After a Good Day Its Always Something

Had a great day with Bailey on Thursday. It has been a bit challenging to ride or do any ground work since we started temporarily boarding. She has been so distracted by her surroundings, her new horse friends, being in heat again, and just being a young 3 year old. I have been good at keeping all that in mind and not overdoing our sessions or pushing her too hard. She is still a youngster, after all. But Thursday...Thursday was fabulous.

She was very relaxed and focused. I didn't make her do a whole lot, but what we did do was quality stuff. We worked on following the rail without having to use the reins too much and then stopping in corners we were previously avoiding. I did everything in a patterned fashion and when I do this, Bailey catches on quickly. Our pattern was: trot down the rail using leg pressure, when needed, so as not to drift to the arena center; stop in the corner using my seat first; back using seat, legs, hands (in that order); relax; and then trot to next corner maintaining gait, position next to rail, and direction toward next corner. After doing this pattern about three times, I could feel her "get it". As we trotted on to our next corner, down the long side of the arena, she gradually sped up and I let her, not wanting to pull on the reins---trusting her a little. She softly broke into the nicest, smoothest, un-rattled canter. It was such a pleasure to ride her in that moment knowing she was relaxed, confident, and ok with me being up on her back, doing what we were doing. Then as we approached the corner, I relaxed, sunk into my saddle, and without picking up the reins asked for a stop. She listened, and planted her butt into a very nice smooth stop and then backed up, just as we had been practicing. There we stopped to end on a great note for the day. I was so proud of her....totally made my day. Actually, my week.

Saturday found us preparing to head out of town overnight. I ran by the barn mid-morning to check on Bailey once more. Unfortunately, I found her a little swollen in both rear fetlocks. The barn manager and I agreed that she probably slipped in the arena sand while being silly during turnout since neither of us saw her do anything specific to bring this on. We are keeping an eye on her and as of Sunday night, she seemed fine. I am heading out right now to see her. Hope all is well.

Blogger Templates