Well Trained vs. Kid Safe

Wednesday night a friend of mine and I took the horses to the indoor. I took Black & Max and left Lu at home. I’m not sure how Mona would react to Lu’s bald spots (from the skin scraping) so I figured I wouldn’t go down that road right now.

Terry was going to ride Max and I was going to see how Black would do on the Nike footing. When we arrived we put the horses in stalls so they were out of the alley since the trainer was in the indoor riding. Terry asked me what I wanted her to do with Max and I told her to just treat him like she would any other horse. I wanted to see what he was going to do with her.

I brushed and saddled up Black and worked on her cinch problems (I think her heart point is out like Lu’s was because I could touch it with my hand and she’d pin her ears and swish her tail). Once the horses were saddled we headed into the arena for a little ground work. By now the trainer was out and it was all ours.

I didn’t really get to see Terry work with Max as I was focusing on Black. She really didn’t do too bad. She needs some work on yielding the HQ but she lounged fairly well. When I looked over next Terry was bridling Max and his head was way up in the air. I walked over and bridled Black.

Terry got on, flexed Max a bit (I did tell her to flex him but she didn’t release when his nose hit her toe) and started riding. She likes to ride with a bit tighter rein then what I ride with and Max wasn’t too happy about it. I hopped up on Black and we did some flexing (left side she could get to stirrup, right side she sat on my hand).

I tried not to say anything and just wanted to see how the two of them did together. I wanted to see how Max would react with a different rider. I’m not sure if she was tense but he wanted to go into a lope. When she got over by the manure tub he did a “mini spook” & that is when I said enough. I told him that he was testing her. She kept trying to take him directly up to the manure tub which seemed to make things worse.

I explained to her how to take him in a circle and then turn him into the tub and keep going. She tried but was doing it at a walk vs. a trot so it meant nothing to him. When she would turn him into the tub she would give him the opportunity to look at it vs. making him move his feet and keep going so it really wasn’t doing anything. He finally got tired of it and put his nose on the tub saying “there, now leave me alone”.

After that I had her put her hand on the buckle and put her hand and the rein on the horn and told her to keep her other hand off of the reins. I explained to her that if she felt he was going too fast she needed to do a ORS. She was also leaning forward a lot so I asked her to lean back. Once she got him moving he moved into a trot without being asked so she did a ORS. She wanted to pull back on both reins out of habit but didn’t. After about 5 minutes of walking around on a loose rein Max had relaxed and I think Terry had relaxed a bit too.
Then I had her move into a trot on a loose rein. He looked relaxed but she kept tipping forward and every time she would he would stop so we had to work on that. Then I showed her how to stop him off of her voice/seat. She thought that was pretty cool and I think once she knew she could do it she felt more comfortable.

She wanted to neck rein him which is fine but she kept dragging the reins over his neck and he was confused. I showed her how to move them over just slightly and when she did he would turn. After that I had her pick up the reins as soft as she could until she felt contact. He was very soft and very giving and it didn’t take her long to figure that out.

She said she felt dumb riding him. She’s ridden for a long time and said she felt like she had a hard time riding him. We both agreed that maybe this is why DH gets so upset with Max. He knows Max can do it but doesn’t understand how to ask him to do it.

I have a gal who is looking for a well broke horse who is trained JL style (similar but not exact to CA). She wants a horse her husband can trail ride on and that she can ride. The more I think about it the more I wonder. Can a truly broke CA or JL trained horse ever be husband/kid proof? A novice rider when they get on tends to squeeze or hold on with their legs. To a CA horse that means go. If the horse sped up the rider would more then likely squeeze more which to the horse would mean go faster!

I was really surprised to see Terry have as many problems with Max as she did so it really does make one wonder.

As for Black, she was a bit lazier. She spooked herself when she saw her reflection in the mirror but after that I kind of forgot I was even riding her around since I was instructing Terry. She did seem a bit sore but I think part of that is from her back feet (they are nasty) but she did trot out freely when she was following Max.

