Redemption and Rewards

Okay.. today was MUCH better! I CAN do this! She can do this. WE CAN DO IT!

 

We started up to the arena and she stopped a few times. I started to get irritated and was like... nope... so instead of pulling on her, I made her back up. Then another step. Then another. All the polite soft way like we learned last weekend. Start with a 1. Then a 2. Then a 3. And then she followed me the rest of the way without stopping. We did a lap or two of pillar walking and pillar 3 and then I got on. My saddle feels like it's slipping to the right hard core but... I really hate that stupid girth. And I'm really feeling like I'm sitting way too deep in this saddle. BUT... mine is in Tasida's hands so she's going to ship it Monday! YAY!!! So anyways... I told her that if she was a good girl and we had time, we would do a hack either around the field or the neighborhood. And she was good. We started simple and focused on halting from the walk. That seemed much more solid than yesterday and we did lots of positive reinforcement with cookies. 

 

So then we practiced turns and did some serpentines and figure 8's and riding between the two barrels and then to the 2nd "hole" in the ground poles, etc. And she was good. She was really listening to my leg aids and body aids (mostly). I played a little bit with inflating and deflating and.. she's the opposite of Lyric. She definitely is easier to inflate. BUT I decided to use that to my advantage. And wondered a little bit if perhaps I'm just expecting Funny to be duller than she is. Maybe part of the reason she's running is because my legs aren't still or quiet. Maybe she thinks I'm asking her too. So, by getting a trot just by thinking and allowing it to happen, she was a little more chill. Then I tried hard to use my legs for bend only, not speed. And... she gave me a little western cow pony jog for a few seconds. Good girl. And then it was a normal trot. We managed to spend at least half of our ride in a nice forward but not running trot with good steering off my leg and a little leading rein, and responding to my soft half halts by literally checking herself and her speed and then halting or walking by my rein aids and deflating aids. We played with serpentines across the short sides. We played with figure 8's and some circles. And she was really getting supple even to the left. And definitely not chomping and some licking and chewing. She was relaxed mostly and fairly low in her poll and neck. It was kind of awesome actually. Like... so awesome that I thought about cantering. And I did. Only the right lead and I didn't really ask..more just tried to inflate and she went into it. However, I think because she was unsure because I wasn't *asking* and/or maybe she's still a little sore and/or maybe she's still a little afraid it might hurt... she fell out of it after a few strides. We trotted to rebalance and then she got quick. So we did a downward and then a few walk to halts to walks and backups and then went back to the trot. It was pretty quick and animated BUT... I was able to get her to breathe again and come back down fairly quickly. We spent another 5ish minutes or so getting her relaxed and calm so that I could feel good about ending the ride. We found a good place with a nice soft relaxed trot circle each way and then we were done. I did make her stand at the gate which aggravated her and we spent a lot of time dancing. But girl.. you have to be still for me to safely get it! I did manage to get us out and we headed down the driveway. I had the bridle over my shoulder just in case, but we were brave and headed to the lake in the rope halter. She was a little wiggly going out and spooked and thought about spinning and heading towards home at the troll tunnel. But she didn't and she was brave so we went past it and then turned around and headed back. She was good and chill and much more straight heading home. GOOD PONY!

 

Later that afternoon Lexi came and I decided to have her work on Funny. As much as I wanted to give Dan help.. his suspensories were bothering him, he's walk only for another 4 weeks at least, and he was getting shockwaved again today... I figured the girls would probably benefit more today. So... Funny got to see Aunty Lexi. She did well! She was only a little wiggly and mouthy. She was cracking us up. She's just like Dan. She was mutual grooming me with her sandpaper nose and wiggling it on my face and chin. Then she wanted Lexi to scratch her hocks, so she would lift her hind leg, look back at her leg and then Lexi would scratch her. If Lexi quit, Funny would slowly turn and look at her and stare into her like.... "peasant... back at it"!. Hee hee. We were cracking up. And when she wasn't demanding scratches, she was chewing on the cat bed, the box on top of the fridge, the fridge... Funny!!! You can tell her and Dan are related! Lexi focused on her back mostly and got some good releases. Especially in the beginning. Funny was digging it. Of course I think, like Dan, her ADD kicked in and towards the end she was more into entertaining herself and getting scratched, but she was still releasing some. She also got some nice releases in her poll. So yay! Hopefully that will help her out. I debated shockwaving her because.. maybe her SI joints were still sore... but I opted not to. It's expensive to run that thing and I wasn't sure it was needed. I know it can't hurt, but... I don't know. I opted not to. 

 

Hopefully I can get in two rides this weekend and then I'll see what Jacel thinks on Tuesday and then decide if she still needs another vet visit or if I just need to stay the course and work our way back up to the canter again.