It would be getting routine except that once again, next week will be time off for the horses. Bad weather is rolling in on Sunday and next week the highs are going to be in the 20s. No riding for me.
Today, however, I rode in a T-shirt and hoody.
Nina was very good, very relaxed. Yesterday she was a little grumpy, today she was quite cheerful.
AND we managed to not get whacked in the head by the carrot-stick wielding NH guru who rides with the damn thing, swinging it over her head and chasing her horse through turns by whacking him on the shoulder.
She is a menace, but Nina and I just kept one eye on her and were able to stay out of her way.
Nina and I have been working on getting a nice forward trot from a halt by starting just a few strides from some trot poles. She has figured out that she is supposed to stretch through the poles and not mince along so she has to power up from a halt to make the striding work with only a short distance to find her rhythm. She seems to think this is a good game and gets better each time we do it. Today she was bouncing in place, ears pricked at the poles, waiting to be told to go. She is so enthusiastic about anything that hasn't been ruined for her, it is such a shame that no one took advantage of that attitude instead of, apparently, trying to beat it out of her. But then we would never have met so I guess it turned out well for me.
She is making such progress, I wish the weather would hold. But at least we are having several nice days in a row and then a few days off in a row. I guess it is working out fine.
Good for you getting some rides in while you can.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of using the ground poles to help with your trot / halt transitions.... think I'll be trying that one out :) (Menacing NH guru swinging carrot stick - hilarious!)
Your remark on the NH guru had me laughing out laud. What is WITH those people?
ReplyDeleteI love your ground pole tip for getting trot from the halt. My horse Rogo loves ground poles too, so this is a great idea for us. I'm going to try it. Thanks for sharing!
lol I had to laugh about the carrot stick freak. What can ya do.
ReplyDeleteYou know somehow whacking your horse with a stick doesn't seem conducive to NH.... Maybe I just don't know enough about it, but isn't that defeating the purpose?
ReplyDeleteKate I would agree, but I think that perhaps if you are doing all that carrot stick, plastic bag, sort of lunging stuff for months and months, you might be ready to hit anybody or anything, anywhere, anytime with that damn stick.
ReplyDeleteAnd just to be honest, I have to admit that this is the first NH person I have seen actually get ON the horse. I will give her points for that.
Those gurus. Ugh, they need to just set up their own barns and stay out the way of everyone else!
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