Odd weather today! Actually, not as odd as it's gonna get tomorrow! Its' supposed to be mid 70s tomorrow and in the 30's by Monday morning! With a wind chill of 26. Wowza!! Today was not nearly that bad but... it was nice and humid and muggy and 78 and sunny this morning after some rain last night and fog early this morning. So after I ate a late lunch, I grabbed Funs and we headed to Ashland to enjoy the nice weather. Except... it was looking a little dark out in the distance. And then the radio did that screaching alarm and told us about a severe thunderstorm with high winds and hail. But it was way far away, so... we carried on.
We got to Ashland and tacked up and headed out. The skies were looking a little dark one way but bright and sunny the other. We started out in the XC field and I figured I should do what I said I was going to do... and walk her over the banks, ditches, and water and water banks. So we did. We definitely need to do more of that. She was weird about walking down the bank again... and was really weird and fussy about walking down the bank into water. She'll trot and canter down easier than walk down. BUT... she needs to understand it. I told her she has to use her brain too, not just her athleticism and then she'd be truly unstoppable! So we did that a few times. The ditches were easy. :)
Then we went for a hack. .We did a little trotting and she was super quick so I tried to get her to go slower using my post and my core and my seat. And then a little bit my rein aids. We got some good stuff but also some faster stuff. We did lots of walking with a nice stretch in her neck and back and a good march. We crossed the creeks. And she got squirrely and rushed the big creek so we took a moment to stand in it and think about it. Brains baby girl.. you've got them, so let's use them!
We started to hear thunder and then... felt some drops. Luckily it was mostly a light rain and since we were mostly in the woods, it wasn't bad at all. I let her canter up a few paths, which was fun. We got some lead changes.
Then we finished with a few circles in the arena. She was actually quite lovely! Not super quick and fairly soft and lovely! Whoo hoo! Good girl. We even had a decent halt on centerline. She got cookies and we called it quits.
On our way home we stopped to get gas but had to stop at 3 gas stations! Good gravy! And by the looks of the roads, it POURED buckets here at home. When we made it home Mike said it was bad here.. the power went out a few times even. So... we got lucky being at Ashland. I'm glad I didn't end up at Charlie Elliott today. I almost turned and went there but since I didn't have my gun and was by myself, I figured Ashland was the safer choice. Good call weather wise!
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