Winter Music

Dangit! I'm running out of daytime! And it's too darn cold early in the morning. I did manage a quick roundpen session though. At sunset.  We did some pillar work and walked the zigzag poles to the two raised poles a few times. We did a short serpentine pole. And then we jogged in hand for 3 minutes each way and then lunged for 3 minutes each way. She's getting the hang of "out" and starting to step to the outside vs falling in. That's nice! She seemed happy too and not anxious or stressed today. I did the tail circles and the head wiggle and got some releases and she didn't seem to stress. And she looks softer in her topline again today, so yay!  After that I got the shockwave machine out and we did her third session on her back. I opted to not do her sternum although maybe I should have. Oh, and her red light mat came tonight so hopefully I'll get a chance to try it out tomorrow or Thursday. 

So.. it's cold. So cold! And we got that snow yesterday, although it really wasn't enough to make it a problem other than possibly on the roads. I mean.. there wasn't snow on the roads, but I did worry a little bit about the roads having random ice patches in the shade and such. I wasn't going to ride because it was just too bitter cold.    But then... I went out to toss hay and... it was kind of warming up.. So... I thought, well... let's just go see what the arena looks like. As much as I wanted to haul and go ride, I figured that it was not a great idea. Between my truck having issues, the risk for ice, and the fact that there probably wasn't enough snow on the ground at Ashland to justify the risk for mediocre photos... not worth it. BUT... I could ride at home.    So I walked out there and the arena was fine. I had decided that I could try to use my cheap plastic flower pots that all my plants came in.. that I couldn't bring myself to throw away but wer...

SNOW DAY!!  If you could call it that. ;) I mean.. it did snow. It started about 8 am and snowed very lighty fluffy dry flakes for about an hour or so... then stopped. And it was bitter cold! Then the winds picked up and started blowing the snow around and then it started up again and snowed for multiple hours. It was enough to cover parts of the ground but not enough to cover the pastures. Not like last year! At least not here... Kelli got a ton, as did Liz. And man was it COLD!! So cold! I think the wind chill was 5 degrees at the lowest! BRRR.. I did lock them in for a few hours to let them drink some water because their trough kept freezing over and based on the lack of hoofprints near the heated water, they weren't drinking that. I figured if i put them in their stalls with hay and the heated water buckets maybe they would drink. So they stayed in for about 4 hours. And meh... they maybe drank a tiny bit. But as soon as I turned them out, Lyric marched right up to the trough, ...

Today we had time for a quick lunge in the roundpen. We did our pillar walking, then the zigzag poles. Then we trotted in hand and did some lunging. She was good but it's harder to get her stretching and soft and reaching tracking left. We did.. it just takes a little longer for her to go there. We did a few transitions to walk and walked the poles, then back up to trot. I did five minutes each direction and then another two laps to the left as she was starting to stretch better. She seemed happy and soft in her neck but tight in her back again. Although it's a bit harder to tell because I had to run with her instead of being able to stand back and lunge. She just... doesn't move out as much when I'm in the middle of the circle vs next to her. We finished with her stretches and she was a bit better in the back but not willing to do her belly lifts. And at the end of the work and during the stretches she got a bit fussy and chewy again. I didn't have any gear on her ...

 photos: 1-26 cold lunge  and 1-26 napping  good girl. pillars, then walked raised poles. singles and groups of alternating. lunged 5 minutes each way at trot. much happier. did figure 8 with polo (took 3 polos!). seems happier. not chompy . didn't canter. did some lateral work. even played with figure 8's at trot in hand to help with her undersaddle transitions. good pony sleeping, so yay. haven't seen her on the water trough but also haven't been outside much cause cold! shockwaved back after. also did sternum. seemed happier with back than previously. 

  Today I almost didn't work Lyric because.. there's a supposed ice storm coming and I expected it to hit earlier. And it was getting cold. And I had stuff to do, but... I managed to get it all done so... Lyric got lunged. :) I set up some of the grid jumps that Jean had set up into cavalettis and we went to the arena. She was a good girl. We started with some pillar walking and it was good. She got nice and stretchy. And we did our side step turns. Then we walked over the cavalettis a few times.    Then I tried to lunge her. But she was not really wanting to go, so I had to jog with her. Fine... fair enough... I don't want to work either. So we'll both lunge... except then I got tired so I had to lunge her instead of jog with her. Plus it was sort of hard to tell how her posture was when I was next to her. But I did manage to get some decent pillar trots. And on the lunge we had moments of tension and bracing but also some good moments of bend and softness. Then I trie...