Far from dead

Everyone seems to get a bit nervous about the black mare when I mention her age (24). They get even more nervous when I tell them our plans for her. I keep saying that 24 is far from dead. I had a Chickasaw (look that one up, the breed no longer exist) gelding that died at the ripe old age of 32. We would run him in the pasture because we didn’t know how old he was until after he died and we found his papers.

Well last night was a beautiful night (for Iowa). We had a light dusting of snow and it was around 12* out with no wind so I decided to let Chase try to go sledding in the pasture. When we got there we got the horses in and then the kids headed off to the small hill.

I decided while the kids were playing to throw the bareback pad on Black and go for a ride. I remembered her saddling issues and was prepared but she seems to have gotten a bit worse. She was biting at the radio on the wall and turned to nail me a few times but my elbow was ready and waiting.

I grabbed my bridle and she took it very well and then we headed outside to mount up. I remembered she didn’t like things jumping on her and when I tried to do it she reminded me that she still didn’t like it so I pulled her over to the fence so I could slide on. As I was climbing the fence I let go of the reins for a split second thinking she’d stand still. NOPE! She took the opportunity and ran (literally).

She went into the barn where the other horses were at so I was hopeful she would stop. NOPE! She saw the open door on the back and was off again. She was all over the pasture and you could tell she felt good. Finally she landed herself at the big bale and I was able to catch her. I walked her back up to the lot and finally got on.

She still had plenty of energy and kept trying to trot with me to the big bale. It wasn’t anything serious (she wasn’t dragging me that way or anything) but it was funny. I told DH I hoped he didn’t expect an old dead horse because if this is what she feels like after one trim wait to see how she feels in the spring after she’s been under routine care.

I did check out her “whoa” and it still seems to be working and she also seems to be neck reining well too so I am hopeful that she will work out.

The trimmer was out on Monday and said that her heels were high and uneven and that could have been causing some of her pain. He also told me to treat her back frogs. I didn’t get out Tues. night because Ty was sick so when I checked her back frogs last night “blah” they were nasty. I decided to go ahead and put thrush buster in all of her frogs just to be on the safe side.

I was hoping to take her and Lu to Mona’s tonight but I don’t think that is going to happen. Ty still isn’t feeling well and DH will be home with him all day so I guess it will be my turn when I get home. The temps are supposed to be in the high 30’s low 40’s on Saturday so hopefully I can get them out then.

Can you believe it?

Thursday it was around 40* here so DH decided to take Max on a ride (can you believe it?). He took him down the road a few miles and when I asked how he did DH's reply was "he was an angel".

He said he stopped for a minute at the gate south of my parents and then stopped to check out the cows but other then that he was great.

Today we went and picked Black up. She could stand to gain a few pounds and her feet need some work but she's not nearly in as bad of shape (hoof wise) as she was when we got her.

When we got her (Sept. '07):





Today:







The trimmer comes Monday so we'll get her back on a normal schedule with her feet and we'll also start graining her a bit and watching her sugar intake. Hopefully it won't take too long to rehab her this time.

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.

Back in Black

This weekend I got an e-mail from the gal who purchased Black. She is going to be selling her and wanted to know if we were interested in having her back. It sounds like she’s fallen on some hard times and I don’t think she was prepared for the upkeep Black’s feet require.

I wasn’t quite sure how to approach DH about the offer to buy her back but I knew I had to at least ask. I was surprised at how open to the idea he was depending on how bad her feet have gotten.

According to the gal we sold her to she rode her last summer and some friends and their 5 & 7 yr. old kids rode her in an indoor in the fall. She said she is a bit sore on the hard ice but that she hasn’t abscessed since she had her. Needless to say we are going to go look at her on Sat.

My father will probably kill me if I bring home another horse but it won’t be the first time I’ve done it and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I’ll just have to pray we don’t have to move them anytime soon.

Our “hope” for Black is that she becomes DH’s roping horse (yeah I know). She is 24 but when she was here and her feet were on the mend she acted like she was 10 again. I’ve had horses live to be 34 so IMO 24 is far from dead. I know in her day they worked cattle off of her and ranch roped.

I told DH he’s going to have to take his roping dream down a notch. He wants a NFR roping horse but we can’t afford one (heck I’d like a trained reiner). He has been asked to do some ranch roping competitions with a few friends this year.

