Winter Music

 Rode at home. sO hot and humid. tacked up, walked up, did backing and turn on forehand and haunches and then lunged. both ways, with 3 separate small bendy circles (no draw reins) and a few big circles. then got on. rolled right hind fetlock once while lunging, but mildly.  walked with leg yields and then trotted. did some circles to work on bend. lost hind end once. bend is better to the right, but she feels less symmetrical to the right. bend is hard left but she feels sounder. weird. worked on getting correct bend and opening that rib cage. did the weave poles. did some figure 8's. Super good girl. trying hard. then cantered both ways, from a really nice trot. Not too shabby! only did one circle of canter each way. no bucking. ended with a nice trot. Got a nice lifted back and nice contact and connection.  yay walked home. got a bath.  photos: 5-26 good pony

  I had my lesson with Kelly E this morning. Lyric was a good girl and loaded right up and we got tacked up and headed to the arena. I did my in hand warm up... we backed up, we did turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, jogged in hand... And then it was our turn. Kelly had brought a lunge line too. Ha ha! And a lunge whip, which.. apparently I need to buy one because Lyric was way more forward than at home. Anyways... Kelly lunged her first and honestly said she looked pretty darn sound. I agreed. She did notice the subtle head tilt and her occasional desire to slow down and be a slug. But, the lunge whip helped with that. Honestly, that's the most tracking up she has done at the trot!    She did trip behind once and on slow motion... she just rolls her toe on the right hind and just knuckles over. I don't think it's stifle.. I think it's just not flipping her foot over. But she lands fairly flat footed before she rolls it, so... odd. It's not like she never l...

  I don't even know what's happening anymore. ;) Seriously though... is she lame? Is she sound? Is she neuro? Is she fine?    I'm definitely hormonal and was cranky yesterday and sad today. Super sad. Like.. cried just thinking about Lyric. Perimenopause is fun! Ugh. I rode Funny at Ashland. I was supposed to have a XC lesson but it got canceled so I just took her for a hack and did some dressage. I was tempted to take Lyric too and just hack her... no arena work.. just a hack. BUT... I've got a lesson tomorrow with Kelly Eaton, and had originally planned to bring her. So I was thinking that if I did take her tomorrow, perhaps it would be way too much stimulation to have had yesterdays hard ride.. then a trailer ride and then a hack on terrain... then another trailer ride tomorrow with a lesson... That seemed like a lot. Although I did debate trying to swap out and ride Funny instead. But, I didn't know what to do so I texted Kelly about it. She suggested I bring Ly...

  Well that was depressing. I didn't cry... but could have and probably should have. I had a lesson with Liz today and I woke up rather cranky because my phone woke me up 20 minutes before my alarm went off. So I decided to ride Lyric first because... Funny is soooo sensitive. And I have way lower expectations with Lyric, so it's not as easy for me to get frustrated. Unfair, but... it is what it is. So that's what I did.    We tacked up and walked up to the arena and I did some in hand work... backing, turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches and then we jogged a lap or two. Then Liz got there and I got on and did one "power trot" around the arena. She didn't stretch out as much, but maybe it's because I didn't walk once I got on first. Liz immediately was like "what's up with the head tilt"? Right? Sigh.. It's not new, but it's more obvious. Maybe because it's worse, maybe because other things aren't as obvious anymo...

 Rode at home. Walked up in hand, as the other two were running and it was chilly and windy. but she was good. no antics. did backing and jogging in hand to loosen up. nice and soft and stretchy. then showed her the obstacles and the gate. Then got on and rode. walked.. did the gate both directions and she didn't care. Wasn't great at backing, but didn't care. then did trotting and did the single slalom. good for her. did transitions. felt stiffer and a bit more sluggish today. but not terrible. kicked out when i waved the whip at her even once though. tripped up front twice today and lost it hard behind twice. both times grunted. felt stiff tracking left and slightly lame/rooting tracking right again. sigh... argh. have lesson with kelly sunday hopefully to see. but may also just need to pivo a ride and video the trips/fallouts to see what's actually happening... stuck stifle? tripping because she wings in?  walked the hill 3 times in the pasture after. forging bad aga...

 hack at ashland with marvin. quite forward to start ohotos: happy girls