After I rode Lyric this morning and then had lunch, Mike was still in the mountains so i decided to ride Funny. But when I got back outside... in the sun.. it's soooo hot. Sooooo hot. Ugh... So I decided to take her to Ashland instead of riding at home. I figured we could use the covered arena if it wasn't any cooler there or the arena's weren't in the shade. Which means that I probably would run out of time to ride Dan, but.. I'm just over this weather. And it just felt unbearable.
So we headed to Ashland and tacked up. Sadly I didn't think about hosing her off before we loaded so she was still a bit sweaty. So minimal grooming. But luckily she wasn't too bad. We hacked to the covered in the woods and had a nice warm up walk. Thankfully the bugs weren't bad! And it was nice enough in the shade. We got to the covered and while it was still hot, it was nice to be in the shade. And there was an occasional breeze.
Funny was a bit flabbergasted at the horse in the mirror who was mimicking her but she wasn't scared.. just... couldn't quite figure it out. But I asked her to work and she did. We tried to get a nice walk before we went to the trot. And it took a bit but we did. She was kind of behind my leg today. Weird... But a nice change from feral and running. We got a nice walk and then did some shoulder in and haunches in utilizing the mirrors. Shoulder in tracking left is hard. SOOO Hard. But.. mostly for me. I don't know why I can't turn my shoulders left! Once I did, she could, but.. man.. that's so hard for me! Weird...
We picked up the trot and got a nice trot with a little bit of work. She was a bit more chompy and fussy today but when I remembered to soften and float my hands towards her, she got softer and quieter. And not quicker today, which was nice. Mostly. We played with leg yields and shoulder in. Leg yielding right is harder too. She wan'ts to cock her head. I think it's mostly that I can't get her into the outside/right rein. But maybe I should have paid attention to my shoulders too! And she was a bit fussy/hollow overall again. But we had some good moments. And we played with the trot walk trot and had some acceptable ones.
We did some canter work too. And the upward transitions are getting really nice. If I sit back and on my outside seat bone, she rocks back and loads and goes into the canter and lifts! Instead of flinging into it. Ahhh! Nice! The canters felt pretty good today and we were able to do some shallow serpentines, though the right lead is harder to hold in the counter canter serpentine part. We also played with changing across the diagonal through the trot. She got a bit bolty so we had to do that a few times but got it. I have to stay back and not fling myself forward, thus flinging her forward.
We finished with some more trot and walk work and then some centerlines. She nailed her centerline and halts today! Quite square, even though it took her a bit longer than it should have to settle into the square halt.
We headed back home and took the slightly long route. It was nice and peaceful. She got hosed off and wasn't that sweaty. Sweaty enough but... a bit concerning considering how much Lyric and Dan sweat. But maybe she's just fitter and since we were in the covered... She didn't feel that hot to the touch and was snacking, so... I'll keep an eye on it. She drank from the hose and made me giggle.
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