Sadly for the ponehs my last post was the only day they got to be without their rugs as the next days temps dropped back down and it was wet, grey and generally miserable. However the clocks officially changed here last night/this morning and the days are finally longer again (yay moar daylight for after work riding motivation) so the warmer weather is sure to follow - at least I hope it is! ☺
I'm luckily in the midst of a wonderful 5-day weekend as my workplaces closes completely from Thursday to Monday (back to work Tuesday) for Easter which is awesome as it means everyone is off work at the same time so I don't feel guilty for someone else picking up my usual work. I know I know I'm a #weirdo
Thursday was a dry day so I took advantage and went for a stroll in the woods with my two darlings.
All photos in this post are from that spin.
I obviously rode Nancy and Kika came along on the lead to keep us company. She is good and bad company, lolz, good in that she does and doesn't freak out so Nancy remains super zen cos you know K isn't freaking out ... but bad in that K is asleep and tries to drag behind which means I am hauling her along. So not always the most relaxing outing for me in the woods but a good workout for my right arm ;-) Nancy was a little more up on this stroll than she would normally be as i chose a trail that we haven't been on in about 18 months and goes alongside/above a twisty road where silly people drive faster than they should & sadly a (imo stupid) decision was made to cut down most of the trees between the trail and the road so i feel a whole lot less protected too out in the open when riding above the road. (It can kind of be seen in the blurry phone pics above & below)
In saying all that N being N, she only sped up a little and walked with her head higher and eyes warier than her usual relaxed demeanour when hacking. It deff didn't do any of us any harm to get out of our comfort zone ☺
I also clambered back onto Kika yesterday for an arena spin while PL rode Nancy. We wound up in the largest arena with 3-4 other people which made for some traffic concerns at times but overall was a roaring success in my book. K was an angel, didn't spook at anything nor put up an iota of fuss or fidgeting at any stage. She did feel a little stiff/short when I started trotting her but having worked with her recently in the lunge I knew she wasn't hurting so i got after her a bit and she loosened right up. When K is being super lazy she can feel a little off, if she hadn't worked out of it I wouldn't have pushed the envelope.
We got the best canter work I've had in ages straight off the bat. Usually our first canters can be a flail fest as she likes to grow her legs around in excitement on the corners, none of that yesterday. She got straight down to business each time and didn't flail once. Major victory in my book and one of the many reasons I love being able to work her with the pessoa. Speaking of which she lunged like an absolute dream on Wednesday evening while a horse was on the treadmill out of eyeshot but wih in earshot and was making such a massive racket that it upset Nancy who was being ridden by PL in the same arena I was lunging. But do you think Kika cared or flicked an ear in the direction of the cacophony?! Not one bit - she surprised me in such an epic way as usually she would take any and every excuse to act the hound. Dare I say that my problem child is mellowing with age?