I’m not 100% on how the competitions work as I’ve seen a few different styles. Neither are very high impact on the horses like normal team roping is and I think it would be a good “starting point” for DH.

Here is one example of Ranch Roping. I think they are DQ’d if the horse gets out of a trot.



In the other example there are 12 or so cows that are grouped and numbered in groups of 3. As you cross the line your number is called and those are the cattle that have to be roped. A breakaway rope is used and your time ends after the last cow is roped and the rope breaks away.

We both figured if she doesn’t work then we can either try to rehome her or send her to live with MIL so I can have my horse back. LOL This would give MIL two riding horses so if we came over we could go for a ride without having to haul a horse over.

Here are some pictures of her from when we had her in case you don’t remember her.

Back from the Vet

I took Lucy to the vet last night to have some skin scrapings done to see what her “crud” was. I wanted to makes sure it wasn’t anything that would spread to the other horses or that would cause new problems this spring.

The vet took several samples of the “crud” but they were hard to find since I have been grooming her with the furminator. She also shaved off some hair and took some skin scrapings. She spent about 45 minutes under the microscope to tell me she didn’t see anything. She agreed with the other vet that rain rot was a possibility. She said the “crud” could be the puss from the rain rot lesions but that it was hard to tell since we were at the “end” of the cycle. She said that really Lucy’s hair follicles and hair shafts looked very healthy.

So for now I’m going to just ride her until her hair falls off (hopefully that doesn’t happen). If she has another skin issue we’ll try to retest while we are having the issues.

Update on the girls

I’m not sure if I posted this or not so I’ll just say it again in case. A few weeks ago MIL called me asking me to come over and help her with the girls. Apparently they have gotten pushy to the point of dangerous & one of them knocked her over and then the other ran over the top of her. Luckily I don’t think any hooves hit her body but it was enough to scare the shit out of her. I told her I’d come over but the weather didn’t cooperate.

This weekend we finally had “decent” weather (28 with wind gust) so I went over to help. With the horses in their stalls I showed her how to back them into the corner without leaving them an opening to bolt out of the stalls (and potentially over the top of her again).

We started with Sis. Once she was backed into the far back corner I had her change what side of the stall she was on by pointing. Basically I wanted her to keep her butt as a pivot point and just move her shoulder from one wall to the other. If she walked forward I backed her back into the corner and we repeated. She was a bit nervous (I think MIL has gotten a bit carried away with the stick) so we worked on it until she calmed down.

Once that was going well I put the halter on her and backed her in and out of the barn and her stall. After that I asked her to walk out of her stall with my hand on her jaw. If she went too fast or got in a hurry I put my hand on her nose and backed her back into the corner. She did very well so I let her go outside and we cleaned her stall while Cat threw a fit.

Once we were done with Sis’s stall we moved on to Cat. I back her into the corner just like I did Sis and then asked her to move her shoulder from wall to wall. We’ve worked on this at home before so she knew what to do and did it very well. When she moved back to the left side (my left side her right side) of the stall she was over shooting her left hip and was tipping it towards me so I asked her to yield her HQ back into the wall. This is where the fun began!

When I put pressure on Cat’s hip she immediately pushed forward into me so I asked her to back up. Her front feet immediately left the ground and she went into a full & very high rear trying to get away from the pressure. Needless to say she not only went up but came forward towards me since I didn’t remove the pressure. Needless to say that stick can make a nice impact on the jaw.

Once she came back down I kept the pressure on until she was back in the corner where she was supposed to be. Once there I released the pressure and let her soak in what happened. This happened several time. What I noticed was when I went for the left hip she pushed into me and this was where the “rear” started so I took her outside and did some LFR stage I and really got after that hip (didn’t need to get after the right hip).

Then we moved into the barn and did the sending exercise in the alley (showing MIL she didn’t have to go outside). We had fun playing “tag” with her left hip. My stick was able to tag her quiet a few times. EVERY time she came forward into my space and every time I backed her back out of it. Finally lefty started getting the point so we moved back to the stall. Things went a lot smother then.

