I had a migraine last night so I took a pill and slept from about midnight til 8 something this morning and then I fell back asleep until 9:30! YAY! The ponies let me sleep too! So it took me a minute to get motivated this morning. Plus it was windy and getting chilly. I did some laundry, did the dishes, and ate breakfast after I fed ponies. And then I almost sat down on the couch and took a nap, but opted to get up and get moving. I picked up some of the blankets in the barn and blew out the aisle, which helped the barn look much cleaner! Then I decided to go do some work with Lyric. So I did that. Then I finally decided I was motivated enough to ride Funny! I debated riding at home, but... since Mike was out dirt biking and I might not have my trailer on Tuesday or Friday and I probably need to see if it's going to stop running well again or not, I decided to take her to Ashland. And lo and behold, no one was signed up. Odd.. although it is a high of 43 with the wind chill and 20 mph winds, so.. maybe that's why?!
We loaded up and got there and tacked up. I took her for a short hack around pterydactyl lake to warm up. She was jumpy and scooted a few times at various noises. She was jumpy enough that I decided to wait til we were in the arena to adjust my stirrup. My right leg is definitely way longer becuause I felt like my right knee was way higher than my left and my left foot was reaching. Once we got to the arena, I hopped off because the wind had blown about 8 pieces of the arena rail into the arena. And it's easier to adjust her stirrups that way. It definitely looked shorter, so.. I have no idea what is happening. The saddle looked straight. Oh well. I fixed it and felt more symmetrical myself.
We did a nice walk warm up getting a good walk on contact. Then we picked up the trot and she was really quite good. Then she got a little quick and a bit more inverted and leaning. But we managed to get some pretty decent work. And then I let her process at a halt. It took a good long bit. Although she was also distracted by all the things. Including the wind blowing the lower arena rails around! She jumped and scooted but then stared and held her ground. Good girl. We managed to have a decent ride. The canter got a little quick at first but then it got quite nice. And then we had struggles in the walk. I think she gets quick and jiggy and then I sort of "lock up" my back and pelvis which she perceives and gets super tight and wiggly. If I swung my pelvis forward, she would start marching forward again. So it's a fine line of keeping myself tight and dribbly, especially in the trot and canter, but not too tight and locked so I shut her down and make her feel confined and like she has to explode. But I sort of managed it and we got some really nice walk work too. Overall, we had some good work, including some semi-decent shoulder ins and one good working to lengthen to working trot! And some nice regular trot and canter too. We finished with a lovely trot both ways and then a nice centerline to halt.
I quit with that and we headed back out to the woods. I decided to take a little more time and we went behind the stadium ring to where the deer attacked us before. She was a little on edge but no deer today! Then we went backwards up towards "hog heaven" and then down "sideways". Then we crossed the creek and did racoon loop. I was thinking about Mike and how he was making videos to show me the trail so I tried to make a video for him. But my phone won't let you swap from front to back mid video so I had to do a dual screen. And as we picked up the canter up racoon loop, the pterydactyl swoooped off! It startled Funny and she broke to a trot but then she was fine. It was kinda cool!
Then we headed to the lake and headed back up alongside the lake. It was so windy that the lake actually had little whitecaps! Ha ha.. Never seen that before on this lake I don't think.
We had a good ride and I'm glad we headed out. In the arena, protected by the wind, it was almost hot. But then in the woods and in the fields it was still fairly chilly. But not terrible. Especially compared to what tomorrow is gonna be! Which, I'll be working anyways, but still. I think Tuesday will be cool and then it'll rain Wednesday but by this weekend it's gonna be sunny and in the 70's again.
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