Winter Music

 Some pretty little redhead brought her A game today!  Rode at home. Had a lovely flat. Most consistent in the connection ever, with a legit connection a good chunk, not just hanging and more even than ever. we even did lots of "things"... lots of turns, lots of transitions, lots of changing things.. rather than just repetitive circles did lunge first. nice and soft and reaching. Definitely need to keep doing. EVEN GOT A STRETCHY TROT at the end!! Like more than one step!!! Go girl! And getting some better stretchy walk too! Went for a short hack. happy as a clam and then went to go to the trailer and when I made her go past it she got all huffy. but walked calmly to the neighbors mailbox. surprised a deer. walked back calmly.  good girl! Also, while hosing, i let her eat grass and she's learning to step on her lead line and not panic.

 BN baby! XC prep.  feral in the beginning. scary. but because she gets me all weeblywobbly up top. once i sit down and into her and get my balance not scary. also, move her shoulders, don't let her throw her shoulders around to get me. dig my spur into her, send her forward, and opening reins (Move both hands). after the first 5 minutes, totally fine. Still "hot" but not scary.  jumped a few ... a bit rough starting but once I sat down into her and stayed balanced, she jumped them all. I had to growl at a few but it gave her confidence. and she likes it. did the banks at a canter! Eeeks, even the slightly bigger one. but not down, only up. did canter down the little one. cantered into water and she jumped bold into it. jumped a combo so.. ugly... not pretty yet. but... it's progress. jacel made me happy by basically saying that while I'm an amateur, I'm capable of giving lyric a pro ride. which means it ain't always pretty. but it gets the job done and in

  Today we had a dressage lesson with Kelly Eaton. We were lucky and got to ride in the covered at Ashland. It was a 3 pm lesson and about 93 degrees with a feel of 101 or so. Ugh. It was supposed to be cooler today! Thank goodness for the covered.    We parked at the showgrounds because I wanted a little hack and I figured it was easier to use that hose than have to go into the barn. So we got there and tacked up and took a slightly scenic route to get to the gray barn. Lyric was a good girl but felt a bit mincy and footsore, especially on the rocks. Which is weird because she actually has all four shoes on again. Odd, but... who knows? I did ride her with the half pad and she seemed comfy with the saddle and it seemed to fit fine. Actually better with the half pad.    We got there and walked around the grass for a tiny bit before Kelly was ready for us. I told her that she had been doing well but that I had noticed that her "connection" was cheating. That she may have dropp

 super improvement. almost immediately let go of her brachiocephalic.  Not at the canter though. ha ha. even some bucks. But opened up her trot stride. 

8 am so sweaty and humid feral and rowdy dan at the trailer kelly eaton lesson: keep her forward, she's lazy, want her to jump out of stride not chip in. when she chips she jumps croup high and that throws my balance off ride her shoulders by moving my hands sideways (at the same time and evenly) keep my hands low, balance her running and tilting by riding her shoulders sideways to stand her back up, which will balance her and effectively slow her down a hair, but then i can ride forward stay close to the saddle good girl, ready for BN

So... sometime last week (Maybe Wednesday, maybe Friday.. I can't even remember) Lyric lost both of her front shoes. Grrrr.. But Sarah was scheduled to come Tuesday so I just let her be. We lunged twice and then it was so hot I just gave up and let her enjoy life. Plus she got kicked on the right forearm and had a fat knee and forearm and then had a tiny puncture would on her medial left hock that made her hock hot and fat... Good grief girl! Luckily once I picked the scab and cold hosed it, the swelling went down and stayed down. And she was sound, so.. not too worried about it.  So anyways... then Monday... her saddle came!!! However, I had to work all day at UGA and had done 12 horses and was hot and tired. And another friend came to get her horse fitted so by the time they finished it was later in the evening and I was still hot and sweaty. And all of my horses were hot and sweaty. And Lyric didn't have her shoes... and the saddle fitters other clients had all cancelled so