I showed MIL how *I* would let her out of the stall if she was in a hurry and told her to make sure she does what she can to make coming out of the stall not so fun on the days she has time.

She did call me to tell me that she’s let the girls out several times and they have been good as gold since Sat. Hopefully they continue to be good and MIL continues to stay on top of their pushy behavior. MIL has learned that she relies on the stick too much and she also clucks too much! I need to duck tape her mouth and wean her off of the stick.

"Crud" update

I consulted two vets (mine & a friend’s) who both feel Lucy has rain rot. I was told to spray her with Lysol, groom her and get her in the sun. The first nice day we had I was told to give her a Pine-sol bath.

**excuse me**

I’m not giving my horse a bath in Pine-sol. I think the label suggest we use gloves.

It seems to be coming out well with the Furminator and doesn’t seem to be affecting her so I’m sending hair samples to two friends to see if they can figure out what it is. I’ll update as soon as I know anything. My luck it will come back that it was just rain rot but we’ve had rain rot before and it has never been like this.

Soft as Butter

DH has to work both days this weekend and I have to go help MIL with her horse (and Cat) this weekend so I knew if I wanted to ride I was going to have to do it after work so I decided to go last night. I took Lu and Max but told DH that I was only going to work with Max after I got done with Lu and only if I still had time.

By the time I scarfed down supper, headed out to the farm, hooked up the trailer and got the horses loaded it was 5:45. We got to the arena around 6:00 and it was pitch black. Mona wasn’t kidding when she said it was dead at night. I unloaded the ponies and started grooming.

After Lu was saddled and ready to go we headed to the arena and did some desensitizing and LFR Stage I. Her take offs are quick but soft and she looked very relaxed moving in her circle. Counter clockwise is still her preferred direction. Clockwise she has a harder time bending her body in the “C” shape around me.

Every time I’d yield her HQ I’d draw her into me, scratch her head (which she’s starting to enjoy) and then I’d back her back out and send her back on the circle. Instead of switching up directions I’d have her go counter clockwise 2 or three times in a row and then clockwise one time so she moved in her bad direction more.

When it was time for the lope I lifted my hand and she softly went into a lope. Woo hoo, no bucking! Oops I spoke too soon. About the second or third time I asked her to lope her heels came up. I immediately sat on the rope (yanking her eyes towards me) and when she was facing me headed in her direction quickly and sternly making her back quickly. As soon as she was focused back on me I sent her off again. She tried it twice tonight and even acted like she wanted to kick up going counter clockwise.

Once I got a nice, smooth lope out of her in both directions we quit. I backed her over to the wall, bridled her and hopped on. We worked on the following:

Follow the fence
Yeilding HQ
Bending
Post to post
Giving vertically

She’s doing much better at follow the fence. Yeilding the HQ I’ve never really had a problem with. We are still working on bending (bending to the left is her bad side to the right is ok). Post to post was actually better then I expected (she usually moves like she’s drank a 12 pk. when we try to go in a straight line) and giving vertically we aren’t ready for. She did it but I need to back up and slow down.

By this time she was hot. Since her winter coat is long she sweats easily so I decided to tie her up and play with Max. I haven’t touched him since “that night” (September) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m not sure why I always expect the worst out of him. He’s never really given me a reason to. When we hit the middle of the arena and I started twirling the rope his eyes got big and my first thought was “here we go” but he settled quite well.

We did some LFR Stage I and he was very soft and fluid on the end of the line always keeping an eye on me. I barely had to look at his hip and he was yielding. We went both directions for about 10 minutes and I decided to ask for a lope. I didn’t want to keep him in it long; I just wanted to see if he could/would do it. To my surprise he did and he was almost just as slow as he was when we stopped working last fall.

After the LFR we did some backing. He fought me a little bit (wanted to lounge) but finally got with the program. We backed up and down the arena two times doing the tap the air method and then the marching method. The last thing to do before getting on was flex. I flexed him with the halter and he was as soft as butter. He came back to me before I could even get my hand all of the way around.

