Winter Music

  Today I opted to ride at home. It was a "bonus day" because for some reason, I didn't have to work! I was supposed to have a mammogram in the morning, since I had nothing scheduled for work, but then they called and said they were closed today so... it got moved, so... A whole free day!!!! I enjoyed it too. I slept in and spent some time with Mike. Then I caught up on a few chores and stayed inside while it was warming up. Then Mike and I went to Yesterday Cafe for lunch. And then I rode ponies!  I rode Danomite first and then went to get Lyric. This morning after I pulled her blanket I went to put a lighter one on her and she walked away. So, okay...fine... no blanket for you. It wasn't that cold. So then when I went to catch her to ride... I was a little afraid she was going to run. She thought about it too. But she didn't and after she walked a tiny bit she sort of circled back and came towards me. She let me catch her and love on her and halter her. I felt b...

Oh Lyric..  This morning they were all running around and being silly. Which, was fair. It was a bit chilly when I pulled clothes. I had to giggle though as Lyric went one way and the others went the other and she was calling to them as she was running. Hee hee. Have fun kids! So then at lunch we met Kelli at Ashland to do a bit fitting. It started out pretty well. I put her in my normal bridle and the nathe bit and Kelli watched us go. She then evaluated my bridle and said that the crownpiece was too small and that's why it was pulling on her ears. I should have gotten the oversize. She pulled my noseband up one hole to make it not set on her molars and then reminded me to keep it super loose. So then we tried on an artemis bridle with the comfort crown. And it made a big difference. Lyric seemed happier and it defintely wasn't squishing her ears. She even felt less head tilty. So then we tried a different bit. At first, I really liked it. She seemed much straighter in her bod...

This morning I got everyone turned out and deblanketed and they were munching hay. I was cleaning up a bit and found Lyrics' RRP graduate ribbon, that I never took a photo of with her wearing, so... I went to go do that. She let me catch her but was immediately suspicious. However, she posed nicely for her photos. Then when I released her she took off.. I guess she was worried I'd change my mind and ride her. She went flying off anf of course that set Dan and Funny off too. They were all running and Fleck was just hanging out watching the ridiculousness. I was cracking up because as she was running, she was whinnying to the others. It was so cute! So anyways... later that afternoon I had a lesson with a new girl. Samantha. She came to me and taught me on both ponies. I liked her. I opted to ride Lyric first and had her tacked up and was walking in the arena doing my warm up when she got there. We talked briefly about things and then we went to work. Basically, she zeroed right ...

  Today was hack day... a nice relaxing easy day. Although I'm not sure Lyric agrees. She was a good girl though and loaded right up and was super all day. We met Sharon and Baylor and went for a hack together. Lyric was motoring! She led most of the way and left poor Baylor in the dust a fair amount. She wasn't jigging.. just marching with that thoroughbred on a mission march. Although I do suspect that was a little bit of anxiety. But she hid it well and was mostly confident going out. We even did a little trotting on a few of the trails. We did start with the big creek and she decided that she didn't want to do it today. But once Baylor crossed it, she was happy to follow him. She also followed him through the second big creek crossing on the back side of Ashland. We walked up the steep hilly side trail and then trotted up squalor hollow. And then she went first over the little creek. After that we went through the fire swamp and then we hit the big creek again. This tim...

  What a super good girl today! We didn't have a lot of time to ride but I figured a short one was better than none. We got tacked up and headed to the arena. I tried to use the pivo but it was not cooperating. Ugh. Hopefully I can figure it out. So, we just got on. I worked on our homework and she was super. I rode the shoulders and refined my aids and she was soooo good. We had quite an excellent ride. Overall she stayed much more between my aids with a much straighter body. And we got some good barrel bend and soft swinging trot. Our canters today weren't quite as quick as the other day and she stayed pretty upright in them too. And our downwards were quite nice today. We even got a stretchy trot! It was super nice tracking right but we had a decent, if inconsistent, one tracking left. Good pony! We played with a little bit of leg yield again too and she was pretty good both ways. Good girl! We did our stretchy trot and then got a nice working trot both ways and a nice downw...

 Velociraptor. I got skillz hauled to lesson with dan.. stuck him in a stall. she went nutso.. spinning, spazzy, (maybe I over reacted a little in my responses) was spinning in circles around kelly.. had to get back ups/reinforcements. went to the draw reins to help keep her from using her shoulder against me. Sigh... ride the balance not the face. draw reins loopy most of the time. she puts herself on the bit if i can keep her shoulders lined up. leg yield her in and out based on her balance. can use an indirect rein but use it pushing towards her ears vs pulling to my hip, and don't cross over the neck, but can go to the neck. leg yielding esp to the left. (away from dan, to dan was easy). falls in and then pops out, so zig zag with her with my aids and my hands. when she screams, make her work harder (small circle with inside flexion). she always wants to pop shoulder to the right, so leg yielding right is hard because i feel the need to hold the outside rein and use outside leg...

 Not raining so got to ride all 3