Winter Music

It was foggy and warm this morning! (Not for long... it's supposed to get super cold mid week!)  Poor girl! Back to work. :) Although we are taking it slightly easier now that RRP is over. :) She got to go first this morning. We had a dressage lesson with Kelly Eaton at Ashland. We got there slightly later than I wanted so I didn't get a chance to do all our warm up stretches, activation and mobilization, but we did manage a few wither lifts and some pillar work to warm up.    She was a good girl for her lesson, although we started out quite feral. I was trying to get her to stretch and reach but she was not going to do it. And honestly, I'm not sure why I expected it. She doesn't really know how to do it yet, other than on the lunge. Which I also did not do. Kelly told me to just put her to work. She said that while it was ideal to do it, if Lyric was not able/willing to do it and do it consistently... that inconsistent stretching was much less ideal. We want to teach ...

 Feral again this morning with the "new" pasture.  Caught later and did our core mobilization and activation stretches and stuff. Then walked up to arena. did tiny bit of pillar work and lunged. Immediately soft ont he lunge. But not tracking up and sort of putzing. But soft in her neck and back.  got on... stlightly feral today and NO SPURS! Had lots of good moments though. 

  Oh how I love Tuesdays! I slept in a little... fed animals.. had breakfast... did some catching up on things... and then got to ride ALL 3 PONIES!! I rode Lyric second, after Dan. Fleck and the girls were still up at the arena standing in the red clay beach when I finished with Dan so.. I hiked up there and got Lyric. Luckily she didn't run from me. yay! I took her into the arena and we did a little bit of pillar work and then lunged. She was a good girl and while she was a bit sluggish and not tracking up, she was relaxed in her back and neck. Yay. That was the goal.    So then we hiked down to the trailer and I tacked her up. Her new navy boots fit well, but... they are not as airy as I was hoping. At all. So... they may be winter boots only. Hopefully we can get her to stop kicking herself and not need boots at all anymore soon, but.. until then. I walked her up to the arena and she only stopped once. She moved on with minimal encouragement and there was no sass, so ...

So.... today we lunged. Mostly because that was the plan to encourage proper body biomehanics. The fact that she was feral when I opened up the dogpen pasture had nothing to do with it. I promise!! :) They had fun this morning. She's very bouncy. But she did let me catch her and she was a super good girl on the lunge. We did our pillar work and played with the relationship to contact and then we lunged. 

Poor Lyric. She still didn't want to be caught today. She walked away from me earlier when I went out for Dan but did let me give her a cookie before she walked off. And then after I did some pillar work in the arena with him.. and then Funny... she was still hanging out in the sandy area with Fleck and let me catch her. So I took her into the arena and did about 10-15 minutes of pillar work with her too. She was good. She was a little better about dropping her nose and unlocking her neck, but still not quite the "relationship to contact" that I'd like. I rewarded her and turned her back out even though I knew I was going to have to catch her shortly for our lesson.  Luckily they had all come into the barn for some shade and fans so I was able to just walk in the stall and halter her. She didn't try to run, so yay for that.  We headed to Ashland for our last cross country lesson before RRP. I put her in the wonder bit because that rubber bit had been pinching her....

 Got sunday off... walked away from me. Sigh...  Tuesday morning i set up the arena. I put the grid back up (the one we have to do in show jumping) and then set up the small dressage arena. Then I took dan to the vet and he got his stifle injected so he had to stay in a stall. I put her in next to him as I figured she could use some hay and then I wouldn't have to catch her to ride later. Went to lunch with Mike. Tacked up at the trailer and then rode in the arena. We walked up to the arena by ourselves as Dan was on stall rest and I had locked Fleck in with him. Funny hung with them instead of coming with us. But Lyric was good. Lunged first... took a few minutes to get her stretching but she did eventually and then stayed stretching, even when we changed directions. Got on and rode. Meh... not great. Not awful though and we had some good moments. Ran through the nov b test 3 times. First time she wouldn't come back from the canter and was a bit exuberent in all the things. 2...