Feral!

 Funny came out HOT today! 

    

I probably should have planned ahead better but my plans keep having to shift and... I just can't seem to stay ahead of it quick enough to make things a little better. But it worked out. I was supposed to meet Sharon at 10 this morning to ride. I ended up getting up earlier than I thought because the ponies were tap dancing outside their stalls, so.. I got up and fed them. Then I had breakfast.. and then I thought... well, might as well head to Ashland and maybe I can get in a flat ride before Sharon gets there! So that was my plan. Except... somehow that equated to me only getting there at 9:40 am instead of 10, and then Sharon was about 5 minutes early, so... I wasn't even fully tacked up when she showed up. But I told her that Funny was a bit feral this morning so I was going to just go take the edge off while she tacked up and for her to come to the arena when she was ready. 

   

So Funny and I headed over and she was motoring! I managed to get a decent walk, albeit forward and maybe a bit too bold. I don't think it was quick though... she felt like she was in a good balance, just... motoring! We did a few minutes of walk work and then I picked up the trot and oooh boy. She was itching to go! I know, I know... we were supposed to be schooling XC at Chatt today. I'm sorry!! Plans had to change. But I promise (pending things out of my control) we'll go XC schooling at Ashland tomorrow instead. But you have to settle today. So.... she disagreed. She wasn't naughty... she was just very forward and very quick. So we did some spiral in and spiral out. And she was very stiff tracking left. I kept trying to soften my body and it helped. We managed to get a better trot with a better tempo. 

   

So then we did some leg yields to help slow her down. And leg yielding to the left was good.. but leg yielding right was hard. She kept bracing and throwing her head up. I tried a few things and eventually realized.. I needed to soften my hands. I honestly thought she was softly in the contact and I was satying soft, but when I softened almost to no connection... she stopped bracing. So.... either, she's that sensitive and soft and I need to be even softer, or... she's just avoiding the contact. But... her posture and topline felt much better so.. maybe it's better even if there is no contact. I'll have to remind myself to go back to super soft contact and see if that makes a difference for the next ride. Because... Sharon was ready to go right after we got a nice happy leg yield to the right. I was torn... part of me desperately wanted to ride more and get more "work" done, but... I also felt bad and didn't want to be rude to Sharon AND.... Funny was good so I should probably reward her. So... I praised her and we hit the trails. 

   

She was motoring! Until we hit the first hill and then she settled down. We aimed for some hills today and we also did some trotting and cantering. It was fun. And Funny was a good girl. We saw a ton of deer and for some odd reason today, a ton of armadillo! Funny didn't seem to mind them. She just did her usual twitch and carry on. By the time we got back to the arena's, I was starving, and the urge to do more "work" had dissipated anyways. So we untacked and headed home. 

 

Good pony!