I had Friday off, in observance of Good Friday, so I got up at my usual time (what is wrong with me?!) and took my new car for its very first oil change since I've had it, they also rotated the tires and did a 27 point inspection. It was the first time I have ever had a car inspection come back to me with all the green boxes checked!!! Clean bill of health for the car. :)
Then I continued north to the barn to ride. I got there around 9. She was still relatively clean...I guess she wasn't feeling vindictive. Or it gets too hot to be dirty AND hairy, lol. She is not a clean horse normally (thank god she's a bay, and not a grey). The only thing that concerns me with her being so clean lately is: the fact that she's not dirty means she's not laying down in her stall. This is most likely due to her night turn out, I guess she's probably dozing on her feet both in the paddock and in her stall during the day. I have never seen her lie down during the day, but she's always been a lay-down-in-the-stall-to-sleep kind of horse. It also could mean she's not rolling very much, which I don't like either.
I believe horses should be comfortable enough to roll, and lie down to sleep. There was evidence she was lying down the first few days she was in this barn, so I am not really worried that she's not comfortable with her surroundings, as a whole. And without witnessing a night turnout session, I can't really know if they're playing all night, eating all night, etc. But, I do wish I was seeing some more dirt and shavings on my horse so I know she's getting the rest she has typically allowed herself.
Anyway, I officially do not need my girth extender anymore. Yay! My horse is at a healthy-ish weight again!! I was able to comfortably get the girth to 3 on the off side and 4 on the near side, and it was secure, but not can't-breathe-tight. I am thinking about increasing her feed by 1/2 a quart or so. I felt like I was seeing more ribs this weekend than I did last, so I'll see how she looks next week, and go from there. It could have been my imagination.
She was lazy and calm in the stall, and I considered not lunging her, but since I hadn't ridden in 2 weeks, and there was a beginner lesson in the arena, I figured I'd better play it safe. She was also lazy and calm on the lunge line. She stood 99% still at the block, didn't grump at my sloppy mounting technique (I don't know what I did, lol, I guess I lost my balance a bit when I went to swing my leg over) and then walked right off with her head and neck level and no tension through her back.
We did a lot of lateral movement, I spent a lot of time establishing control over her hind end, and asking her to put her hind feet where I wanted them. This involved shoulder-in, haunches-in, side passes and a lot of circles, through which I was constantly asking her to keep that inside hind foot underneath herself. I let her trot through this if she wanted to, with the compromise that I was going to be sitting, so we were not going to speed through the maneuvers. She felt great and really collected from behind and light in my hands when we began to do posting trot.
Her canter transitions were slower than I would like, but that is a matter of finesse and practice to reinstall our instant departure. She held most of the collection in the canter, which meant I was actually staying in the saddle and not bouncing around like a dead fish. Yay for me, lol.
After walking around to cool off a bit, I went to walk her toward the far end of the arena (heading in the direction of the horse-eating river) and she put up a fight. Really? I had no intention of making her cross the river when I headed in that direction, I was planning to dismount and call it a day but since she started the argument, I decided to finish it by pushing her through the issue. She had a hissy fit half way down the trail to the water, and her brain stopped saying forward, no matter how hard I squeezed, so I had to hop off to grab a stick (I left mine in the tack box, since I hadn't been planning on crossing!). And while I was off, I walked her to the water and made her go in while I stood on the edge, staying dry. She wasn't impressed that mom wasn't getting wet also, and started splashing. I dodged, made her quit and stand there quietly. Then I walked her back to the mounting block, did a wide circle and started walking down the trail again.
It went something like this:
"No, I don't want to." Head shake, back, back, back.
"Too bad. Whoa. You're being stupid."
"Fine. I'll stand here, but I'm not moving."
"Yes, you are." Tap, tap.
"Ok, ok." Two steps forward. "Wait, what am I doing?" Back, back, back. Head shake.
"No, really. Whoa. Your options are: stand here quietly, or walk into that water."
"Fine. I'll stand here."
"Good girl. You big baby." Neck scratch.
"Pfft. I'm not a baby, the water is scary."
"Walk on." Squeeze and hold.
"No." Back, back.
"Yes." Tap, tap, tap.
Walk, walk. Stop. "How about if I stand here?"
"Fine. Good girl." Neck scratch.
Sigh.
"Walk on." Squeeze and tap, smack.
Damnit, she means it, I guess. "Ok, ok. I'm going." Walk, walk, walk. "I'm getting scared. I'm going to back up again."
"Whoa." Neck scratch. (By this time, we're about 8 feet from the water, standing on a slope.) "Good girl. Walk on." Squeeze and tap, tap.
"I don't want to." Back.
"Too bad." Stop. "I told you your options." Tap, smack, tap.
"Fine. I'll go." Walk, hesitate, splash, splash, hesitate, climb up on the other bank, hesitate.
Squeeze, neck scratch. "Good girl. You're fine. Let's walk up the trail a bit."
Sigh. "If you say so." Walk, walk, walk. "Hey, this is kind of neat, we should come out here more, mom."
Sigh. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, silly mare. Ok, let's call it a day and head back to the barn."
"Aww, man. I'm having fun!"
We turned around, crossed back without any trouble, climbed up the other bank where I tossed my stick back into the woods, dismounted, loosened her girth, rubbed her ears, gave her 2 mints and walked her back to the barn. I untacked her, and left her to give her a chance to pee while I put her stuff away. Then spent a long time grooming her, trying to flatten the fuzzy, damp mess she calls a coat.
Saturday morning, I slept in because I didn't feel like rushing to be at the barn for 8 a.m. I got there around 10:30, and was able to ride in between the therapy class, and a regular lesson. I didn't lunge her, and she was perfect for mounting, although a bit hot during our warm up. She kept having a hissy fit at the far end of the arena -- again, the end closest to the river...but it seemed like she was spooking more at the chairs and the bushes moving in the wind than thinking I was going to make her cross the scary water again. So we did lots of circles at that end until she stopped looking and would go where I told her to, regardless of how "scary" it was. Then we switched directions and had to start the circling all over again. Sheesh. Other than that silliness, she was pretty good.
I hadn't planned to work her too hard, but she since was being bratty, and spooky, I ended up riding for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, I took her out to hose her off and wash and condition her tail (it was starting to get dread locks, lol). Her tail is getting really long again. I need to trim some of the dead ends so it keeps growing, but I need better scissors so I don't end up with a blunt end to it.
That's about it, in a nutshell. I have been asked to get some current pictures, so I will try to remember to bring the camera next weekend. I never did get the pictures from the girl who was shooting a month or so ago.
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