A day at the arena

Saturday I decided to meet some friends at the arena. Since I was only hauling one horse I decided not to take the big trailer but instead hooked up the 2 horse. Cat had never been in the two horse trailer before but she loaded right up like she’d been in one 100 times.

When we arrived she waited patiently until I asked her to back out. She was a bit excited to see the other horses but really wasn’t too bad all things considering. They had been there a bit before me so they were already tacked up and ready to ride. It took me about 15 minutes just to get the mud coat off of Cat so I could saddle her (yes you read right – saddle her). I threw her saddle on and slowly cinched up. She was fine with the front cinch but she wasn’t too happy about the back one. I was already anticipating a rodeo! Like most things though, she got over it quickly.

We headed for the arena to do a little LFR while the others rode around. I’m not completely crazy……….I wanted to make sure she was tired before I even thought about getting on her in a big open arena w/other horses! She did really well (almost better then expected) and kept her focus on me instead of the other horses. I put a bridle on over her halter and went to mount up. She was mouthing the bit too much and it was distracting her so I took it out and figured I’d cross that bridge another day. I hopped on and started my flexing. To the left she was great – to the right she wanted to circle vs. give. She finally did give but it took longer. I now know which side needs more work.

To sum things up I was able to w/t/c in the arena with the other horses. It did take quite a bit of whacking to get the canter but once she was in it she didn’t take off. I’m really going to have to push her to keep her moving but I don’t think that is going to be a bad problem to have. She did pin her ears at the other horses when they got too close so I just redirected her feet.

Today she is wearing the bit all day so hopefully by tonight she’ll be ready for me to ride in it!