I bridled him up and jumped on (bareback). I just wanted to see how he felt and maybe trot some. I don’t want to over do his hock but I want to build it up as well. He was just as soft with the bit as he was with the halter. We walked off and did a few ORS until I felt comfortable and then I let him trot. He felt so good! He moved nice and soft and really felt like he never had any time off. If/when we sell him I really am going to miss him (and I think DH will too). I trotted him all over the arena doing X and leg yield and even asking him to move out at the trot. I think even he was having fun.

I couldn’t help myself and asked him to lope. He felt a bit “fresh” and shook his head a bit but he did lope and it wasn’t his “out of control” spring lope we usually have when he’s out of shape but it was closer to the nice controlled lope we had this fall. We went both directions and then trotted a bit more. By this time I felt like can icicles and I still had to pick up after myself and my ponies so I decided I’d better quit. It was almost 9:00 and I still had to feed.

I’m not sure when I’ll get out next but hopefully soon!

Oh and before I forget. I have one problem with Lucy that I can foresee being a HUGE problem this summer if we don’t get it managed soon (but hard to do in winter). She HATES getting hot & sweaty and she tries to lay down when she’s hot (not when I’m on her, she’s tried that only one time). She was pawing last night while I was riding Max and I told her to get over it. She somehow managed to actually get down on the ground while she was tied up (guess I need to tie her up higher huh).

What is this?

Do you remember this summer when I talked about Lucy’s bumps? I’ll re-cap just in case.

This summer I made the mistake of putting Cat & Lu on Vitality Ultra (a sweet feed) because I was at my wits end trying to get Lu to gain some weight and I was trying to beef up Cat. Well they both started getting bug bite. No big deal right? Wrong! What ever these little things were they don’t seem to come off easily. I had to dig at them and pull them off (they were like little scabs on the skin but they were attached to the hair).

I figured the sweet feed was the culprit since ONLY Lu and Cat had them so I took them off of it. I had hoped with time they’d go away but I wasn’t that lucky. I ended up blanketing Lu with a fly sheet just to keep them from getting worse.

Well we are at least 5 months later and they are still on her only they are growing out with her hair now (but still attached to the hair).

I know it is hard to see but can you see it in the picture?



See my hand? See all of the bigger white specks? Those are the little beggers.



My Furminator after a few swipes over her coat.





Another view



Any clue what these little pest are?

It is not rain rot and I’ve tried to muckitch on her, I’ve tried bathing her (iodine, ezall, anti fungal/bacterial stuff from the vet, etc.), I’ve tried baby oil/Listerine mixture, etc. Basically anything and everything I could think of and it seems the only way to remove them is to pick them off one by one.

Luckily Cat didn’t get his nearly as bad as Lu (of course not) so hers are almost all picked out.

Here are some pics of the little horse that needs to live in a padded bubble. Lol



Look! She’s almost getting fat! And look at that hair coat compared to last year. lol



Horrible pictures I know. My camera doesn’t like the lighting of the barn so it puts the spots in the pics for some reason.



Who me?



Can you see her three dimensional mane?


By the way - if you are wondering I am back to feeding Progressive only they've come out with a new "supplement". It is called ProAdd Ultimate Supplement (guranteed less then 10% NSC and has been tested around 7% for those who care). I'm top dressing Empower for Cat and Lu. Lu gets 1/2 lb. of the Pro Add and 1/2 lb. of Empower a day and has never looked better (although I think part of that is due to her maturing a bit as well).

Progressive Nutrition has a product similar to the Empower but it's almost double the price per bag so that I why I'm using the Nutrena product for now.

Just say it now……………….

I know, I know, I know. I said I was done with Max and I really did mean it but………….

There is a gal on the JL board that is interested in him. I really like her. She’s had a heck of a time with the horse she has now due to the way they started off and she’s looking for another horse. I had casually mentioned Max to her a while ago and she e-mailed me to see if he was still available. I asked DH and he said yes (apparently he still thinks he’s going to find himself a better horse) so I let her know he was.

She pretty much wants a nice, quiet trail horse. Once she can ride out alone on or down the road on. We’ve wanted to get together to ride so we are planning on meeting in the spring for a trail ride. She’s going to try out Max then.

