Cranky mare (Or cranky human?)

I really wanted to ride on Sunday, but was still so congested that I talked myself out of it. It's good that I am getting that bug back to ride. And I am really enjoying not having to drive out of my way in rush hour traffic to see her. It makes it so much more enjoyable to spend time with her when I'm not cranky and it's not getting dark. 

I decided that even though I wasn't going to ride, I wanted to do something productive that would work towards getting her fitness level up. She's losing some weight because she's moving around more; starting to look better, although she's still quite fat. She doesn't get winded from working for 10-15 minutes on the lunge line. 

I debated for a bit during my drive on whether I wanted to lunge her or long-line her. But decided on the former, as I was feeling kind of lazy. When I got there, she looked over at me, and came to the gate, but when she saw what I was bringing out of the tack room, apparently she changed her mind about being friendly. I went in to halter her and she swung her butt at me, instead of turning to face me. Incredibly RUDE! She got smacked with her lead rope until she swung it away from me and turned to face me. She didn't even have the good grace to look guilty when I haltered her. 

I tied her, and unwrapped her leg. Still looking better. I left it alone since the wonder dust was still covering it well, and set about grooming her. I actually used her teal polos (for the first time since she got kicked) to keep it clean while she worked. I bridled her and attached the lunge line, then grabbed the rest of my stuff and walked toward the arena. The little girls leasing Grasshopper (the one that was beating her up) were also lunging, so I opted to let them use the round pen so they were enclosed. There was a horse turned out in the arena area, but he was taking a nap, and although he looked up when we walked in, he didn't move, so I kept an eye on him just in case, and got her moving in a circle at the other end. 

I let her warm up at w-t-c in each direction and then brought her in to put the surcingle on. Damn. She's still pretty fat. Fatter than I realized. We had to walk back to the barn to get the girth extender. When we got back, the other horse was up and grazing at the fence line. He looked over and started to walk toward us, but when I shooed him off, he went back to grazing and kept to himself. 

I finally got the surcingle on, let her go around a time or two with it to make sure she wouldn't do anything silly and then brought her back in to attach the side reins. I only had to adjust them 3 times...normally it's a lot more!

There are times when I work her with side reins when I really wish I had splurged and bought myself a pair of leather ones instead of using the nylon hand-me-downs from my mom's last horse. They are nylon webbing (like a halter) at the adjustable end that clips to the surcingle or saddle, which is fine. But the end that clips to the bridle is elastic. Over the years, I have tied knots in them in several places to diminish the elasticity, but when she was younger (before she learned to carry herself) I couldn't use them, because all she did was hang on them, rather than respond to them. Then, I 100% needed the leather ones, because she needed the support, and they didn't give when she pulled, she had to learn to give to them. Now, though, I just wish they were leather when we start, and nylon/elastic at the end of the session. She knows not to hang on them, and not to pull on them. She has come to realize that when she gives with her head, and begins pushing from behind, she gets praised and gets to quit sooner. But sometimes she forgets. 

It used to be that she'd get so mad at the side reins holding her so consistently (face it, I can try to hold that steady when I ride, but I will rarely succeed!), that she'd just forget what she needed to do entirely. She's normally past that stage now. 

To the left, she wasn't hanging, but she was pulling a bit at first. I would remind her with a couple of squeezes on the line and tell her "head down" with a flick of the whip at her hocks, which basically means, begin using your hind end and carry yourself properly. She'd give me a few strides and then would forget and go back to not working. I brought her in to a slightly smaller circle so I had more control with my lunge whip at her hind end, and got her to work it a bit more. Eventually she began coming up into the bit and rounding her back. I praised her and let her walk a few times around. Then I asked her to trot again, got her working from behind and let her out on a slightly bigger circle. When she lost it, I brought her in and started over. It took about 10 or 15 minutes for her to be out almost to the end of the lunge line and working properly. I let her walk again and after readjusting the side reins, switched directions. She was much quicker to respond to the right (probably because she was already warmed up completely), and so got to work a bit less, but basically the same drill. I started a bit small to get her where I wanted her and then gradually let her expand her circle to the end of the line. 

At the end, she was warm, but not really huffing or sweaty. Progress!