Change of plans

Today was another day of "playing it by ear" kind of. I was supposed to meet Julia to jump. I was really hoping to take Lyric, but... alas, she's still super lame (hopefully abscess/bruise). I jumped Funny Tuesday and was likely going to jump again on Tuesday but.. I figured we could play a little bit anyways. But then when we were on the way, Julia texted and said that Player lost a shoe, so... no riding for her. No worries... I'll just do my field dressage then. 

 

We were tacking up when Laura showed up with Smartie! HI!!! She didn't want to jump with us but was coming to hang out and say hi. So... instead, her and I went on a hack. At first, admittedly, I was a little annoyed because Smarty has a big walk and Funny was fussy and jiggy. This is not helping my "plan"! Ugh. But Laura was kind and let us lead for a bit and then Funny settled and we were able to have a nice hack. It was great to catch up with her. We walked around a good bit and then she headed back and Funny and I headed out to do our trot work. 

 

We trotted the gallop track and she was pretty good. She was much less fussy in the bridle today and a few times listened to my seat aids and slowed her roll. We did a bunch of straight long trots and then took some breaks. We headed out to the cross country field and trotted around there. She got a little quicker and bracier but then settled. I really do think we're making some progress. I trotted her into the water complex twice and did two laps each way. We did a little bit of canter too. It was hot... so hot! Even being earlier in the day. There was a little breeze so it was still super hot so we didn't do a ton of work. 

 

We headed back up to the arena and I told her... just five minutes.. or less! She got a little anxious when we headed towards the arena, but I stayed calm and walked her around a bit and gave her a cookie. Then we picked up the trot and ... she was actually quite nice! I think she was so hot and tired at this point, but she stayed pretty slow and chill. GOOD GIRL!! She was a little more behind the vertical again but because she wasn't running off her feet, I was able to push her up a bit. She got a little quick at times but overall, she was much softer and slower. We did maybe 3 minutes of trotting, then I asked for a halt, got an actual halt for a few seconds and threw the reins away and gave her a cookie. Good girl! 

Maybe we are making progress!

Hee hee.. her stink eye!!