schooling two steps back

Saturday we headed over to OF to use their arena for schooling. Trainer P was out of town, so no lessons. And the fix-a-test was rescheduled again - this time for April. Ugh. 

Whatever - I'm pretty tired of all this scheduling nonsense... but at least it meant that we didn't have to rush around anywhere and weren't on any time table but our own. 

Which turned out to be a good thing, since Isabel came in from the field looking like the red headed step child that she is. That pic above doesn't really do that snarl in her mane justice... So you'll just have to take my word for it lol. 

obligatory loose hair pic

Plus princess is finally shedding in earnest. She's been shedding ever so slightly for a few weeks, but it's really starting to come out now. So she got a once over with a hard plastic curry (acceptable, in her book), then a jelly scrubber (less tolerable), followed by a vacuum session and some quality time with the body brushes. 

not entirely sure what happened to the bottom of this pic lol

I'm realizing that all the traveling has had an unfortunate side effect of making me rush through the basics like grooming. So it was an unexpected relief to just hang out brushing my mare and making her all purty. (And - shockingly, she seemed to enjoy it sorta too!)

fun side story: Isabel was intently watching a horse being ridden in a far off field, and I thought she looked very cute posing - thus the picture. Except, right when I took this pic she whirled around (note that she's not tied) and I had to run after her to catch her... oops!

We don't usually like to go to OF for plain old schooling. Even tho their arena fee is the lowest in town it still feels like too much given how small it is... but it was the only arena available that morning and turned out to be a ghost town anyway so we had the ring all to ourselves. Not bad! 

Given that the plan for this week involves more frequent riding than we've had since November, I want to keep our schooling sessions fairly light. I want to find a balance of mostly giving Isabel her head and letting her move out - but not like some crazed drama llama. Mostly I just want her to feel stretchy and loose and keep those muscles warm and moving. And she did quite well during this ride - and was almost surprised at the freedom from constant nitpicking lol. 

We hopped over the jumps a couple times (an X up one long side and a vertical on the center line) and she was mostly good, if a little exuberant. I needed to package her up a little bit (esp given the tight turn up to the vertical) in order for us to find a reasonable distance without feeling a little flat. But she was fine, and did everything I asked.

another pic of the rare two legged pony, still staring at that horse running around in the distance

The only thing I worked on in earnest was backing. Isabel really resists backing up and rarely backs straight (or halts straight... or does anything straight haha). I recently read in Jec Ballou's "Equine Fitness" that backing the horse is a good limbering exercise, esp for horses with unevenness from side to side since the legs move in diagonal pairs. So this struck me as a nice low-intensity exercise to engage Isabel mentally and help her build a little more strength. 

Plus, OF has mirrors so I could line Isabel up with the wall (cheating a bit lol) and use the mirrors to make sure we stayed straight. At first the mare was resistant and fussy. But after going back a few steps, then forward, then back, then stuck, then forward, something clicked and she backed up for 5 or 6 steps nice and straight and without being braced and hollow through her neck and back. Definitely something I want to do more often!