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Counterbend to Bend

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  Lyric was ready to work today! We had Liz lessons this morning and it was a bit chilly! I rode Funny first and pulled their clothes before I tacked Funny up, but by then it was warming up quickly. When Funny and I got near the arena we saw that Jean's interns and trainer were in the arena. I told them that I had a lesson in about 10 minutes and would need the arena. I then offered to let them continue to use the arena, but they had to let me in too. Thankfully they said they would leave because "this one is crazy". So I heard! Apparently she launched the trainer good the other day. I continued on to warm up in the field while they finished up and then two minutes later Lyric went GALLOPING up to the arena gate! Dan wasn't too far behind her. Oops. So sorry!!! Of course that got Funny riled up too, but she managed to keep it together. Luckily after that Lyric settled and went back to grazing.   When I finished with Funny, I had grabbed my halter and taken it up to th...

sweet girl

nickers at me now. probably cause i almost always have cookies, but still.  rode at home. not a bad ride. better to the left, especially when i sit "left lead canter" which opens my inside hip and lifts it. tried hard. good girl. photos : 10-26 not toasty

So brave!!

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  Oh, I'm so proud of us! We've come such a long way. And there's a bit of sadness to it too, because... gosh darnit... I finally feel like Lyric and I have created a trusting relationship and can start doing happy things that aren't so hard, and... shortly... I'll be off for surgery and then she'll sit for two months. And...what if she falls apart again? What if we lose our confidence? But... I'm sure it will come back. And maybe the rest will do her good. It's in God's hands. I'll just pray that it's good for us both and we come back just as strong and can keep building on it.  I had a jump lesson today and decided to bring Lyric so we didn't lose momentum. Plus, Funny and I jumped last week and are going to Aiken to school XC Friday, so I figured it would be a good day to jump Lyric. And I"m glad I did.  We ended up lessoning in the morning instead of the evening and since Laura couldn't make it, I got to lesson with Mackenzie...

Lazy Day!

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  Today was Lyrics turn to go to Ashland and hit the trails. After the storm, all the arena's were closed, so trails were our only option. Although we could have ridden at home. My arena was fine. But she needed some trail time.    We met up with Caroline and Murphy (Iago) and had a great walk. It was nice to catch up with Caroline. We haven't talked in awhile. So we chatted and just walked and walked. It was so nice. But after a bit, I had to pee and was getting hungry so I told her I had to go. We ended up trotting and cantering some on the way home, just for funsies.    Good pony! And Caroline and I are planning to do some jumping together too. Yay!

Not as light and fluffy

 darnit.. not as good of a ride. tried to do what I was doing in my lesson, but... didn't quite work. did manage to get some really nice moments, but... not easy. and took a bit. good girl though. trying.  less nagging on my part and she was more responsive :)  photos: 10-26 pre storm

So light and fluffy!!!

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  Oooooohhhh!! Lyric and I had such a great ride today with Liz!  We started off with Liz working on her. She always has that weird "toxic" feel to her. But, she's so good at releasing stuff and was doing all sorts of licking and chewing and yawning. She even let me do some fascial work and released a bunch. And she was frothy in her mouth afterwards. Interesting... especially since she is always drooling and doing weird mouth movements when I'm preparing their feed. Liz said she felt pretty good overall though, although there is some tension in her poll.  So we started off at the walk and we were tracking left. Liz had me close my eyes and ride her that way. It totally helped!! Ha ha. When I close my eyes, she starts marching more and gets straighter in her body. It's because I was riding her right shoulder to the inside... holding/half halting with my outside rein, and then sending her haunches out. For whatever reason though, closing my eyes helped. Probably be...

Post shockwave

 shockwaved on wednesday before we left for tenn (we being me and dan). seemed better today. more willing to bend left, though i still had to work hard for it. better if I ride her leg yielding to the right and open the right rein and keep the left rein against her neck. still has a head tilt at the poll. need to work on that. trot also better to the left when I tapped her hind end with the whip to encourage her to swing her haunches out. dont' hang on the left rein holly! Either direction.  canters were decent today. worked on counter canter shallow serpentine. not bad. also did shoulder in some. got better leg yields. got some decent trot work, especially at the end. played with halts too. good pony photos: 10-26 post shockwave