Fitness with Funny

 Lunged yesterday so didn't want to do today. Took her for a walk instead. Jogged a few times. loose lead the whole time. Saw the dog... the dog on the golf cart... the dog in the car... a few other cars.. good girl!

Feeling Better!

Funny got lunged today and she must be feeling better! She was much less cranky and much sassier than her last lunging session. Ha ha. She was a good girl though! I walked her up to the arena and none of the other horses came to hang out with us. So rude! But she was so brave and didn't care. 

I put the nylon cavesson on her because the leather one is just soooo heavy. And she's a good girl and doesn't mind the bit, so.. until my new one comes... (hopefully that one will work with the bit too) I'll alternate between them. We did a few minutes of our pillar work and pillar 3. I also did a little bit of chest lifts. I think I need to start doing more of these with all my horses. 

So then we went to lunging. Still a tiny bit of sass, but definitely not the way she was at her last lunging. There was no ugly faces and no real unhappiness. She still tracks with her haunches wide laterally no matter which direction, so we worked on that. It takes her a bit, but once she gets going... she starts to straighten up and track her tracks. And then we went left... and she got loose... and ran like a fool. Oh baby girl! She let me catch her fairly quickly and went right back to work. We even did a few walk to trot to walk to trot transitions. :) 

We didn't work too long and then did our psoas stretch. Good girl! Mostly. ;) 

And then I turned them out in the dog pen field and she drank and ISN'T SHE THE CUTEST!!! Her little ears work just like Dan's when he drinks. :) 

Grumpy Pants

Bunny was a grumpy girl today. I'm not sure if she was sore from yesterday... just not feeling it.... or maybe not feeling great. I noticed that her snotty nose is back. But she seems fine otherwise. 

I worked Dan first today and then grabbed her. When I put the cavesson on with the bit she sort of bit my finger for the cookie. I didn't even react but she did and sort of flailed and went back. I managed to keep the cavesson on her head but the bit fell out, so maybe she got bumped in the mouth? I don't know. She let me put it back on okay without any issues. We then did a few minutes of pillar work and then went to lunging. 

She was good, but... she was making some serious angry faces today. And not just sassing me, but... very much angry mare faces. So... I pushed her out and made her work. And she didn't get loose. And she settled and was a good girl, but she just... lacked her spark today. So we kept it very short. I got a few good circles each way and then we pretty much quit. 

She acted fine otherwise and was her snuggly self at dinner time, so.. who knows!? But between her snots coming back and Dan's cough getting worse again, I ordered some Excede. So hopefully that will get rid of it. 

Big Girl doing Big Girl Things

 Funny was a star today. And sassy. ;) 

We headed to Rana's for lessons and baby girl loaded first on the trailer! Granted, I had Dan standing there, but still! She walked in on her own. When we got to Rana's I turned her out first and she ran a bit, but she wasn't crazy and didn't call much when Dan and I were riding. 

Her turn! She got to wear her new amaranth saddle pad which looks so good on her! We saddled her up and put the cavesson on and worked on some lunging. She was very good, although at one point she side eyed me and looked like she really was thinking about throwing her haunches in at me and kicking. But she didn't. She intimated that she COULD have.... but she didn't. Good girl! She also did a few head sasses and side eyes in general, but.. no rearing, no getting loose and no bucking. Yay! Good girl. But she is crooked so we had to fix that. She started VERY crooked but she settled fairly quickly into a more straight line up. 

• Tracking right:
• She falls in onto her right shoulder and twists/drops her withers. 
• To correct that I have to pull her nose in, which pushes her withers back up. Yes it is kind of ugly looking and no, it won't stay that way. I won't ride that way. But for now, to get her in balance we have to over bend her nose to the right. But don't hold... pull and release. And as soon as she softens and straightens, I can let her nose out more and let her travel as long as she can hold it straight. 
• Push her shoulder out. Aim my intensity (whip and shoulders) at her withers/shoulders. 
• Use my body posture to help. Step out towards her to push her back and keep her from falling in. 
• Tracking Left:
• She flings her right shoulder out, which then centrifugally pushes her haunches out. This way she's flinging herself around the circle because she isn't bending. 
• Hold her in, but don't hold her... pull and release. And when she twists her head, use the cavesson line to help straighten her out. But again, releasing quickly. 
• Aim my intensity for her rib cage. Push her barrel out into a bend and push at the same time I half halt my lunge line. 
• Get a hair in front of her to slow her down/half halt her because when she gets faster, she gets more out of balance. 

Overall though she did great. It took us a few circles, but we finished with a very balanced and happy girl! And then, because she was so good, she got to wear the back on track sheet on the way home. 

 

Soooo much Sass... and SOOOOO FANCY!

 Lunging during the rainy day

got loose

went flying around, but DAMN that girl can move

flying changes with ease. extreme extension and reach

but then lunged nicely and got a lovely almost collected trot with nice action on her own

SPICY muppet!!

 Adventuring!

Loaded first!! SOOOO excited to go adventuring! 

Met Nugget and Reo and went for a long hack. A little spicy.. tried to kick a few times and reared up once. 

trotted up hoot and holler while the girls went and cantered up the other path

then played on the xc field. Did the medium ditch.. jumped it on her own. medium up bank and down bank. Got loose once but just ate. trotted a log...

Played in the lake. Rolled repeatedly. Splashed. Had a blast. Got soaked (warm now but temps dropping tonight!)

Wouldn't load up first to go home but easily loaded second. 

Big girl stuff

 Poor Buns... she hasn't had any fun or attention all week! So despite the fact that it was cold, wet, windy, and icky... I took her for a short walk. 

We went out to the barn aisle and then down the culdesac. We worked on pillar 1. Man is she good at that! We did some pillar 2 and 3 and she did well with that too. We also did the pillar 3 in motion stuff around the curve of the culdesac and I added a little "inside leg" to help her figure out that for the future. Then, we did big kid stuff and leg yielded down the street. She was pretty good at it!! Good girl!

This weekend I'll probably take her to Ashland and pony her so she can have some more fun. :) And who knows... maybe I'll try to teach her to paint!

The weather had everyone snarly today. ;) 

FOMO

 Oh Funny bunny! You're not missing out. Being a grown up is not all it's cracked up to be! 

 

I rode Dan today and we meandered through the pasture. Funny joined in and followed us to the arena and then snuck in. Hee hee. Okay.. that's fine. She kept up with us at the walk for our warm up. But then once we started trotting, she was like "yeah.. I'll just do my own thing over here okay?!". :) 

 

 

After we were done Dan and I left and she didn't follow us out. Ugh. I called and called and she came up to the gate but wouldn't leave. "NO!!! I want to play.. I want a turn". Finally I walked Dan to the far corner of the pasture and then trotted back towards the barn and she finally came galloping up. Hee hee. We headed back and shut the gate. 

   

Unfortunately I ran out of time to work her, but she at least had a little bit of excitement to her day. :)