ALL. THE. THINGS!

I haven't posted in a while, which is fine, except that I have ALL THE THINGS to say. I don't know why I couldn't motivate myself to blog, I just didn't. And now I have to play catch up.

I know how ya feel, B

Flower boxes ain't no thang for the B

Beauty has been excellent lately. Her feet got over their post-awful-farrier-ouchies quickly (love dem Morgan feets o' steel) and she was giving me some of THE BEST dressage schools we've ever had. She's picking up the idea of suspension and a more uphill frame, plus our lateral work is fantastic! I've been doing a ton of shoulder-in and shoulder-fore at the walk to strengthen her weak little hiney, and recently, we've started doing them at the trot. She resisted for a while and made grumpy dragon noises, but one day, I asked and she was just like "BOOM, no problem" and it was amazing. And they have been awesome ever since!

Canters are still meh, but getting slowly better. I really don't know what is going to make these canters work, it has been such a slow process.

We've jumped some verticles and a super baby oxer and started practicing with lines. Jumping is sort of falling apart lately, mostly because she's gotten more confident, so she doesn't think she needs to slow down and, you know, be cautious. She's started to lock on and bomb at the jump, but I am not in agreement that we need to be launched into orbit over every tiny crossrail. Half halts just get her hollow and stress her out, circles before the jump seem to be helping, but she still bombs, even from a stride out. She isn't naughty or worried, just UBER ENTHUSIASTIC.

Baby oxer

First line

The big news is TRAILS!!!!!!!!! That's right, the nervous rider and spooky horse have done TRAILS! Without dying! Last weekend, it was gorgeous and I had no obligations, so I said, what the heck, I'll lead her out on the trails. There is a little loop that is the perfect length for cooling a horse down and is minimally spooky, so we walked around there a couple of times. To my complete surprise, she didn't bat an eye the entire time. This is the horse that decided she was a park horse on crack last summer when we went down the dirt driveway of the neighboring farm. The horse that has always been a spooker, who I have never ridden outside much because she's just THAT BAD. So I got confident and decided to go back to the barn and tack up and ride her on the loop. So we did, and she was just as calm! And this is me, the rider who was nervous to ride her in the outdoor ring at our old barn and who has never been confident on trails, spending the entire time with every muscle clenched, waiting for her demise. And this time, we plodded along on a loose-ish rein with a relaxed me. WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?

Happy pony is happy

Fall is gorgeous down here!!!

And today, I went out just expecting to lunge her because she'd had three days off, thanks to college making me a busy, busy girl. I let her run in the round pen and then decided that after a stressful week, I just wanted to derp around and walk her out on the trails. We went further than our previous loop, to where a little obstacle course was set up. I didn't get pictures, but it is super cute. There is a bridge, a "hallway" between two walls, a "carwash" thing with hanging plastic, some logs and a seesaw. She gave one snort to the bridge, then walked right on, one snort to the hall, then walked right through, etc. She was hesitant to the carwash thing, but went through eventually. Seeing her being so good made me want to ride, of course, so I went back to the barn, got my helmet and got on bareback. Bareback. Our second time on the trails. And it went perfectly! We did most of the obstacles, except the carwash and seesaw. She was calm and happy, and I was calm and happy and it was amazing to feel the trust between us and finally be able to enjoy trails together.




In other news, RIP Beauty's mane. She was rubbed a big section out in the middle, which, I have recently deduced, is because her fat Morgan neck is too thick for the hay feeder, so whenever she eats, it rubs. -_-
So it was looking super rachet since it was long, then nothing, then long again. So I cut it to the typical hunter length (which makes her look super butch, rather than refined and feminine like her long mane). No, it isn't particularly better, yes it hurts my soul. I would roach it, but she lives outside, so I feel like she should have some mane to protect her. I don't know...

Before

After