Back in the Tack

 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 yay for that. We did a tiny bit of pillar work and then I got on, since I had already lunged her. She started off great at the walk. Then we picked up the trot and she was squirrely! She was rushing and dropped her back. She kicked out a few times. Then she'd settle.. but then she went squirrely again. I finally realized that perhaps it was my spurs, even though I've ridden her with spurs before and I was trying hard to not use them, but... once I took them off.. she was lovely! Ha ha. Whoops! 

 

But yeah... once the spurs came off, she went back to her normal self. Well, actaully she went back to her RRP self... dressaging! Yes, we had moments of bracing and inconsistency, but... she was really good. Even when we had contact it was soft and I was mostly able to give my hands forward (without giving the contact away) vs pulling backwards. And she stayed in a nice rhythm. We did some canters and she was soft in the trot almost immediately after too. She was so good that we quit fairly early. I did ride her back to the barn through the pasture. She was not as good as Dan or Funny for opening and closing the gate. She would stop at it, but every time I leaned over to open it, she would start moving again. But we got it done and we had a nice walk back to the barn. 

She also got her teeth done and other than having some wear on her lower right corner, she was great. I've not seen her scraping her teeth on anything (unlike Dan!) so I have no idea where that came from, but... oh well. She was great for her exam and sedation and dental.