Monster Mare No More

I hope she doesn't prove me wrong the first chance she gets for saying this "out loud" but i think i am finally comfortable saying that Kika and i are back in a very happy place where I trust her as close to implicitly as i think i ever will again after our turbulent months (or was it years) in the aftermath of her move to Lux.

Awkward mirror selfies

I hopped on her this evening after not having sat on her in 15 days (sorry insta - i wasn't using my brain when I posted). She did get turned out from 1pm to 7-7.30 for 12 of those days, I was too poorly last week to go on my lunchtime trek on the 3 missing days. And she came for one walk in the woods on a "leash" while i rode Nancy. This kind of a break would most definitely not have been possible with Kika during the winter months a few years ago. She thankfully had mellowed and we are back to being in a good place together again.

Now don't get me wrong, neither one of us was perfect this evening. In fact we ended up working another 15 - 20 minutes longer from when I anticipated stopping with the idea that if she gave me a nice bend for a 20m circle in trot we could finish up...something she had done without issue numerous times prior this evening. Perhaps something changed in my body language but it took considerably longer for us to get on the same page & finish up.

"We've done good" - Kika

Still not bad by any means, at no stage did she threaten to rear or pitch any sort of a fit. The worst she did was get excited at the prospect of canter work and showed off some Hackney-style trotting skills which just made me laugh. We overcame this with walk/trot transitions till her trot was good, balanced and she was attentive to me and  o longer anticipating.

All photos taken post ride

If further proof of her transformation, or should this perhaps be reformation, were needed...I rode in my glasses! I never ride in my goggles if i can help it as they can slide down my pinocchio nose because they are a little loose and i had almost lost them a couple of times in her spook & spin phase. Including one memorable time i managed to catch them just before they went flying when we were hacking in the woods - that would have been a disaster & is actually the main reason I stopped riding in my glasses and why I prefer to stick to contact lenses nowadays.

Still easily distracted & not a fan of standing still - but i ♡ her

In saying that I do still do barn chores in my goggles if I'm not planning to ride. Miss Kika knocked them off my face only last weekend when I was putting on her rug prior to turnout on Sunday. Thankfully my mother had accompanied me (ref matchy-matchy photos with Nancy a few posts back) and was able to pick them up off the floor of the stable before either K or i moved & risked standing on them. Of course they fell in the straw in the doorway to her box where visibility is bad anyway & worse if you need the darn things to see in the first place hahaha