Video Update

Last night we headed to the indoor. It was 32* out so we were having a warm snap compared to what temps had been. I loaded up Lu and Max and Terry was going to meet me and ride Max while I rode Lu. I was pretty excited about that because I think it is always fun to see how the horses act with someone else on the.

When we got to the barn we did our normal brush and tack up routine. By the time Lucy was ready to go my phone was ringing. It was Terry and she wasn’t going to be able to make it. I was bummed but I understood.

I had taken my camera to get some new video for you but with her not being there I didn’t think I was going to be able to get any footage. That’s when it hit me. I could try to set the camera on the mounting block and just let it roll. Well it kind of worked. I forget my camera shuts off after about 2 minutes so I didn’t get as much as I thought I did and I wasn’t going to make Lu do it again.

So here is what we did get. This is LFR Stage I w/a twist. I want her to leave with a yes ma’am attitude but I don’t want her flying around like she normally does. I also want her coming into me after we yield the HQ instead of backing (you can see she isn’t backing anymore but she still is a bit resistant/hesitant to come in). I think she’s looking better but I’m always up for listening to constructive criticism.



Once we did the LRF it was time to get on. Lucy had a cob up her butt tonight and didn’t want to move. I asked for a lope and it was squeeze, cluck, tap, TAP, WHACK and then her heels would come up in protest and she’d finally go into a lope for a few strides and then we would repeat the above. It took about 20 minutes for her to figure out I wasn’t going to give up and she finally loped a few strides freely so I shut her down (I didn’t want to get her any hotter then she already was). We trotted a bit and then did some of the bending exercise (she getting better at this finally) and then I dismounted.

I moved her to an empty stall and untacked her. Mona’s barn (minus the arena) is heated so I had hoped it would help cool her out quicker. By this time Max was getting a bit fussy in the arena that his buddy was no longer there. Nothing big but it was annoying.

I did the LFR with Max and he did very well. Then we did some backing. He backs but crooked as a jay bird so we worked on straightening him up. After that I threw the bareback pad on and jumped on. I decided with him that I was going to work on ME. He is very soft and light so I wanted to see how soft I could ask for vertical flexion and get it.

We would trot a few strides with no contact and then I would slowly add contact until I could feel him give to the pressure and then I would immediately release and we’d go a few more strides and repeat. He is very soft if you allow him to be.

What I noticed is that yet again *I* am a lefty. I am constantly taking my horses counter clockwise so when it is time to go clockwise they aren’t nearly as soft. Is this their fault? Nope. 100% my fault. Going clockwise wasn’t as soft with Max (body wise not in his face). He wanted to drop his shoulder & cut corners so we worked on lifting him up and keeping him bent in the corners.

I was feeling very good about where our ride was at so we decided to do some loping. Not much, just enough to say we did it. I think he still needs to build his muscles back up before we push things too much. We loped one lap in each direction. He was cracking me up because when I would say good boy he would take that as “you can stop now” so we had to work through that a bit but I think that is a good problem to have with a half Arabian don’t you?

I’m not sure when I’ll get out next. Hopefully Saturday we’ll be going to look at Black and Sunday we are having Ty’s 2nd birthday party so I have a lot of stuff to get done before then.