Drama Day

 Well today was... exciting! 

The two girls and Flecky were napping when I went to work ponies, so I started with Dan. Lyric looked so peaceful! When I finished with Dan I snagged her and took her to the trailer. I wanted to bemer her but also wanted to do trailer loading, so... we loaded first. She went right in pretty much and ate half her lunch. She came out a few times but went back in on her own each time. So yay! So then I tied her to the trailer and put the bemer on and got her a hay net. She was pretty good but then she got all tense and her heart started pounding. Turns out my neighbor was pulling the tarp off her bush (to protect it from the cold) and dragging it across the yard. Okay, fair enough! That's kind of scary. And honestly, Lyric got big and tall and scared but she didn't panic. And then once the neighbor was done, she settled right back down! But then another neighbor was doing something ( maybe... she was looking over towards Tom's house) and she got all jumpy again. At this point, I was hoping to go pee real quick and then the bemer should have been done and we could have carried on. So I went to pee in the trailer but she got all jumpy, so I came back out and sat with her for a bit. She settled... and then (I don't know why... to save time maybe?) I undid her butt straps on the bemer. And then I guess, because she had settled again, I opted to go pee. I got my pants around my ankles and started to pee when Lyric freaked out. I saw her pull back and back up and... of course.. she hit the end of the lead rope.. then pulled it through the blocker tie. Except it's got the knot on the end so she could only go so far. And the bemer had slid off and was on her chest hanging down in front of her. Oh man... please don't flip... please don't break the bemer... please don't snap your neck.. Because of course.. she was in the rope halter. She finally just kind of... sat there... frozen... half squatting... I couldn't get anything undone, so I managed to pull the bemer off at least.. then she sort of came forward enough that I could get her legs off the bemer straps (and the bemer edge) and then was able to walk her forward enough to get her untied. Good grief girl! She rubbed some hair off her head but seemed fine otherwise. I definitely am going to have to adjust her this weekend!

 

 

I got her groomed and tacked up. I opted for the dressage saddle today because the last two rides have been in the jump saddle and the last two rides have been "bolty". We walked (in hand) up to the arena via Jean's driveway. She was on edge but did actually respond to contact and drop her head a few times too! Good girl. We got to the arena and I did our pillar walk to warm up. Then I lunged her. And she lunged really nicely! She's really starting to get the hang of dropping her neck and relaxing. But I noticed (and did notice earlier just... paying more attention to it now) that she overtracks by a full hoofprint at the walk, but at the trot, she undertracks by at least a foot print. I'm guessing it's because she's not relaxed in the trot, like she is in the walk? Anyways... I got some nice trot work though and while she never overtracked, she came closer to tracking up. 

 

So then I got on. We did our walk warm up and then trotted and she was not bolty like the last few rides. So maybe it's that my jump saddle gives her track flashbacks? Maybe my position is encouraging running? Maybe the saddle doesn't fit her as well as the dressage one? I have no idea. So we'll keep playing around with things to see. We had a pretty good ride. She got almost low and stretchy for a few steps in the trot on the circle! And overall, she seems much better in her body. I do really need to get the pivo out so I can see. Although there is part of me that is afraid it feels better than it looks and I'll regret seeing it. We also cantered today. The right lead was pretty nice and she picked it up fairly smoothly. We missed the left lead twice and then got it on the third try. It's definitely not as nice though. And then she got worried again, so it took us a little bit, but we got back to our version of a nice soft trot. So then we walked a bit. 

  

And then we headed out to the pasture. She was good about the gate today. I walked her around the back side and up the hill and then we trotted. She was going great and then I heard a rustling noise. I looked back and Dan is cantering up to us! Oh man!!! But she was great! She didn't panic, didn't bolt, didn't do anything wrong! I pulled her up and then when I realized she actually wasn't being stupid.. and Dan had caught up and was just grazing... I asked her to trot again. And she did. And then we ended up trotting over the log. And then I got brave and asked her to canter over it. And she did! She wasn't naughty at all. She wasn't steering great and tried to go around it, but she did listen and once time she even jumped it really nice and rounded up over the jump! And there were no real shenanigans on the backside! And then Funny came cantering up and trotted just on the back side of the jump as we were jumping it. Ugh! No crashing! But Lyric handled all of it well! I was so proud! And she picked up the left lead canter a few times too! Good girl!!!

 

Then we went back to the trailer and untacked. She walked on again and finished her lunch. She was okay with me patting her butt and scratching her butt. But when I tried to walk to the other side of her, she said nope! She got nervous and backed out and then it took a few minutes to get her back in again. But I did. And then I made her get back on twice for a bite of hay each time and then we were done. :)