The weather this weekend was so gorgeous! It got to about +15 celcius on Saturday & Sunday. I didn't even think to wear sunscreen at all and came home with some pink cheeks and the outline of my sunglasses around my eyes! The outdoor arena had dried up enough that we could do lessons on Sunday outside. What a treat. There's so much more room to move around out there and the lesson horses seem to be such happy campers out there.
I rode Brigit today and she felt great at the walk and trot. Her trot was actually about the best I've seen it in a long time, it felt so BIG and loose! Her canter had me a bit concerned though, she started doing this awhile ago, she pins her ears back almost the entire time we're cantering and just seems really annoyed. I'm not too sure if she's still a bit sore or if perhaps the saddle isn't fitting as well as it did last year with all her time off. I'm going to try one of the school horse saddles and see if that makes a difference. If it does, perhaps we'll be on the search for a new saddle again....
I had a super successful day with Shadow as well! I bought a fuzzy girth cover to see if that would fix the problem (it didn't really but it was only $10 so oh well). I did all of my usual ground work with her, she was calm and relaxed. Then I grabbed the saddle and shifted it sideways like last week. And she bolted off, not as bad this time but still didn't like it. I caught her again and this time held onto the reins and did it again, she tried to bolt but didn't get too far because I had a hold of her. After a few more times of that, she seemed to realize that bolting/bucking wasn't the desired response or necessary and quit doing it altogether. Success!
I decided I'd better get on her again. In my attempt to be soooo careful so the saddle didn't shift sidways, I accidently kicked her in the flank as I got on. She scooted forwards and then danced sideways a bit and then stopped and puffed as if to say "Oooh you scared me up there!". I was really happy that she hadn't bucked or really done much. Phew! Let me tell you my heart was going for a few seconds there as I was contemplating bailing off! haha
After that we toured around the arena, did lots of halt transitions, lots of turning this way and that and bending her head around. She seemed to take it all in stride. Yay!
My boyfriend was there watching and he was really impressed at how far she had come. He hasn't seen me work with her in a few months and last time she was a snorty, spooky, jumpy, slightly nutty horse. Now she's pretty calm and actually getting to be a bit of a suck! (and a cookie monster!)
It was even nice enough outside to do some yard work! There's a whole bunch of tulips and crocus' starting to come up now. I spent a good hour pulling the remants of this creeping stuff I planted last year. What a mistake that was! It's a gorgeous little plant that gets covered in purple flowers but it has just taken OVER. The grass is trying to encroach into the flower bed and this stuff is creeping into the grass! Time for some Round-up I think!
I rode Brigit today and she felt great at the walk and trot. Her trot was actually about the best I've seen it in a long time, it felt so BIG and loose! Her canter had me a bit concerned though, she started doing this awhile ago, she pins her ears back almost the entire time we're cantering and just seems really annoyed. I'm not too sure if she's still a bit sore or if perhaps the saddle isn't fitting as well as it did last year with all her time off. I'm going to try one of the school horse saddles and see if that makes a difference. If it does, perhaps we'll be on the search for a new saddle again....
I had a super successful day with Shadow as well! I bought a fuzzy girth cover to see if that would fix the problem (it didn't really but it was only $10 so oh well). I did all of my usual ground work with her, she was calm and relaxed. Then I grabbed the saddle and shifted it sideways like last week. And she bolted off, not as bad this time but still didn't like it. I caught her again and this time held onto the reins and did it again, she tried to bolt but didn't get too far because I had a hold of her. After a few more times of that, she seemed to realize that bolting/bucking wasn't the desired response or necessary and quit doing it altogether. Success!
I decided I'd better get on her again. In my attempt to be soooo careful so the saddle didn't shift sidways, I accidently kicked her in the flank as I got on. She scooted forwards and then danced sideways a bit and then stopped and puffed as if to say "Oooh you scared me up there!". I was really happy that she hadn't bucked or really done much. Phew! Let me tell you my heart was going for a few seconds there as I was contemplating bailing off! haha
After that we toured around the arena, did lots of halt transitions, lots of turning this way and that and bending her head around. She seemed to take it all in stride. Yay!
My boyfriend was there watching and he was really impressed at how far she had come. He hasn't seen me work with her in a few months and last time she was a snorty, spooky, jumpy, slightly nutty horse. Now she's pretty calm and actually getting to be a bit of a suck! (and a cookie monster!)
It was even nice enough outside to do some yard work! There's a whole bunch of tulips and crocus' starting to come up now. I spent a good hour pulling the remants of this creeping stuff I planted last year. What a mistake that was! It's a gorgeous little plant that gets covered in purple flowers but it has just taken OVER. The grass is trying to encroach into the flower bed and this stuff is creeping into the grass! Time for some Round-up I think!
I did a google search to try and find a picture of the creeping stuff, I believe it's called Ground Ivy and after a bit of reading, it sounds like it's a VERY invasive, VERY hard to get rid of plant. Oooooh boy.... what did I do?
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