Crazy girl

 

Funny was crazy today! ha ha. She's in heat and she is such a slut! Dan lost a shoe so Patrick came by today to put it back on. And when I went to put him back in the stalls, I was lazy and just put him in the same stall as Funny...figuring they would walk past each other and move on with life. I didn't realize she was so in heat that she would accost him! She literally body slammed her hips into him, squatted and peed... practically on him. He was trying to get away and she was chasing him in circles with her ass! FUNNY!!! That's so gross! They finally figured it out and he bit her hard on the ass and escaped. Ha ha. Jeesh... maybe I do need regumate on board! Good golly!

   

Luckily she simmered down and there were no more incidents (at least that I was aware of). I ended up taking her to Ashland after I fed them an early dinner. She was good and it was so pretty out. There was a nice breeze with a chill to it because we were between storms. We went for a hack and did some trotting out in the fields and in the woods. She was actually quite nice and didn't feel so fast and quick and more balanced on her hiney. I'm not sure if she actually was.. or she just felt like she was because she wasn't in an arena/a confined space. So I figured I would use it to my advantage! Put that muscle memory on board as much as I could. She was also quite brave and smart and quite silly and spooky in the same ride. She got a vine caught up in her leg for a few steps and didn't panic. Just walked on and freed herself. Then a rabbit bolted out from practically underneath her and she didn't flinch. A big squirrel jumped out across our path... nothing. BUT... she spooked hard at that stupid chair and there was one other thing... a traffic cone I think... or a giant rock. Something silly. 

 

 

 

 

But I did want to play in the arena too so after a hack we headed up there. She was pissed! She seriously got mad and balky and pinned her ears. Okay.... but like... why? I've treated you for ulcers... treated your stifles... your saddle has been approved by two fitters.... you're clearly in heat so not stuck in limbo... although, I suppose being in heat could be problematic. But you were fine trotting about in the field... a happy camper. So... we went in and did some work. Overall, she was a little better than it has been. But still not great. We did manage to get some decent trot work, although today she was very resistant to bending left. But she also got her omeprazole injection on the left side of her neck on Sunday so maybe she was a little sore from that. She is quite lumpy. She did kick out and squeal once and threatened to be naughty but didn't. Sigh... She just is so quick! But I did get some nice shoulder ins and some nice leg yields. When she does lateral work, she slows down. Yay! The canter was pretty bad though. Just running and slinging her head around. She's also wanting to curl behind the vertical again, especially in the trot. I can get her to be soft without hardly any contact... but then she gets a little rushy. But if I try to ask for contact, she goes behind the vertical or braces. Sigh.. we did our ten meter circles which also helped... lots and lots of ten meter circles. I also tried to get her to lengthen across the diagonal and then shorten again on the rail. She liked the lengthen part but then got a bit too big. But coming back is hard. Sigh... I'll have to go back to Dan's blog and look... fairly certain I had the same struggle with him and today he was giving me the nicest sit with a soft subtle half halt, so.. surely, surrrreeeeellllyyyy I'll eventually get a nice flat ride with Funny too. Right?? RIGHT??? I do feel like she's worse than he was, but... maybe it's just me being in the moment. 

 

We finished with a decent trot and then I decided to see if I could get a nice trot in the woods again, so we headed out. She spooked hard at the chair by the announcers booth. Super hard! But did go touch it so that was good. Then we trotted up to the stadium arena and trotted around that flat area in the grass. It wasn't as good as it was in the field originally but it was a little better-ish than the arena. So... I got a good trot and then quit and we walked home. As we walked back, I decided to try to do a micro walk. And it worked! Without having to use too much rein aids. I just... held my core and thought about holding with my body. I closed my thighs and closed my fingers on the reins and... she slowed her walk!! It was probably not a slow walk but a normal walk. More controlled and thoughtful vs just flinging herself along. So we played with that. I let her have her normal flowy walk for a bit, then we went back to microwalking. Then back to normal, then back to microwalking. Hmmmmm.... I'm wondering if I should spend a good bit of time this summer OUT of the arena and just working on strengthing that hind end in the fields and woods and getting our microwalks on the trail and then a decent trot on the trail. Might be worth a shot. Although at some point, she and I really need to figure this dressage out because... she's talented. And... I don't want to just show jump. I want to do cross country with her. And honestly, I do like dressage. I want to dressage her too! But by golly we've got to figure it out because it's just no fun for either of us right now. 

 

We headed home under a beautiful sunset and realized when we got to the neighborhood that we didn't get rained on at Ashland despite it POURING here. yay!