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Great Lesson

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  Well.. those new shoes Patrick put on behind might have done the trick! Lyric only bottomed out once or twice today and not that bad. Whoo hooo! Fingers crossed.  We had lessons with Kelly Eaton today.  Since Dan had hacked Friday with Sharon I decided to ride him first so that I could hack after my second lesson with Lyric and give her more time in the woods. And then I might have had more time to warm her up too. Since the first lesson was at 7:45 am. ;) So Dan went first. Even though both of them were snoozing when I got up to feed. After his lesson I came and got Lyric and she is in raging heat so she came running back to greet Dan. Handy... now she's right there for me to catch. :) I did hose her off before we hauled because I didn't want her to get sweaty in the trailer. Even though she wasn't sweaty yet. She was dry when we got to Ashland though!   I tacked up and took her for a warm up hack around Heron Lake. We had plenty of time so then I also went around...

Good ride

 rode at home.  gorgeous day although a bit sweaty in the arena. not as much breeze there.  good girl. trying hard. Lost her hind end really hard (like rolled a fetlock) twice and then fairly hard another 3 times or so. mostly tracking left but not every time. had a nice stretchy warm up and then "held" her but got some really nice self carriage where I could soften and i think she stayed pretty uphill. the canter departs are getting so much smoother and easier and quicker... and our downwards too. the canter was quite nice today! The trot had moments. She is hanging on the left rein and I can't get her into the right, both directions. she's stiff bending left unless i overbend her... and ride small circles, but then I could open her back up and she'd hold a nice "frame". did some nice leg yields.  overall, quite nice. just... struggling with the right rein contact. hard to ride to the light and give to the heavy, especially alone. I don't like when ...

Jumping Lesson!

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  I'm so proud of us!!    Jacel said she would teach today but I had kind of already offered to volunteer at the Ashland show. Luckily she said she could teach me at 8 am and Caroline didn't need me to noon, so... yay! I was debating whether I should take Funny or Lyric but decided to take Lyric. Partly because it's been raining so much I didn't know how the arena was going to hold up and figured Lyric would be jumping much smaller, but also because... I wanted to jump Lyric!  So... bright and early this morning we loaded up and headed to Barbaras. I had a moment of panic because... Lyric likes her routine... we had jumped yesterday... I'm not sure if her saddle really fits... and then when we got there.. she was nervous and it had poured buckets last night (not at my house, but at Barbara's) and the arena was obviously wet in spots. And Lyric isn't exactly the most catty of horses even on a good day with good footing. I mean heck.. I'm still not convinc...

Hack Day!

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   Today was Lyric's turn to go to Ashland, so.. we did. We met Sharon and Baylor this morning. It was humid and soggy but it was a fun ride. We met Caroline and Oliver when we were tacking up and Oliver is so cute. He's at a fun age. I gave him one of my broken dragonflies and one good one to play with and he was excited. Apparently it kept him entertained while Caroline taped off the XC course and she said they even played "the floor is lava". Ha ha. Awww cute! Lyric was a good girl and didn't mind her dragonfly on her head, which was good! Of course she shook off one side of the wings halfway through our ride and then shortly after the other half, so she finished the ride with a big blue worm bobbing around her head. Ha ha. Doh!  It was a fun ride. We had to avoid the beaver bridges, so we decided to do the perimeter trail. Lyric was a bit jumpy and nervous today for some reason. There were ground trolls I guess. ;) And the occasional deer, and then the dogs by...

Beating the storm

 photos: 6-26 beating the storm

Not feral either

 day two of staycation and it's raining. but managed to get some adulting done and then after lunch, snuck in rides on both girls.  lyric second. surprisingly not wild. almost lazy. kind of wish i had my whip at first. but then got moving. lost her hind end hard at least 3 times and multiple other times. weakness? coordination? half pad did seem helpful for saddle fit. once she got going, had a lovely ride. more willing to bend and not as head tilted. canter improved from that one bad ride. transitions still not crisp.  good pony. saw the deer and got distracted but overall very good. Even did the WE gate and she was brave. Not super smooth with it, but not bad at all and not spooky! yay photos: 6-26 between rains 

Still spicy and more humid

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  Today was even more humid! Ugh... and threatening rain all day. But at least there was some cloud cover.  By the time I got around to riding Lyric, it was probably close to 11:30. So we rode at home. Which was totally fine.  They were in the far field so I trekked out there. And when I was getting Lyric her cookies and had just gotten the halter over her head Dan bit her hard and so she spooked and then spun and tried to kick him. And she ripped the lead line across my elbow. No Ma'am!!! And No Sir! Not when I am right here! Unfortunately, Lyric got in more trouble than Dan because she was attached to me. She had a nice little chomp mark though. Oops. Sorry girl! But still... I am right here!  So then she was all sassy and up and snorty. Luckily she was fine walking back without any antics despite her feeling like she might. We managed to just get through the gate when Dan and Funny came thundering up and slid to a halt just in front of the gate. Really dude?? But ...