The past two days were beautiful! I got a very nice preview of what my days will be like come warmer weather. Lots more time and energy to ride...yay!
On Wednesday morning I brought Miss Moose back to Knights Landing an I'm pleased to report that she has settled in beautifully. I was worried she would be very antsy and grumpy and spooky since she's been having a rough winter what with being wayyyy overfed, but she seems extremely happy to be back. She even gets her little boyfriend, Greyson, back and he's already following her around like a lost puppy.i rode her Wednesday and yesterday and she is already much better than she has been all winter. We do have some damage control to do since our rides this winter were extremely counterproductive due to her excessive energy and spookiness, but hopefully we will bounce back quickly. But now I have to get my saddle fitter back out again because my saddle seems to be sitting too low in the front and a little to the right...and both Moose and I are sensitive creatures, so even the minor imbalance feels huge to us. I think she's just still growing an changing shape and since the saddle is new, I think the flocking I just getting settled in and needs some readjusting. Annette to the rescue!
I've ridden Bubbles both days too. He's a good boy and he seems safe and sane but i am finding he is surprisingly over sensitive, which really stinks. I hope he will settle out of it. I tried rising him in a halter Wednesday thinking his teeth were bothering him but sadly he was still very high headed. I do think his teeth probably need done but I was hoping his head throwing had to do with his teeth hurting but it doesn't seem 100% so. So despite my extreme hatred of draw reins and other shortcut tack, I tried riding him in draw reins yesterday...everything else I tried still resulted in his head going up. They did actually seem to get the point across very well, and we even got the left lead for the first time. So hopefully after a bunch of rides in the draw reins he will just keep his head longer and lower. As far as his sensitivity...I'm not sure he will completely become immune to leg and voice, but maybe I can still use him for lessons and just teach the kids how to ride him...squeezes with the leg, not kicking...and very quiet voice. I hate looking for beginner lesson ponies. You never know what you have until you start using them in the program. Some ponies may hate kids, others may like them better than a rider like me.
Evil is doing okay, he seems to be feeling spring and his youth at the moment and is being a royal brat! But he has a load of potential and I I can get him caught up in his education I think he will be super fun an talented. For now I just have to wait out the temper tantrums!
Buster is mighty close to being ridden. I think late next week I might be able to ride him, but I won't know til that day comes. He's very good at lunging and tried out the side reins yesterday and did well. We worked on cross tying again and he was a champ, but I'm still very cautious...he hasn't really tested the ties yet so I'm on my guard for when he does so we don't have an accident! He's a champ at picking up his feet and even let me cut a bridle path and cut out the burrs I found on his belly. He wears a saddle like a pro and is getting used to the bit. We played with the mounting block yesterday and I got to lay on him. He's not sure about me standing in a stirrup but he's smart and seems to be trusting me so if he reacts to something, he doesn't seem quite a nervous and dramatic.
I rode Pav for the first time in a long while last night. I wanted to try him in a Pelham bit. I'm not a fan of bitting up a horse as a shortcut either, but Pav is an old campaigner and his current rider has an old back injury that causes her to ride crookedly, and Pav is not very nice when he feels a weakness in the rider. So I'm hoping the Pelham will keep him from pulling and leaning so hard while she concentrates on correcting her unevenness. He did okay in it but was still strong, but he got _better toward the end. He is very stiff and it takes forever for him to warm up. I popped him over a few small jumps to see where his brain is at...he was surprisingly good and kept a fairly decent brain about it...I've really learned over the years that you CANNOT hold him to the jumps...if you grab his mouth coming in its almost like you spurred him with western towel spurs. You have to stay out of his face and keep a steady rhythm with your seat if you want a chance at a steady, no drama jump. He still can get a little charged up when you canter a line and sometimes e lands too fast off a jump and throws his head around in a tantrum so you just kinda gotta sit back and set your hands an drive him into them to get him to knock it off ad rebalance himself, so he's still not beginner friendly but it was a fairly good schooling ride. There may be hope!
I'm off now to the expo! Woohoo!
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