1/27/2020 (posted a day late).
Field ride, English saddle and snaffle.
Followed up on the work we did in the lesson on Saturday, grabbing a quick chance to ride in the sunshine before rain and snow came back into the picture today. We started to work in the usual place, but the footing just wasn’t working. I couldn’t get her to pick up a consistent pace and it felt to me like the ground and not so much Mocha. So we headed off to the other section, which has primarily been a running area…and of course, somebody immediately perked up. Oh well, I channeled that energy into getting and maintaining a good walk through a lot of serpentines, then moving into a consistent, regular, working trot.
It took a while, in part because she was full of herself and wanting to go. I finally had us pick up the bowtie exercise we learned. She remembered that, and started relaxing into that mode, though we still had moments of rushy-rushy when Mocha thought we might just take off in a splendid gallop. But at last she settled. Then we did some canter serpentines, complicated by Little Miss wanting to rush off toward the herd for the first part of it and not wanting to change leads. Eh, she was testing things. A spell of interrupted changes instead of flying changes, and she was past that moment.
We ended with a line of forehand and haunches turns, and a little gallop. Small serpentines on our way back to the gate, and a stop to do spins. They’re improving as we keep working.
However, she ended up wet. Her coat is long and heavy, and the temps are in the mid-to-high 30s F. I’m thinking very hard about clipping her windpipe and part of her chest to see if that will cut down on the sweatiness. But I’m hesitant because we’re due for some significant temperature swings, and I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. Maybe if I use the long teeth on the clippers instead of the close teeth. I have to think about it.
