Much Improved!

  

Ahhhh.... Today was our last day of vacation. We pretty much got up, packed up and drove home. Sadness. I do miss the "beach time" laziness. But it was good to get home and see the animals. Funny seemed to be the only horse that missed me. She came up for snuggles and cookies and then got rinsed off. And hung out a bit. Dan and Lyric did come say hi too but didn't hang out as much. 

After I unloaded and got some laundry done and sat for a bit... it was soooo dang hot!... I finally decided that perhaps I would go for a hack at Ashland. I debated which horse to bring. Funny seemed like she was bored and the most likely to volunteer as tribute. But I do have a lesson with her and Liz in the morning... of course I also have a lesson with Lyric and Jacel tomorrow too. And I thought about Dan because... he would love a nice hack and I may need to get him working so that he's not been sitting around for his vet appointment. But... I decided that Funny was probably the best choice. She hasn't been to Ashland as recently as the others.... I could take Dan tomorrow for a hack, but not her..... she seemed the most eager... so, that's what we did. 

   

We had the farm to ourselves. Guess it's too hot and buggy for everyone. Or it's just... Monday. I put on the dressage saddle and we headed out. We tried to stay in the shade but the bugs were bad in parts so we had to be in the open field some. She was a super good girl. For not having been ridden in a week, she just walked along on the buckle for most of the ride. We did some trotting in the fields and she was very big and quick. It's hard to post in a dressage saddle when she's got her "outdoor" trot. Hee hee. I tried to get her small, but it wasn't really happening. We did have fun though. And we had a good canter. 

 

I let her go in the lake and was going to let her splash but she wasn't that interested in splashing. The geese were floating by and she was intrigued! She might have thought about rolling though, so I added some leg and she walked out. The bugs were bad so I decided to go to the XC field and walk the banks. We did. We even did the big one! Up and down. She is getting a little better at non-water banks and judging them okay. So then we trotted in the field and trotted into the water. I walked her up out of the baby bank and she wanted to lunge at it. And she almost didn't get her hind leg up and maybe slid a bit. Girl!! This is why we need to slow the banks down and get you to fully understand how they work. So we tried a few more times. She definitely wants to rush them. I tried my best to make her walk them and get to the base. She launches from so far back that she's going to end up face planting into it one day because her front feet around going to land on the top! 

 

So then I tried to do some flat work in the field. She was a bit fresh and quick and big. I was just fighting with her. So I decided to do the water treadmill and she got quite nice in there. And then we came back out and tried to trot again and I realized I was hanging on her with both reins. Arghhh. you can't do that Holly! That's why she braces and runs! Duh. So if I held the outside rein but LET GO on the inside rein... she was really quite lovely and soft and round. Yay! So we did about 5 minutes of the nice trot. It was actually pretty consistently nice too. It may have been a bit "big" for the dressage arena but it was round and balanced and she was sitting more. So  yay! We did a little canter and then we trotted up the hill and headed home. Good girl!

   

I figured she was thirsty so when I went to hose her off she was trying to drink from the hose. Except someone drove over it or stepped on it and it was spraying in 17 different directions, so I tried to give her a bucket. She was licking it like a dog. Ummmm.... girl! What's wrong with you? Just drink like a horse! It's gonna take you forever to get enough water to quench your thirst this way you wierdo! We walked over to the other spigot so I could spray her off more effectively and I grabbed a bigger bucket. Maybe she feels claustrophobic?? But nope... she kept lapping it, like a dog. I actually am wondering if I need to be concerned. She does drink from the trough normally though. Right?? I mean, I'm not imagining it... I don't know if it's claustrophobia?? I guess maybe I'll have to try a wider bucket. Although I did try the small tiny water trough at the last horse show and she wasn't interested. Maybe a muck bucket? Maybe I have to pull her halter off so she can drink? Although she does drink with her halter on in the pasture trough... I'm pretty sure... She did drink tonight after dinner and while I didn't get up there quite quick enough to make sure she was drinking instead of lapping, it looked like she had been actually drinking... 

Oh, and... when we got home and I unloaded her from the trailer... her shoe edge got caught on the little trim piece of metal that bolts the edge of the rubber liner on the ramp down. And she pulled it off. She peeled it like a carrot skin... The whole piece of metal came back off the ramp with her, as she flew down it. She twisted and contorted that metal and because it was attached, she kept backing. I finally got her stopped a few feet off the ramp and when she stopped, the metal piece fell off. Thank goodness it didn't cut her! It didn't even really mess up her shoe. Just pulled some of the packing material out. Dang! That was lucky. But jeesh....