Oh buns... You crazy!
Or maybe I am. I decided that it was such a pretty day I was going to ride Funny. I got my thorowgood back so I had that and I had nothing else really to do. (I mean, tons I should have/could have done, but it was such a pretty day!). I had lunged her for about 10 minutes last night but she's had at least 2 weeks off, if not more because of the fat leg and life. But, why not!?
I caught her and we went to the trailer to tack up. I got her groomed and was getting the saddle on which.. is hard. She's such a potato! It's hard to get the saddle settled just right without it rolling around up there. I had just about managed to get it settled and get it almost girthed up when Danny started splashing in the water trough. We could hear it but not see it and it freaked Funny out. She started spinning and getting upset and I was trying so hard to get the girth on, but... it didn't work. I ended up pulling her saddle off at the last second before she pulled back and got free. She went trotting across the street into Arts yard and then came trotting back up to the gate as the horses were hollering at her. Funny!! YOU are usually the one making that same noise doing the same thing in the trough. Why is it scary!? But fine.. you were at the trailer... So we went back to the trailer and I tried to calm her down. It took a minute but only a minute. I managed to get her tacked up and me ready and we headed to the arena. I did pillar walks on the way up, though it was interrupted by her flirting and spinning her butt towards Dan. Gracious. I chased him off after a bit and then regretted it because now we were heading to the arena alone. Luckily (??) they all came galloping up right as I was getting to the arena, but Funny was good and didn't get rowdy.
I got her in the arena and we did some pillar work and set up the pivo. And Jean's intern was mowing the pasture so there was a lot of noise and distractions. I debated lunging first, but... didn't. So, I got on... and we walked off from the mounting block. I leaned over to check my girth.. then we walked on and then next thing I know she had dropped that front end, spun and was trying to leave! I managed to stick it and got her back. She was spooking at the woods, like she always does. I managed to get her past it and then was so glad because the pivo looked like it had caught it all. And sure enough, it did! The first 1 min and 10 sec of my ride were exciting. I had to ride a little more defensive than I had wanted to but after a bit she settled and we both softened up a bit. We had one more scoot/spook but it wasn't as bad. And she gave me some fairly lovely work too. She's starting to get better about using herself better vs hollowing and flinging that head around. There's still that too, but much less. And rather than flinging her head and threatening to rear, she was more just fussy and a hair inverted. But towards the end she got softer and even started letting me feed her the reins out and keep the lightest of connections and even was maybe lifting her back a hair. Yay! Good girl funs!
I got off and got the pivo stuff and then got back on outside of the arena in the pasture. She thought hard about being silly but I was able to growl at her and keep her behaving. We walked back to the barn in the pasture. I was not feeling quite brave enough to risk having the mower or Jean's horses make her spin and try to bolt taking the driveway home. Not today!
Then she got a vinegar rinse and got some product in her mane and tail and out she went. Good girl Funsy! You're growing up!
I got some nice still shots out of our work today which is encouraging. Of course they are only brief moments and there is plenty of fussiness in the mouth and poll, but.. more moments of good than the last ride, so yay!
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