That being said Max hasn’t been ridden since his injury. I told DH I’d ride him to get him in shape (I’m not sure the gal at the indoor would let DH ride there) and soften him back up but that if he “screwed me over” it would be the last time. I think he knows I’m serious too.

If we meet up and she likes Max I told DH I wanted her to take him on a trial period (2 wks - a month) to make sure they mesh. She’s had a rough go with horses so I don’t want her taking my word on him only to find out he won’t work for her. I told DH it’s not like he’d probably be riding anyways (he of course disagreed with me on that).

So I’m going to take him to Mona’s and just try to get him in shape. Nothing too strenuous just some long trotting and maybe some leg yields and bending.

On a side note – do you remember the spots I told you that Lucy had? Well she still has them. I’ve been picking them out one by one as I groom her but she’s just covered. Well I had a “duh” moment and took my furminator out to the barn the other night. It got a lot out! I only did ½ of her but I could actually rub my hands over her without feeling the little buggers. When I do the other side I’m going to try to save the stuff to show you what it looks like. Maybe someone will know what it is.

Cat update

Well it sounds like I’m going to have my hands full with Cat when she comes home. MIL called the other day to tell me how ornery she’s been. Apparently she likes to run up to her and rear and then do a 180 and buck as she hauls ass out of the barn. She also told me about how she tried to bite her to get a treat and how she’s been doing this and doing that.

DH was even shocked (that should say a lot). His response was “but she was so good here”. I told him I’m not sure what it is MIL does to horses to cause them to be so disrespectful so quickly but I’ve decided maybe it isn’t what she does but what she doesn’t do.

MIL told me she doesn’t envy me at all when it comes to breaking out Cat. Before she went over there I figured it would be a walk in the park but now I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of work to do when she gets back.

Ringing in the New Year

I rang in the New Year the best way possible. Terry and I hauled over to Mona’s for a ride. I need to get updated pictures. Lucy is really changing a lot for the better. She’s filled out substantially (she’s almost fat) and her mane is growing in nicely. She’s also changed quite a bit mentally for the better. Those who met her when I first got her comment all of the time about how much she’s changing and how she doesn’t seem as crabby which is a good thing I think.

We got to the arena around 2:30 and started off with some GW. Lucy retains so much and she was so much quieter during LFR Stage 1 and smoother in her transitions on LFR Stage 2 which makes me very happy. Clockwise is her bad side. I usually get at least one “up yours” and like clockwork I got it this time. Only this time she got a surprise. As she kicked her heels up I sat on the end of the rope and threw her off balance. When she turned to face me in shock I immediately started to back her up quickly. There was no attitude the rest of the time we did groundwork.

She’s stopped her backing up after I yield her HQ from LFR which is good but she’s still not drawn to me. One step at a time right?

When it came to riding I decided we’d done enough passenger lesson so we needed to start with something else. I really don’t like loping her as I don’t think she’s ready (physically) and with her winter coat I don’t want her getting too hot since we do have to haul home so we worked on the stay on the fence exercise at the trot. I focused on my riding and just keeping her on the rail. I really do like the mirrors on the arena wall because I can see what I look like riding and make changes.

Terry was riding Bishop and we were going in opposite directions which was nice because we would pass on the inside on one wall and on the outside on the other. Neither horse cared for it much but they got over it quickly.

For the first time Lucy was unsure of an object. Mona got new carts for her muck tubs and Lucy didn’t like them so we rested next to them. It didn’t take her too long to fall in love with them. LOL

I rode with spurs for the first time (CA’s blunt spurs not rowels) and we worked on the bending exercise. LLL was not a happy camper about that. I’m not sure how many times she tried to bite my left foot but the left side was not her preferred side. We did however finally establish a starting point. Not a large one but I did finally get some bend.

After that we worked on yielding the HQ which she does almost before my foot hits her flank and then we worked on the clover pattern. Mona’s arena is long and narrow so that was harder but we still tried.

When we were done we watched Mona’s trainer ride her Friesian and while “B” rode I just rubbed Lucy’s head. She had it hanging pretty low and looked very happy to be done. DH is home this weekend so I’m hoping to get over there again sometime so I can work with her some more.