Today was my mom's first day riding after her surgery! So that means she wanted Harry. Logical choice, because I've been working with Harry every week, unlike Brie, who has pretty much had a vacation since late April. So she took Harry (who was wonderfully behaved) and I took Brie.
I was beyond pleasantly surprised by how good Brie was. I think that a lot of it had to do with her getting her arthritis injection because the last couple of times I rode her before her little holiday and before the injection, she was kind of snotty and bratty. But today she rode like a dream! I didn't attempt making her stand at the mounting block to get on though, because there were a lot of people standing around it watching their others ride in the arena, so I just got on her from the ground. She stayed still! So I already knew from then it was going to be a good ride. Not that she runs away, it's just that she usually fidgets or backs up a little before you get on, but she was perfectly still today.
We did a good amount of flexing, nothing too hard for her to handle after her break, and then some circles with leg yields before we headed off at a nice walk. Her decision! I felt like I died and went to heaven. She and I walked for quite a while before she decided it was go time and settled into a corto. She was trying to canter the corners, so she must've been feeling really good, but I couldn't let her get away with that bad habit. We did figure 8's and serpentines and had a lovely go across the board. Brie is never out of gait. Ever. So when she was sounding kind of iffy in April, that was the surefire sign that she needed another injection. She's back to a perfect gait yet again.
We attempted some walking in the outdoor arena, but I feel like the combo of being in the outdoor for the first time in a long while and it being seriously hot out today made her uncomfortable, so we only stayed for a while. I settled for a relaxed corto instead of a walk and we headed back in to take the shortcut through the arena out back into the pasture.
Of course, when she got out she was kind of hyper, but I was determined to have a good ride outside without either of us getting anxious. She tried to jump the little ditch between the barn and the hill, but we walked around it and through it until she stopped trying to jump or rush it. Walking today was not so much of an option at first. She seemed really anxious about hurrying up to get up the hill, which I really didn't want to go straight to, because she kept pulling towards it. We walked to the fence line near the street, turned and walked back, but she was anxious again to get to the hill and kept reaching her head back to my foot. So I figured "Okay, let me hold her here for a minute if she keeps doing that." She was chomping like crazy on the bit while I held her for a couple of seconds until she stopped and let out a huge rush of air, at which point I let go. I held her back a little going up the hill and she was just as eager to rush back down, but I made her stay up on the top for a while. She eventually stopped chomping again and was silent, relaxed under me, and started looking around and I just pet her. After a while, when she seemed really calm, we went back down the hill. She wasn't anxious going down, but a little rushed, so we went back up again. We did this a couple of times until she just walked up and back down.
We were going to go in, but then this little bird by the pond started squawking at us, and rather than go away from it, I went towards it. Instead of flying away, it spun around and started running away! Once I was focused on following the bird without crushing it as it ran away from us, Brie really slowed without me having to hold her back and managed her speed while I followed the bird. Eventually, the bird got the idea that he should fly away, but it was such a cool feeling knowing that she was actually thinking on her own without me having to tell her everything that she had to do.
We walked in and I traded with my mom. Since he looked like he worked fine inside, I took him outside. He was okay until the last point we had reached outside by ourselves, which was the far side of the hill. Then I wanted him to walk to the fence line. He was very concerned about this, but we got there. When I turned to go back to the barn, that's when he wanted to take off, so I had to bend him to a stop. He didn't really stop, he kept spinning, but eventually he did stop and calmed down. We have to work on halting outside and getting the message across that stopping outside is an option, it's not just go go go. So we climbed up the hill (he was also nervous about that, so we had to go up and down a couple of times) and then waited at the top. He was a little more comfortable at the top of the hill, but still shifting his weight and not relaxing, until Samantha came out with Tobacco. Once another horse was out there with him, he calmed down a lot more. I rode with her all out back and then through the front before I came back in and gave Harry a shower.
I did bring popsicles for them, since they like them so much, but they melted in the cooler before I could give them out! Maybe tomorrow I'll have to give them before we ride.
And now for some pictures!!
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| Brie's favorite activity |
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| I think this is one of the cutest pictures of Nina |
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| Harry was not being very photogenic today. |
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| My three out with Sadie and Taco. |
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| Sadie: "I want a picture!!" |
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| The Bays v The Black (and White!) |
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| Nina mid-roll! |
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| Eating grass while laying down: the epitome of laziness |
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| The leader and her herd! |
