Taking risks... but she's a good girl

 Today... it was warm and lovely! A gorgeous day. BUT... with 13-15 mph winds. So.. I decided to ride! Lyric first. Ha ha.. I was at least smart and put on my MIPS helmet for this ride. :) (Vs the non mips helmet). I groomed her and tacked her up. So far, so good! We walked to the arena with only a few stops and bribes with cookies. Eventually the other horses showed up, but she was less concerned than prior, so yay! Of course Dan had moseyed sort of near us but then as we descended the hill to the arena, he came squirting up and made Lyric jump! Crazy fool. ;) 

   

We did a lap or two of pillar work and then I got on. She was a teensy bit jumpy. It didn't help that Jean's filly hurt her leg so she was locked away from friends and kept screaming non-stop. So we worked on the walk and getting even but soft rein contact. We even worked a little bit on "leg yielding". She's much better yielding left than right. But we made a teeny bit of progress. So then we trotted. She was definitely a bit more tense, but was very good. There was a noise in the woods that did make her scoot sideways for a few steps but then she settled and was fine. Again, a bit more nervous and tense, but nothing happened other than the one spook. So yay! We survived the first spook under saddle. :) We worked on trotting a bit longer... focusing on balance and soft hands and straightness. Then I tried a canter. The left lead is definitely hard for her to get. She picked up the right so we used a trick I remember Aubrey teaching me and just crossed the diagonal and cantered right. Then we went back and tried the left again and she got it. Good girl! We did a bit more trotting after a little break and then we were done. 

 

Except, I tempted fate again. I thought.. maybe I can ride her back to the barn. I didn't think she would be bad... even with the winds, but... I wasn't sure what she would do if Dan or Funny came galloping up. Which... was entirely possible that day. But luckily, she was good and they all stayed put until we were mostly back at the barn and then they politely and respecfully walked up. Phew! We walked over the log on the ground too! But I was not brave (or stupid maybe) enough to try trotting or cantering in the field today. 

 

Good girl! Hopefully I can get her on the trailer Tuesday and she won't freak out about going to our lesson. She has seemed more confident without being so attached to the other horses recently, so... fingers crossed. :)




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

well dammit

Image
Waaaaahhhhhhhh :( Just when she was getting FUN! Kelli and I had scheduled a vet visit with Dr. Marquez for Dan and Marvin. I decided to have him look at Lyric too as I was worried she was still having some issues. She's been fussier lately again and losing her hind end on occasion. Nothing major, but... she's also never had a real true lameness evaluation done. So.. why not!?  I'm really glad I did. The horses were in all day because it was an all day affair. And Marvin was here too, so that added a little bit to her stress. Maybe stress isn't the right word, but her routine was definitely off! And that makes her nervous. We did Marvin's vet visit first, then Dan, and then it was Lyrics turn.  Dr. Marquez started off with a physical exam and palpating her. He noted how knock kneed she was. I know... I know. Basically he found that she was super sore in her pelvis at the tuber sacrales. And then he found stifle effusion. She was also a bit reactive in her suspensori
Read more

Our First Blues!

Image
  What a good girl! I'm so proud of her! Today we went to the Georgia Horse Park to show a BN CT and Nov Test B. It was another chance to get in another arena and show atmosphere before RRP. Our last chance at a show (Unless I wanted to show two days before we leave for Kentucky and I don't!).  Per usual... this show morning starting out with antics. As I went to catch Lyric to get ready to give her a bath and leave for the show, Jean's friend pulled into the culdesac with a horse trailer. I managed to catch Lyric as they started to walk Galvan down the drive to haul him to Florida. And they followed with the golf cart and car full of his stuff. Which, no big deal... except it sent Dan, Fleck, and Funny into fits. They were bucking, broncing, rearing, and running. Which meant that Lyric was now doing the same. I had to yell at them as feet were flying and Lyric was a kite. I wasn't sure if I was going to get kicked or run over or if one of them was going to get kicked.
Read more

Chill girl at the Tik clinic

Image
  I'm so proud of Lyric. And a little bit of me too.  Lyric and I went to the Tik Maynard clinic today at Pascova Farm. Bless her because my dumb self didn't pay attention that the start time had moved up 30 minutes until after I woke up this morning. I had wanted to get there to listen to the first lecture and watch the first group of groundwork but more importantly, Allisa told me I could park in the barn area and put her in a stall for the day so I had to get there before everyone else so I could get the trailer in before people started parking and clogging up the area. And of course, on Thursday I didn't feel like getting gas on my way home because it was hot and figured I'd do it later, forgetting I was going to have to get up early to go to the clinic. So this morning after I woke up and was getting ready I realized I was going to be running late. My plan was to leave at 7, to get there around 8sh and get gas, but... that was when it started at 8:30. Now that they
Read more