I keep starting blogs but I never post them, so I figured it was about time to report that Bailey's mysterious eye swelling apparently went down by the next day (Tuesday). Barn Friend J checked on my princess ponies because I had a super busy week from hell, and that week was filled with me being super busy while the horses saw the vet on Wednesday, and had a handful of days off. I got on Bailey again on Saturday, and was surprised by how well behaved she was.
That shouldn't sound alarming to most people, but there were children. And they were screaming and playing on the metal bleachers next to the arena. And Bailey kept her kimchee together. I don't even know. We did some dressage, and she was almost lazy and felt kind of sleepy. She was pretty soft (she was in the D ring on her FauxSweden bridle.
Foxie, however, was a bucking, trying to run away with me fiend. Despite being quite lame on hard surfaces/parking lot gravel, she spent a lot of time pretending she could run off with me and being silly. I also discovered that when I don't love the balance of a saddle, my back can sometimes go into NOPE mode and I decided to say fuck sensible decisions, I'm keeping the saddle that doesn't give me bruises and make my back hate life.
Either way, I think my horses think its funny to switch personalities.
Monday, Bailey was yet again, a total joy to ride. Despite missing the light entirely, she did some nice collection work and lateral work in the indoor. She was light off my leg, did walk canter transitions like a real live functional horse and actually did work. In a tiny box of an indoor. I was so impressed.
Foxie was also quite soft and well behaved, and honestly I wasn't expecting much since she seemed off walking up and down the concrete aisle. Apparently her feet are quite soft, because she was fine to ride.
Wednesday, Bailey's crazy finally came out to play - got all the way up to the big arena dressed to dressage and realized I forgot my spurs. It was awful, and my reins just were not working for me and my horse wouldn't go forward in any sane way... it was awful. I finally wrapped my leg down her inside flank and ponyclub kicked her into bending, but it did very little to redeem the ride. We got basically nothing done and mostly I was just hella over her stupid self.
Saturday, I was thinking "oh shit, I have a show in a week" and dragged some jumps out to make sure Bailey's legs still knew how to leg. I swapped her into her loose ring (because weirdly enough, less bit tends to be more with the red creature) and was rewarded with a nice, forward jump school. We had a few awkward fences, but as long as I was riding, Bailey jumped everything willingly - I just had to point her at the right fence. I set up a janky jump which was, in retrospect, super confusing for the horse, since I was technically pointing her at two fences at the same time... but once we had one awkward fence, I started straightening and turning better and the jumps got much smoother and out of stride.
I toodled around on Foxie in the saddle that doesn't make my back hurt (yay!) and called it a day; of course, today my plans have 100% changed from Saturday Event Derby to Sunday XC Schooling, but either way - hopefully I'll have new media and new exciting things to talk about come Sunday afternoon! Tonight, I plan to dressage (again) because Bailey needs to learn to behave in an indoor when its winter. She will also get a blanket, since it's supposed to rain and be cold this week. I still need to figure out when I'm riding the rest of this week, but as long as I get a ride in Friday or Saturday, I probably won't die on Sunday. So that's definitely a plus.
 |
| Sometimes this face is also the devil. |
That shouldn't sound alarming to most people, but there were children. And they were screaming and playing on the metal bleachers next to the arena. And Bailey kept her kimchee together. I don't even know. We did some dressage, and she was almost lazy and felt kind of sleepy. She was pretty soft (she was in the D ring on her FauxSweden bridle.
Foxie, however, was a bucking, trying to run away with me fiend. Despite being quite lame on hard surfaces/parking lot gravel, she spent a lot of time pretending she could run off with me and being silly. I also discovered that when I don't love the balance of a saddle, my back can sometimes go into NOPE mode and I decided to say fuck sensible decisions, I'm keeping the saddle that doesn't give me bruises and make my back hate life.
Either way, I think my horses think its funny to switch personalities.
Monday, Bailey was yet again, a total joy to ride. Despite missing the light entirely, she did some nice collection work and lateral work in the indoor. She was light off my leg, did walk canter transitions like a real live functional horse and actually did work. In a tiny box of an indoor. I was so impressed.
 |
| Everything was this and nothing hurt. |
Foxie was also quite soft and well behaved, and honestly I wasn't expecting much since she seemed off walking up and down the concrete aisle. Apparently her feet are quite soft, because she was fine to ride.
 |
| Getting rounder! But also doesn't appreciate being ridden. Ever. |
Wednesday, Bailey's crazy finally came out to play - got all the way up to the big arena dressed to dressage and realized I forgot my spurs. It was awful, and my reins just were not working for me and my horse wouldn't go forward in any sane way... it was awful. I finally wrapped my leg down her inside flank and ponyclub kicked her into bending, but it did very little to redeem the ride. We got basically nothing done and mostly I was just hella over her stupid self.
 |
| Always thankful for the running martingale |
I toodled around on Foxie in the saddle that doesn't make my back hurt (yay!) and called it a day; of course, today my plans have 100% changed from Saturday Event Derby to Sunday XC Schooling, but either way - hopefully I'll have new media and new exciting things to talk about come Sunday afternoon! Tonight, I plan to dressage (again) because Bailey needs to learn to behave in an indoor when its winter. She will also get a blanket, since it's supposed to rain and be cold this week. I still need to figure out when I'm riding the rest of this week, but as long as I get a ride in Friday or Saturday, I probably won't die on Sunday. So that's definitely a plus.
No comments:
Post a Comment