Arya: First half of May Summary

I'm going to try to keep my Arya posts in a more concise format, so here we go! I'll post this after a few more rides so I don't cover my blog with in depth analysis of every ride :) 

Friday 5/4- Arya was obedient for walk and trot and good on the ground. I rode her after Bailey which seemed pretty positive, though she continues to open her mouth whenever I pick up any thought of contact.

Monday 5/7 - Ground work was obedient, but lackluster. She spooked hard at a duck spooking out of the pond and got a bit more "awake" than I prefer, but was pretty obedient doing up and down transitions of gait on the line. We tried out the eggbutt french link snaffle which went over like a lead balloon. She evaded by turning her head strongly out several times, and seemed less offended when I switched her bit back to the "magic" $12 snaffle, but still resistant. She was very wobbly/inconsistent this ride; she wanted to bend out, and was "self punishing" when she got too quick/tried to canter and would crank herself around nose-to-tail before I could initiate shutting her down myself. She also had some leapy/naughty moments but I tried to shut her down with my voice vs my reins, which actually worked; I used the same scold I use when I can see she's thinking about ignoring my direction on the ground and we didn't have any moments that were too hair raising.

Post ride, she had a bath (she doesn't care about baths, which makes her easy, she just mows the grass) and had lots of lovely wild romps after her multiple rolls. She bucked, did Lipizzaner impressions, galloped around farting and bucking, and reared at lot... I guess she needs more work!

Saturday 5/11 - I switched it up and put Arya in the lunging rig with the neck stretcher as "side reins" instead of riding her. I wanted to see how she handled the relatively elastic connection the neck stretcher gave her, and it's clear that she doesn't really get the whole giving to the bit thing yet. She wanted to canter a lot (perhaps running away from the pressure?) and I let her, and while she didn't really get the neck stretcher like I had hoped, I was able to lunge her with the lunge line as an inside rein (run through the bit to her girth) and felt that she was bending and giving more positively.

Wednesday 5/16 - So Arya hasn't gotten a lot of work because I've been super busy with photo work, but I did finally get her out with a whole new outfit. She was wearing a Courbette Galant close contact saddle vs my normal Courbette Vision, and was also wearing her Eponia bridle with a Myler Level 1 Dee vs Bailey's fake Micklem with a $12 weighted loose ring snaffle. I tried the Myler on Bailey first, to get a feel for it, and had a very nice jump session with her. Arya lunged and I felt a bit nervous getting on her after some meh/distracted ground work and having to scoop grain to get her caught (I fed her 1 scoop of her usual 4 when she appeared at the gate after I scooped and dumped the donkey's grain).

Under saddle, I felt like I had a couple of things changing positively - I felt like I could really have the contact discussion with her and I also felt like I was able to get a bit of lateral flexion through her body by applying my calf and thigh. The saddle rode really comfortably - it's not as forward as my vision, but is larger in the seat, and I felt like I had a really comfortable balance point in it. She wasn't perfect, in any way, but I felt secure and felt like I could actually keep communicating with her when she tried to counter bend, jet off of the circle or get quick. The dee was well received and I was actually able to push the envelope without feeling like she got fried - we worked on giving to the bit with pressure and release, and while she did feel very stuck towards the end and didn't want to go forward (either we trot/canter in a tea cup or we get silly, taking longer steps is FAKE NEWS!) she was still having a good conversation with my hands, especially for her. I may try adding sealtex if she continues to be fussy, but so far... this is a really good bit for her, for ride 1 at least. She had really lovely even sweat marks under the saddle and I'm excited to ride again on Friday!

So it's been half a month... now to do more riding!