Hello! McFly!

Last night MIL came over to work Sis but wasn’t feeling well so she asked me if I would work her. I saddled her up and grabbed a new leverage bit to try on her (for WP) and headed to the RP. It didn’t take much to get her head down where it needed to be.

Unless we are trail riding or going down the road for a leisurely ride I don’t typically walk much so we moved up to the trot fairly quickly. Sis’s trot is either too fast (for WP) or too slow and she breaks into a bumpy walk (her version of a trot) so we did a lot of counter bending. I’ve found that this makes the horse stretch and use their shoulders more which gives you a flatter knee and when you turn them back straight they are happy to just go.

When I first put my leg on Sis to ask her to yield her shoulder you would have thought a bee stung her. She jumped off of my leg very quickly and in a very reactive manner. I ignored it and continued to move her side to side until I got the desired speed and then I’d let her go straight for a few strides and stop her.

We worked on this for probably ½ hour or so and she was finally starting to relax to my legs and move very well (probably the best she’s moved all year). I finally asked her to lope and wow! Her lope was amazing! Her lope has sucked all year but it was awesome! She was using her shoulders to get lift and was driving from behind. She was slow yet cadenced.

I wanted to work her some more but didn’t want to continue to use the leverage bit so I changed bridles and went out into the pasture. What I didn’t realize was that I apparently left the good horse in the RP.

She was an idiot! She was listening to everything but me. I worked her for a good 45 minutes and I still wasn’t happy with how she was listening to me but unfortunately I was running out of daylight so I decided to stop and flex her to at least end on a soft note.

This isn’t Sis. She usually pulls this stuff with MIL or DH but not with me. I really think her lack of exercise has affected her brain. I talked MIL into leaving her here until next weekend (we have a horse show) so I can work with her. Another gal wants to look at Max this weekend so I’m thinking I’ll haul Max, Abby and Sis out to the arena and work them all. I’d take Lu but she’s still covered in bumps head to toe. Sis needs to be reminded what a real workout is.

Cat goes back to the vet today to look at her face. I think it is healing well minus the bump but I do think it has gotten smaller. Wish me luck!