After a long week away from my ponies, I finally got out to the barn on Saturday afternoon. I don't remember if I talked about Hubby's knee surgery (3rd time is the charm, right?) but that ate up most of last week, along with doing our taxes like responsible adults. Finally, I got to escape to the barn and hang out with J, who (freaking finally) returned from England.
Thankfully, I had the good sense to lunge Bailey before I got on her, because she spent a good 15+ minutes spontaneously bolting and bucking in between periods of extreme pogo stick trotting. She finally steamed down enough to stop like a normal horse (vs the eye rolling spooking sideways thing I got with previous halting attempts) and went the other way for a few more minutes, and thankfully that seemed to get it out of her system, because she was lovely under saddle; we didn't do too much that was challenging, but the hunter-lope is back (YAY) and she was back to being polite and actually weighting the bit at the trot, which is a good positive step. She wasn't horribly spooky and I felt like it was a good reset for her behavior.
Foxie was finally sound, as well, and while Bailey got to deal with J and I gabbing while riding (with lots of gabbing walk breaks) Foxie got worked through with no distractions. She was stiff, and a bit bucky (it's quite icy out in their paddock, so I'm guessing they both needed to stretch and burn off some energy) but did some nice flatwork in Bailey's micklem, as well. I don't know if she loves the micklem (and I still need to play with the noseband/bit hangers a bit...) but she seemed happy to be back at work. Her canter is so much more condensed than Bailey's is right off the bat, and it's nice to have her back to remind me how to ride without the ever-forgiving nature of Bailey. Fox wants me to ride with steady hands and proper, polite leg cues, where Bailey lets me get away with a lot more floppiness.
I hope, one day, I can ride Bailey as subtly and as accurately as I am able to ride Foxie, but Foxie makes it easy; she's so smooth, where Bailey is bouncy and quite hard to sit on. I'm looking forward to putting B into some lessons with a dressage trainer this spring - hopefully they can help me find my seat with her. In the mean time, I'm going to continue to experiment with saddles (with both horses; Bailey's jump saddle seemed gappy in new and exciting ways on Foxie when I looked at her from the front) and need to remember to save to have my fitter out again this spring.
Here's to hoping tonight's ride is also sane and (hopefully) a bit more productive; Bailey seems to lose condition pretty quickly and easily, so I need to work on getting her back in shape. Spring can't get here fast enough - I want to work her outside, so we can actually do some muscle work!
Thankfully, I had the good sense to lunge Bailey before I got on her, because she spent a good 15+ minutes spontaneously bolting and bucking in between periods of extreme pogo stick trotting. She finally steamed down enough to stop like a normal horse (vs the eye rolling spooking sideways thing I got with previous halting attempts) and went the other way for a few more minutes, and thankfully that seemed to get it out of her system, because she was lovely under saddle; we didn't do too much that was challenging, but the hunter-lope is back (YAY) and she was back to being polite and actually weighting the bit at the trot, which is a good positive step. She wasn't horribly spooky and I felt like it was a good reset for her behavior.
Foxie was finally sound, as well, and while Bailey got to deal with J and I gabbing while riding (with lots of gabbing walk breaks) Foxie got worked through with no distractions. She was stiff, and a bit bucky (it's quite icy out in their paddock, so I'm guessing they both needed to stretch and burn off some energy) but did some nice flatwork in Bailey's micklem, as well. I don't know if she loves the micklem (and I still need to play with the noseband/bit hangers a bit...) but she seemed happy to be back at work. Her canter is so much more condensed than Bailey's is right off the bat, and it's nice to have her back to remind me how to ride without the ever-forgiving nature of Bailey. Fox wants me to ride with steady hands and proper, polite leg cues, where Bailey lets me get away with a lot more floppiness.
I hope, one day, I can ride Bailey as subtly and as accurately as I am able to ride Foxie, but Foxie makes it easy; she's so smooth, where Bailey is bouncy and quite hard to sit on. I'm looking forward to putting B into some lessons with a dressage trainer this spring - hopefully they can help me find my seat with her. In the mean time, I'm going to continue to experiment with saddles (with both horses; Bailey's jump saddle seemed gappy in new and exciting ways on Foxie when I looked at her from the front) and need to remember to save to have my fitter out again this spring.
Here's to hoping tonight's ride is also sane and (hopefully) a bit more productive; Bailey seems to lose condition pretty quickly and easily, so I need to work on getting her back in shape. Spring can't get here fast enough - I want to work her outside, so we can actually do some muscle work!
Based on the blossoming flowers here, it would seem as if spring is well on its way!! Unless there's another winter storm still to come, that is.
ReplyDeleteHere's to hoping some of your spring heads my way! The snow is gone in pretty big patches but I think we're going to stay below freezing for a while yet...
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