Winter Music

didn't want to leave dan and funny. in heat. got to ashland. chewed on chest bar some.  tacked up. a bit spicy because of other horses. didn't want to leave trailer area (other horses() but finally got her going. did a tiny bit of warm up hack on the hills. then went to arena and rode. struggling to find the balance between supporting her and holding her and having her brace. but found it a few times today. felt quite nice in between. got some stiffness going left but also had lovely movements of her letting go and being quite supple. lost her hind end a few times.. but maybe only three times bad. did kick out in the canter because I insisted with my inside leg. sassy.  judy finished her ride and came to watch and offered to video. sure! Then decided to be done (was tempted to ride a little more but... it was so hot and humid and i probably didn't need to). so got two nice trots and headed for a trail ride to the lake and back with teller. Was fun to chat with judy. didn...

  Oh what a lovely day!!   It was a perfect Summer Day weather wise. The sun was out, the grass was green, the skies were blue with big fluffy clouds, there was a nice steady breeze, and there was no humidity! I could live with this weather forever!    We met Kelli and Marvin at Ashland and did our warm up with them. Marvin is rehabbing proximal suspensory desmitis so he could only hack for 25 minutes. So we walked to the lake and back. Lyric was motoring!!! She was leaving Marvin in the dust. Which... is such a nice change after "navicular Lyric". So yay! We got to the lake and saw the baby geese, which was lovely, especially because all 3 are still around. And one of them is a big ol' fatty! We hacked back after a very brief splash and then I went to the arena for a little bit of work while Kelli did Marvins PT.   Lyric was a little fussy when we first got into the arena but she settled quickly. We did some leg yielding on the rail and then picked up our trot....

  Well that was just a marvelous ride!!! We had a lesson with Kelly Eaton again today and whooo hooooo!!! I got there early enough to tack up and do a tiny bit of in hand work. We jogged in the little grassy area in front of the arenas and trotted up the hill halfway to stadium twice in an effort to avoid disturbing the lesson before us. Which, in retrospect, might have been more disturbing than just going in the arena. Ha ha. Whoops! Sorry!   Then I got on and headed over. And, we pretty much went right to work. Which... was nice. We didn't need a long warm up to stretch her out. She came ready to work! (Granted, she was a bit up because as I turned Dan out and went to grab her, I noticed the opossum was dead in the field and there were a bunch of vultures.. who I set off.. which then set the horses off, so she was a little amped... then add in the remarkably cool weather and fairly stiff wind....). Anyways, we did a little bit of the same thing with Dan. Can you move off my ...

 so hot and steamy. sweaty before we started good ride. a bit quick and rushed today but at least she's not mincy. not wanting to go into right rein, but holding it isn't necessarily the answer (i tried). head tilt is back a little but better when I'm straighter. finished with really good moments canter was nice today too photos: Steamy ride

 in parenthesis. ;) Single vertical.  photos: 5-26 jumped also sunset photos in field

Happy Day! Lyric had FUN hauled to ashland, tacked up. rode with sharon. saw 4 snakes, big box turtle, two heron sightings (one with two of them though we only saw one), geese, and a hawk. No deer interestingly.  lovely fun hack with trotting and hills and creeks. then a nice canter in the XC field. got a little quick so redid it and she was better. jumped the ditch and a tiny log. happy camper. yay. then splashed in the lake. lots of splashing. then headed home.  made it in the nick of time. downpour started once we loaded up. did spook at the raindrops hitting the roof but was good and then loaded. did bite trailer divider twice on the way home. sharp left turns.  photos: wildlife safari and video of snake