Snow, Snow, Go Away

Don’t come back another day. We’ve been getting snow and freezing rain is in the forecast for later today and into tomorrow. I was however able to take LLL to WWF last Saturday to ride. I went with the friend who owns Mr. Bishop (remember the OTTB).

We started off with some desensitizing and then some yielding the FQ and HQ. Then we moved on to LFR Stage 1. I really can’t believe how much information LLL retains. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing but she was calmer in the beginning like she was at the ending of our last session. When I bumped up to stage II she wasn’t as reactive and didn’t trip on her feet but moved with a little bit more finesse.

I’m starting to get a bit picker on her backing. She backs fast but she doesn’t back straight so we are starting to work on straightness vs. speed. She’s not thrilled with that.

Once up and on we worked on flexing. She’s soft but she’s not very fast to bring her head around. Then we refreshed our ORS at the walk and trot. Since it has been so long and since it was cooler out I refrained from loping her. I think we need to build those muscles up at the trot first.

We also worked on yielding the HQ. Yielding off of my right leg was not so good but yielding off of my left leg was great. After that we moved on to the passenger lesson at the trot (her least favorite exercise). She was very vain and wanted to constantly check herself out in the mirrors. LOL

She decided that trotting was no fun and bumped herself up into a canter hoping I’d do a ORS and shut her down (which I did). We moved back to the passenger lesson at the trot and sure enough she popped back into the lope. I remembered CA telling a gal at the NE clinic to let her horse lope as she’d get tired soon enough so instead of shutting LLL down I let her lope. She kept picking up speed hoping I’d shut her down but I didn’t and sure enough she quickly dropped back down into a trot.

I tried working on the bending exercise with her but a) I didn’t have any spurs on and b) I think I’m confusing her. I think she thinks I’m giving her a cue that I’m not. I’ve found working with her is harder then working with a normal horse since she does retain so much and since I have no clue how she was ridden before. She has so many buttons that I have no clue how to push.

She was hot so I jumped off of her and jumped on Bishop (he looked stiff and gimpy) so Terry could see how he was moving. I ground tied LLL in the corner while I rode. Bishop moves slowly but man was he rough! Terry could see what I was talking about and while I was trying to get him to move out and stretch his legs LLL decided she needed to get down and dirty. Terry headed towards her and LLL looked upset that her spa treatment of sand and grit was cut short.

In the meantime I put Bishop into a lope. He wants to kick up at the lope on the lounge line but Terry said he hasn’t tried it under saddle. Well he did! If he is asked to move out at all he bucks. I wonder if his knee bothers him or if he’s just being a shit but I didn’t feel comfortable pushing the envelope so I put him in a lope one more time and then dismounted. I’m just now healing up after Max and the last thing I’d need to do is push him and mess up his knee or get myself hurt.

We decided to finish and loaded the horses up to head home. WWF entrance/exit is not a fun one and we were in Terry’s truck with her trailer (she picked me up). It is a small lane that goes out to the highway and it is pretty flat for the most part but you have a slight incline before the highway. To the right are trees and a small hill that people “pop” over and to the left are trees and a blind spot so getting out is tricky even when the lane is nice and dry.

As we approached the highway we saw cars and had to stop. When we tried to accelerate to get on the highway the truck tires just turned. We were going to have to make a running start again. Terry tried backing the 22’ trailer down the hill but she doesn’t back well so in her frustration she stopped the truck, put the emergency brake on, got out and told me to do it. I got out and as I went around to the driver’s side the truck started to slide with no one behind the wheel. I got in and started slowly backing down but my front tire got off in the small ditch which was enough to put us at a halt. I was NOT about to call a man for help so after putting some hay under the tires and rocking the truck/trailer a lot we finally got it unstuck and got our run up the hill.

Terry stood in the road and gave me the OK and out we went. It was pretty uneventful from there. We are getting more snow and we are expecting freezing rain tonight so between that and the holidays I doubt you’ll hear too much from me in the form of blog updates.

I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!