What's Up Wednesday

 

What. A. Week. The horses actually had a really easy week due to heat and my having a lot of braiding to do. But we still had fun. We only jumped one time this week, and I decided it was time to finally do some grid work. Grids are a little annoying when you have a pony and a horse since you have to move everything completely. But it's beneficial to both of them. Of course, now my ring is all torn apart and I need to put it back together... but that's an issue for another day since it's raining! HA!

So we jumped Wednesday and the grid was really informative for me. I ran the Pivo from the side but also stuck my phone on the fence head on at the grid so I could see things from multiple angles. I did Shiny first, and it was really hard for her. I set it on the legit 11 foot large pony stride, and she struggled. But I don't think the real issue was the stride length but the fact that she's not jumping straight and not traveling straight. That adds a significant amount of distance she needs to cover! 

That's not the middle...

She's done grids before (though not since last year) so I didn't feel like I had to start with rails on the ground, but I did keep things low. This also made it harder, since the smaller the jump, the smaller the arc over it, and the shallower you will land inside. I think for this week, I will shorten it up a bit to make things a little easier for her. I can work on lengthening her stride later, but first we need to get straighter. Also, I want her to feel confident more than I want her to have a big enough stride. 

It was interesting to see her trying to figure things out though. She really wanted to answer the question correctly. She started out having to add in the last part. But by the end she able to get the correct strides all the way through, even though it was VERY reachy. For that reason, I never altered the height on anything. Best not to die and all. 

Reachhhhhhh...  (Gee, I wonder why that last one ended up a two?)

She may not be the fanciest pony out there, but she tries really hard. And she REALLY wants to give the right answers. (Usually. Sometimes she wants to do what she wants, but that's mostly on the flat. She really enjoys jumping and tries very hard to learn the right answers for that part of our rides.) She's a lot of fun, and even though she's pretty simple, she's giving me back my confidence with less experienced horses. I know they aren't usually as easy as she, but it still helps me feel better about my skills.

Eros made easy work of the grid. He's an old pro after all.

The first time through he took over and made everything a little tight resulting in a bit of a right drift to fit in that last one stride. But after the first time, he was very rideable and stayed pretty straight through the entire thing. Since we started out basically at max height for him (and my lack of standards there at the end...) I only went through three times with him. No point drilling something he's being perfect about. Grids can be a little boring when you can't make them bigger for a seasoned horse. But I was proud him! 

Thursday and Friday it was oppressively humid and in the mid 90's so we opted for bareback rides. I figured I wanted to work them lightly, but myself not so much, so bareback seemed like the way to go. We did about 20 minutes each and the rides were productive. Interestingly, Shiny's canter transitions were a lot better than with a saddle, so I need to figure out what my body is doing in the saddle to cause that problem... Always something, amiright?

Friday night I braided from 8 PM to 8 AM, so I went to sleep when I got home. Got up to feed lunch and decided I really wasn't interested in riding that day. I was EXHAUSTED and knew I had to get up to do it all over again later that evening. So they enjoyed the day off. 

Initially, I was only supposed to have four manes and four tails for my last night, but the list grew to six (plus those extra tails). Earlier in the week, my plan was to start braiding at 9 and then get home to bed. But one of the horses had shipped home, and was first returning in the morning, so I knew that plan wasn't going to work. Instead, I slept from 8:30 pm to 1 am and then got to braiding. I stayed awake once I was done, but again opted not to ride since my knee was a disaster and I was fully exhausted. So the horses got two days off! Lucky them! 

All in all, I braided 18 manes and 17 tails. Which probably isn't a lot for normal full time braiders, but it IS a lot for me! I was pooped. 

Normally I don't ride Mondays, but since the horses already had two days off, I decided to hop on. The knee was NOT happy about it, so both horses had fairly light rides, which was appropriate anyway after their little break. Tuesday the knee was less angry, but the horses were pushing my buttons. Shiny got into a little trouble... You see, when Shiny doesn't feel like working she braces against the bit and then proceeds to trip incessantly. As you all may remember, she has a history of falling down, and with my already sore appendage, I wasn't having that. I got a little mean and really made her lift up and bend and come forward. This tends to stress her out a little, and she gets tense and tries to run off her feet. So I shut that down too, and wound up with the most supple pony I've ever sat on... Weird. I swear this pony actually LIKES when you're mean to her. I hate being mean. Why can't she just do what's asked the first time? Or even the second, hey, I'm flexible! Sigh. We'll see if the lesson carries over, but I was really happy with how our ride ended. I'm not sure if we'll get to ride today or not, we're getting the remnants of that hurricane that hit down south, so lots of rain here. 

Eros also thought he'd test my knee's abilities. He was all kinds of spooky and generally kind of a poop. I think he's just fresh after a couple easy rides and days off. He needs a free lunge, but he also needs shoes, and I'm not sure his current set will stay on for that. He's getting done in a day or two though, so we should be able to fix up that rolling brain of his after that. 

I did make time to visit Pammon regularly despite the braiding schedule. He's given me lots of exercise in the grooming department:

And something must have happened between Sunday and Tuesday because his face is all cut up. CLEARLY he stuck it where it doesn't belong... I'm guessing there was a run in with the fence, but who really knows. 

That's the worst of it, which isn't bad at all, but there are scratches up by his poll, down the front of his face, and on the cheek on the other side too. Maybe he got in a bear fight! That would be a better story. (Disclaimer: That's a joke, I'm not serious. I don't want my horse in a bear fight.) 

And that my friends, is what my week was all about. What about you? Any bear fights? Go to any shows? What's happening with you?