Good Pony on a dreary day

 Today was a dreary day. It was cold and rainy this morning so... we ended up going to AT&T and getting me a new phone. :) I switched to an apple! Eeeks. We'll see if I can get the hang of it. But it's got better video, so... I'm gonna try. ;) Anyways, the sun did come out and we had lunch and then headed home. Of course by the time we got home, the sun had crept back behind the clouds and it was a gray day. BUT... the clouds were quite beautiful so I opted to go to Ashland. I figured I'd take Lyric today and take Funny tomorrow because Laura mentioned trail riding tomorrow and Funny can keep up with Smarty better than Lyric. Plus if Laura wanted to jump, Funny can keep up with Smarty better. So... Lyric and I headed out to Ashland.

 

She was chomping on the chest bar an awful lot today. I'm not sure if it's because she didn't get sucralfate... because she was hot because I left her blanket on and it was a hair warm or if it was just random or coincidence. But I decided to give her sucralfate once we got to Ashland just in case. 

  

I tacked her up and got on and then realized I didn't put the half pad on, so we circled back and I put the half pad on and then we headed out again. She was pretty forward at the walk. (I did put on spurs but didn't really use them on the trail). We walked down past cross country along the lake. It was quite murky... maybe from the dredging? Then we headed across the meadow and crossed the creek and back up hoot-n-holla to the top and then down to the backside of cross country and then up to behind stadium. We trotted a little bit and she was pretty forward in the woods too. She was forging like crazy again! I definitely noticed it on the back side of our ride, but she may have been doing it more. It was definitely noticable uphills. 

   

We got to the arena and she wasn't balky. So we went in and picked up the trot. We did some trot work, some leg yields, some shoulder ins, some "lengthens", and some canter work. She felt pretty decent... more forward and willing. And her canter transitions were better. She did fall out behind pretty hard twice but only twice and no little fall outs. She was tipping her head so her nose turned left, which has been consistent. I really need to work on her poll and upper cervicals again I guess. And she was a bit more resistant to bend left, but not as bad. She took a few lame steps tracking right, but it's so hard to tell if she's actually lame or just rooting hard with her head. She was also a bit more tight and inverted feeling today. She really didn't want to let go and be soft. But she felt decent even within the tension. Her canter is definitely better after her sacroiliac joint injections, so at least there's that. She doesn't feel so runny and strung out. It's still not a lovely canter, but... I do think we're making progress. 

 

We had a good ride in the sense that she felt more willing and more forward, but she was definitely a little more tense and bracy. Maybe because I put the jump bridle on...?? Maybe unrelated to that. So... we'll see what happens on Tuesday. I'm hoping to get another ride in tomorrow at home. It will be interesting to see how she feels without the long 40 minute hack for warm up. Although I will give her sucralfate too. 

 

And then I work Monday and then Tuesday morning is her appointment, so... 

  


 


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