Sunday, December 29, 2024

wildest child

Happy Limbo Week, y'all!! The week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorite times of the year, and I typically burn off the last of my 'use it or lose it' PTO. 

soggy biscuit
Our weather has been a bit hit or miss, tho... Not too bitterly cold - but quite damp. Or, in the case of yesterday, downright sodden. 

she loves her snacks tho!
And poor Dooz, I regretted my blanketing choices after seeing just how raw and chilly it was all day. Whoops, sorry mare! 

i thought she might like to blow off a little steam on good dry footing
So after cleaning her up a bit, I decided to just let her loose for a little romp around one of the indoors instead of riding. Mostly bc... Well, idk guys. 

she.... mostly preferred following me around mugging for treats LOL
We got another County dressage saddle on trial this week -- one with the same tree and panels as her jump saddle. Definitely a better fit for her, and a lovely saddle. But idk... Our rides were legitimately exclusively not good

pleased that the mare is looking less ribby lately!
Idk if something was wrong with the flocking, or if it was just the different rider position or increased contact / deeper seat etc... But she was basically a mess. 

tail is lookin good too!
Like, quite possibly not at all ready to cope with a saddle where she can feeling erry single little jiggle from her rider lol.... Ahem. 

must be all that dirt she's eating LOL
So. Eh. It was gross out, undeniably challenging conditions, and maybe a good time to replenish the trust bank a little.... so we opted for a little 'free lunge' instead of a schooling ride.

neck might always be a little ewe-y tho... also, spy the bull horns behind her??
Except. Haha, sweet mare didn't quite get the message. Instructions unclear, I guess LOL, bc she mostly just followed me around for a while (wherein I got her to jog along 'chasing' me exactly twice before she got bored of that) before basically just wandering around sniffing dirt. 

hula hoop was nbd too
Silly mare! 

pool noodle wasn't worrisome... until it *touched her tho omg* and she about fell down... silly mare!
We still played with all the stuff around the ring tho -- like the hula hoop and pool noodles. None of it was particularly exciting, tho she was very offended when the pool noodle touched her unexpectedly. 

so we desensitized a little bit
Such a sensitive critter!

oh mare, your vocabulary word of the day is "forbearance" LOL
So ya know. Not *every day* is a big exciting destination clinic or whatever lol. Some days we just wander around the dusty indoor and eat snacks. 

all's well that ends well (with snacks)
Not a bad way to spend Limbo Week imho!! Tho we do have another fun outing or two planned before the year's up hopefully!

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays and getting in a lot of good pony time!



2 comments:

  1. She looks pretty happy trailing the pool noodle around. It's hard when they're so sensitive, and Goggles and I certainly had bad weeks without even changing anything 😂. Interesting that the saddle that fit better seemed more of a trigger for her tho.

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    Replies
    1. Yea idk it’s so hard to tell with her. The first saddle I didn’t truly “ride” her in it in a schooling sense, we just backed and did enough trotting on video to assess her soundness — not really to school. So idk if she would have had the same tense reaction, but honestly think she probably would have. It seems like the issue is less about the saddle and more related to her wibbly wobbly jockey LOL…. Soooo ya know. More homework as always!

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