So... props to baby girl! She hasn't been ridden in... well, at least a week, probably closer to 10 days between my back and the vet conference. And then she was missing her shoe yesterday, but yay because Patrick came out that afternoon and put it back on. So... today was her first ride. I told her that I really needed her to be on her best behavior because my back wasn't up to par yet. And after I tacked her up I did put her in the roundpen for about 10 minutes and lunged her. Because, i'm not *that* stupid. :) And she was quick but settled and gave me a nice trot.
So then we headed up to the arena. I hopped on and rode with a plastic bag with clothes for Jacel. Which.. was maybe a dumb move but Funny was good. We made it to the arena and gave Jacel the bag and then walked around for a minute while she finished teaching Jean's interns. And then the horses left and the yard guy at Jeans started blowing leaves. I jokingly made the comment that "oh great.. now he's gonna start blowing leaves... when I've not ridden in a over a week, have a bad back, and am on the feral dragon horse". Sigh. Although, realistically, Funny won't care. But they were nice and went down to the culdesac to start blowing in that direction first. Phew! Just in case.
We talked a little bit and I walked Funny around and Jacel was quite impressed with how calm and chill she looked. I told her that I thought she liked this saddle much better. And Jacel liked it for me too! She said I looked like I was sitting instead of perched. Yay! So we went to work. I picked up the reins and she was able to maintain a nice walk. Then we started trotting. And she got quick, but... overall she kept a much slower and more correct tempo! Whoo hooo. She wasn't pulling with her forehand or running. We had moments where she got quick and moments when she got heavy but overall, such a dramatic difference. Whoo hoo!
We played with our counter bend and ride the shoulders in.... then when she relaxed in her neck base, we let her go true bend on the circle, and then we asked for shoulder fore and leg yield out. And we got some really nice work. Her tail lifted and arched, her back lifted, she started engaging her hocks, and she got soft in the bridle. And sure, there were moments where she went behind the vertical (especially at the end when she was getting tired) and she was still a bit chompy, but.... she actually had a connection!! And a soft reaching connection too. It was amazing!! She felt so nice and soft and ... fancy!
We cantered too. And she got a little fussy then and started throwing in some bucks and doing that propping thing a bit too. Jacel made the comment that it was just because it was hard for her to stretch her back that way. Okay... I'm sad because now I want to blame the saddle but... I forgot, she's also in heat, so... perhaps this is more ovarian pain/discomfort than anything else. And, once I ignored it and kept riding, she quit doing it and realized she felt a little better. We started with the right lead first and it got really nice. Then we went back to the trot and did shoulder in on the circle. And holy cow I could actually do it!!! Like... that's hard even on Dan but Funny was like... okay! SOOOO FANCY! So then we cantered left. And by now she was tired and starting to get cranky. But bless her, she tried. She put up some stinks about it but then settled and tried and we didn't get quite as nice of a canter as the right lead, but we got some nice work. And then she fell out of it. So we tried again and she tried for a bit but then fell out. So we rewarded her and told her how amazing she was and quit. Because.... despite some of her protests... she really did try! GOOD PONY!
Jacel went to snuggle and tell her how amazing she was and Funny was kind of like... "cool, okay, but... maybe go away now". ha ha.. I get it Funs.. I'm not a hugger either. ;) Hee hee. But I know she was glad to hear how fancy she was.
Poor girl was sweaty as it's 70 something degrees and sunny again, so... I untacked her and gave her a bath with warm water. I was hoping to be able to clip her tomorrow. I tried to let her graze in the sun while she dried, but... there really isn't any grass anywhere. And I had other things to do, so I ended up just turning her out wet still. I did at least close the roundpen so she rolled in the hay pile. So hopefully I can brush it all out tomorrow and get her clipped. Although it sounds like the temps are gonna drop again soon. BUT.... after today, I really wanted to go show. Especially because it sounds like Jacel can't come to stableview now. Darnit... So, I emailed Poplar to see if I could enter. I guess worst case scenario, I can just go school with them and come home. But it would be super fun to be able to show!
Good pony! It's getting exciting!
No comments:
Post a Comment