Back in the Saddle

Well my weekend trip to Ireland did not happen due to plane being stuck in Spain and there being an 8 hour delay in take off which would meant we were going to miss the match, and therefore the whole reason for the trip back to the Emerald Isle! Thankfully as the delay was not our fault, airline refunded our flights there and back and we were able to cancel hotel reservation, only expenses were unused match tickets and the bus to and from airport. Turns out that it may have been a blessing in disguise as it got so foggy during the match that i doubt spectators could see much from the sidelines, watching the match from home you deffo couldn't see a whole pile on the cameras!
Silver lineing to all this is that i got an extra day to get re-acquainted with Kika's back, ;)
On sunday afternonn she got 20-30mins lungeing with her tack on before i sat up on her. There was a bit of messing on the lunge line when asked to canter, but I'm beginning to think that that is just her reaction to being asked to canter when lungeing (whether loose lungeing or on a lunge line, messing is still the same *roll-eyes*)
I was a bit apprehensive about getting back up considering what I'd been told about her misbehaving while i was away, bearing in mind that i hadn't sat on a horse in 4 weeks and she had not been sat on in 3 and a half weeks. But over the last few days she has returned to being the affectionate horse i know and love, I'm assuming going back to our carrot stretches in the stable has helped there as well as the three weeks off. Which considering she had been in ridden work since she arrived in early May was a deserved rest, and once i realsied this fact i could kind of understand her sullen behaviour (but still not an excuse in my book).
So i fixed my stirrups and hopped up and we walked around a bit, trotted a few circles and figures of 8, changeing reins and stuff. Then came the tricky canter... As usual i needn't have worried, she was good as gold. Didn't put a toe out of line under saddle and was probably wondering what all the fuss was about when i was so elated after the spin, patting her and 'good girling' her in my relief, *blush*.

The reason I didn't post this update on sunday night was that after that successful re-aquaintance under saddle, i had decided that monday i was going to ride without lungeing first and see how we got on - and thus hold of on posting a happy-go-lucky update until after that experiment.
I had monday booked off work as i was due to make a late return from Ireland on sunday (see above as to why trip was cancelle, ;) ), so original plan had been to tackle K on monday, so not to far off track (in fact ahead of schedule due to being able to get initial re-aquaintance done on sunday) and actualy better as yard is quieter during the day with most livery owners at work and/or in school for the younger ones.

So arrived to yard yesterday afternoon to be pleasantly suprised to see that St Nicholas had passed through the barn and left a parcel of goodies attached to K's stable door! Win!! :-D Silly billy thought it was for her and kept nuzzling at it, so i had to take it away and put it in my tack locker, ;-) After she having only had her teeth done last week, couldn't be giving her chocolate :-p (That's my story and i'm sticking to it! In fact i didn't even open the parcel myself last night when i got home, it's still sitting on the kitchen table!)

Tacked herself up and was hoping to ride in the quieter arena up the back of the yard, but someone was having a lesson in there, so bit the bullet and went for the "busier" one which is also bigger. There were two people in there when i arrived, a girl just starting to get a lesson (but she had a headset to listen to instructor so i wouldn't be disturbing) and a guy riding western style trotting and cantering, loping around the place. Not an ideal re-introduction, i'd hav preferred a quieter setting myself, but this was what i was being faced with so took a deep breathe and got on. I must looked like a right eejit as i kept soothing her (*ahem* me) as we walked around a bit till she settled. I'll admit the guy in the western garb careening around the place in canter did not help our case!
But sort of settle she did and she calmed further once we started trotting, and started circling down the bottom of the arena. I was glad to see that she hadn't forgotten everything we had been working on prior to her "episodes" and was willing to work in an outline and bend around me leg on our circles. Another girl joined the arena on a grey pony and K and i had a few disagreements then as to what we were doing. I wanted her to trot forward, she wanted to be a kangaroo! After a bit of prancing she moved continued down the diagonal to change the rein like i was asking her to do when she started to throw her wobbly. Then came a circle in trot, which she decided to test the boundaries again with a few more half-rear/buck type bouncing things. I'm not entirely sure what she was doing, perhaps plungeing?! But whatever she was at didn't last long as i got her head back up and continued on with our circle! We stuck to our end of the arena circling for a bit and changeing the rein down there, but she seemed to have decided that the battle wasn't worth it and just got on with what was being asked of her.
I guess familiarity is a good thing, she knows better than to mess with me as i can be bloody stubborn when I want to be, she always loses our battle of wills!
She settled back into a nice outline and got back to work, trotting circles, changeing rein, figures of 8 etc etc. Another young girl on a pony joined the arena (the cowboy guy had left) and she didn't even pay it any attention she was actually listening and concentrating for a change! So i braved the canter transititon, honnestly fearing a bit of fireworks, so i was sure to be well away from the other riders when i asked her to go up a gear. Ever the surpriser she changed up without an iota of fuss and cantered her circle in a lovely contact and bending correctly, calmly returning to trot before changeing rein and doing something similar on the other rein. I was so relieved and happy that i cannot express it correctly in words!
We continued working our paces (all three) on circles, changeing rein etc for close on an hour's work altogether.

To say I was a happy camper last night would be an understatement!!!
I was over the moon, I guess a bit of a holiday was all she was after, and in all honnesty i can't say that i blamed her. It had been pretty selfish of me not to have given her one sooner! Fingers crossed that this upward curve of good behaviour continues this evening and for the rest of the week. Will (hopefully) be in Ireland this weekend so she should get friday-monday off to recuperate.
I am so glad to have my happy ponio back and no longer have to face the sullen so and so that used to greet me when i arrived at the barn.
Long may it last!