Changing colors

Last night I decided to join MIL at drill practice.  When we got there I quickly saddled up and headed to the arena to do some groundwork.  Cat decided she was going to kick up her heels and protest a little bit so we shifted gears from LFR Stage I to LFR Stage II quickly!  I think she got the point rather quickly that it wasn't a good idea.

I hopped on and away we went.  I didn't work a whole lot on ORS.  Instead I just walked her around a little bit and then did some trotting.  I've decided she knows she needs to stay in a trot so now it's time to start learning how to follow the fence.  I could see Anna getting the flag out so I asked her if she would please just walk around and let me follow her.  Cat was curious but cautious at the same time.  I told Anna to go ahead and do what she needed to do.  She took off loping and Cat didn't seem to be too worried about the flag. 

It was warm and Cat got pretty hot and sweaty.  I love the color she turns when she is hot.  I wish she was that color all year round.  The team met in at the side of the arena for a quick meeting so Cat and I loped around.  She's starting to suck back at the arena gate but she didn't break gait.  A few times I loped her down the fence line, sat, said WHOA and then tipped her nose into the fence.  I really think she's going to be a stopper.  She was doing a good job of getting her butt into the ground.

I helped the team out by pretending to be the flag person.  It was good for her and she did a good job of playing follow the leader.  After that I gave the poor girl break.  A couple of the guys were joking with me about how much her color had changed.

After practice was over I jumped back on.  One of the girls is going to be carrying the American flag at a rodeo next month and was having issues getting her horse to stop so she asked me for some advice.  I showed her (and a large group watching - you know how much I enjoy that) how *I* would do it.  Cat was pretty responsive and got her butt in the ground so I was pretty happy with her.

After that the arena cleared some so Cat and I worked on the clover leaf pattern.  I really need to work on the bending exercise.  She does the pattern but she's stiff in her rib cage so she pulls on my hands a bit.  Not much but enough that I don't like it and don't want it to continue.  She couldn't wait for me to say "whoa" in the center of the leaf.  I did the pattern once each direction and then once going in the opposite direction of which ever direction she wanted to go. After that I worked on a bit of backing up CC style, let her rest and then dismounted.  She was one tired little girl.