I finally nailed the balance of asking with a whisper and not yelling at her and actually getting a response. Whoo hoo! Now to repeat that every time.

We finished with the nice shoulder in trots and then a normal lovely trot to a nice stretchy trot! Like a really nice TRUE stretchy trot... not just running on her forehand. She got bouncy!! And then we got a nice downward to the walk and a nice walk. So we quit! And then my alarm went off as we walked out of the gate. Ha! Good timing. 

 

She got untacked, treated, and then a quick rub down with the rag. Luckily she wasn't too sweaty as it was a shorter ride and still slightly cooler. I tossed her out and then went inside, changed clothes, made my coffee and was putting my shoes on when my first appointment called and cancelled. UGH!! They got stuck at work and wouldn't be home til 1, which is when my 2nd appt of the day was. Man... I could have ridden longer had you called 15 minutes ago! Or gone to Ashland had you called yesterday! But I get it... she even went to work early to make it home on time but unfortunately she got stuck there longer. Oh well. I ended up going to Hobby Lobby to get stuff to make my hellhat fancier, so that was fun.