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Long lining success

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  Well that went suprisingly well! My long lines came yesterday and I had been planning to put Lyric back in her bridle to do pillar work to make sure that she was okay with contact in the bit vs just a good relationship to contact in the halter or cavesson.    I brought her to the trailer to groom first since it's been awhile. She was a bit balky about walking back to the trailer. Come on girl.. it's really not that bad, is it?? I got her groomed up a bit and picked her feet and then put her bridle on. We headed up to the arena so that we could get our session in before Jean's lesson. We did the two groundpoles uphill 6 times before we went in the arena. Then we headed in and I put the equiband on. We did our pillar walks with the bit and she was fine. Then we did our backing up, which was actually better today. Then we did the tail circles and the neck wiggle and the hula and the belly lifts. Then we did the groundpole serpentine and then the raised ground pole serpenti...
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round pen free lunging (edit)

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 took to round pen...  pillar, serpentine on ground pole, zig zag poles, backing... slightly uphill. trotted 5 minutes each way without lunge line... fairly soft and relaxed.. then cantered... better in the sense that she held it longer, but definitely not a happy canter.. hollow and bucking into it. especially left lead... haunches in significantly and throwing her butt in to pick it up.
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Putting in the work

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  And getting a little bored... and despondant. Maybe that's not the right word... But, meh... not sure we're making progress... not sure I'm doing the right things... ugh. I grabbed Lyric from the pasture and she seemed kind of excited to go to the arena. I mean... I do just keep feeding her for minimal work, so.., I get that. But yay! Before we went in, we walked over the two gound poles up the hill 6 times. She kept trying to go to the arena... but I did give her some treats too. So then we went in and did some pillar walks and then I pulled her blanket and put on the figure 8 polo wrap and we did the butt circles, the hula and the head wiggle. Although the head wiggle is hard because she kept trying to sneak into my fanny pack for treats. I did adjust her poll because she was very crooked and got some yawns so yay. So then we did our serpentine over ground poles and then over the raised poles. She's definitely much less coordinated over them than Dan. And she was re...
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Sunset Lunging

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  Phew... long day! I adjusted ten horses in Keysville, but... I did manage to get home by 5:45 ish and Mike was cool with me working Lyric before we ate, so.. I was able to sneak in a lunge session.      She was naked because it was rather warm today. Not first thing this morning though! I bet she was a little pissy for a few hours until it warmed up. Sorry girl! But I felt like they would appreciate naked time and it was supposed to hit almost 60 degrees. I think it even hit 64 but it was breezy. She seemed okay when I got home though.    I walked her over the 2 poles on the hill about 6 times before we went into the arena. Once we got in the arena I did the tail circles and neck wiggle, which was a quicker release today. We did a little bit of "rocking" but she didn't rock as much today, but did engage her pectorals at least. Then I put the equicore band on her and we headed off for some pillar walking. Then we did our back ups. She's shifting a little b...
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Bodywork galore

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  Today was so cold!!!  I had Patrick first thing in the morning so I got up and got the ponies in and fed and noticed that Lyric was missing a hind shoe. I may have missed it last night because it was dark by the time I fed, but... I'm assuming she lost it in the shenanigans last night. But no big deal as Patrick was scheduled anwyays. :)  So he showed up and when we got to her I noticed she had scrapes on her knees and then on her nose. Girl! And then I noticed that one of the straps on her blanket chest looked like it was almost frayed through. Hmmm.... I wonder...  Anyways, Patrick got her shod and I told him the great job he had done and showed him the x-rays. We did switch her to frog support pads in the front, which may offer just a little more give for that one front foot which was almost too positive. And she seemed a bit more comfortable in the hind end today although when Russel was finishing her clenching she did reach out and nip.  After they finish...
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Quick lunge

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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. 
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Groundwork

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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...
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