Poor miss Tilly hurt her paw pad (up by the dewclaw, but not the dewclaw pad, I NEVER can remember the name of it!) playing fetch on Sunday, so she has to keep it vet-wrapped while we're at the barn.
My very stylish barn wear. Right before I took this picture the cutest thing happened! I had just walked into the barn, and Reily didn't notice as he was playing with his bud Bo. Normally Reily comes straight up as soon as he see's me, so I called him. He looked around, found me and cantered straight up to his stall door! That's the first time he's done that in his run, though he used to do it in the pasture all the time.
Here's the dirty beast himself. I actually lunged him before I rode because he's been packing on the pounds as you can tell by that little belly on the mister, hehe.
I rode in a snaffle bit for the first time in TOO long! I get lazy, but it is really fundamental that he is rideable in a snaffle. This is the 'Before' when I first hoped on him. You can kinda tell, but his neck was an upside down V, very stiff, not yielding or flexible, and up it went when I applied pressure. Since Reily wasn't having any of this 'long and low' stuff and he was feeling the need for speed (in his own little pokey way), I decided we could work on imaginary poles and key hole for a while and push him into the bit while allowing him to be more uppity so to say.
This is a terrible photo by me, but after his poll became more level with his withers, and he was all over more flexible and happy. I was able to jog on a long rein, and when I needed to, pick up the reins and push him into the bit when he got lazy or nosed out. I was also able to get a SLOW canter with a lowered head, which is his weak spot. Made me very happy.
After he was being such a champ in the snaffle, I decided to go au-natural (without a bridle or halter or anything!) I normally do this at a walk in my cool-downs, but normally I also have spurs which I didn't today. (Spurs to me are NOT to make a horse go faster, but they help refine my communication on moving body parts with a horse. With spurs I'm able to make him stop, back if I have a rope around his neck, side-pass, pivot, etc. with little hesitation or miscomunication.) He was dashing at the walk, turning when I wanted doing circles the right size. SO I decided to do another thing I don't normally do, and added the jog. At first he just wanted to TROT. But I stopped him every time he tried (I had to make sure he had a 100% stop from my seat and voice before I'd go without headgear) and asked again until he got it right.
Within five minutes he was jogging nicely and moving where I told him! Do I stop there like a sane person? NO!!! I add the canter! It wasn't terrible, he did circles when I asked, stopped when I asked, etc. but I think I'll perfect the trot before going to the canter again. But the feeling of hand galloping a horse without anything on (the horse NOT me!!!) and just TRUSTING..... it's incredible. Nothing in the world could replace that feel. It's addictive too.
Tilly was a very tired puppy. which makes me a very happy puppy owner!
I've also been making little gifts to give to everybody at the barn for Christmas! I think I've mentioned this before, but it's something I've been wanting to do for years and finally have the chance! Like the handmade tag?
On a side note, today made realize why it's important to appreciate the little things. Once in a blue moon, we'll have a terrible ride. Absolutely terrible, where neither of us are happy. Most of them start the way my ride did today, with a horse who was having an off day and wasn't behaving near 'perfect' or responding the way I want. The difference is on those terrible days, I don't try to make the best out of the small things he does right. I get frustrated because the whole big picture isn't how I wanted it to be. On days like Monday, I started slow and appreciated he wanted to go fast and accommodated.
I went from there and started appreciating the little things he was doing right. I wasn't wearing spurs, but dang he's responding well to my leg! When I hold and push him into the bit, he really has a nice headset! We may not have the best flying lead changes today, but we're nailing the simple! His gates may be faster than I like, but he's getting that stop down! Etc. Etc. Etc.
By the end, since I wasn't getting frustrated and in turn frustrating Reily, I had more to be positive about and ended on a really nice note.
Yay for good rides on horses to turn your week around! I'll probably be MIA until after Christmas now, so have a Merry Christmas!
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