Getting Back in the Groove

This weekend was so wonderfully warm (like in the 40s, hallelujah) and horsey filled, I finally feel like I'm getting back in the horse groove.  And it feels so good.

Saturday

Saturday I went to Mollie's barn first, as I didn't have to teach lessons till the afternoon.  Quickly tacked her up and threw her BoT boots on as I got ready.  Mollie is clearly in her first heat of the season, which is really the only time I ever notice she's in heat.  She used to be an absolute wench when in heat but thanks to Mare Magic she's usually pretty good and I can only tell she's in heat because all the other mares in the barn are too.  She wasn't necessarily bad, she just wasn't really good either.  She'd give be about 3.5 laps of "Nah nah nah nah nahhhh I'm not listeninnnnnnng" followed by 0.75 laps of "Oh ok, I'll be super soft and use my back."  So that was fun.  I found a good spot to end and hopped off, knowing we weren't going to get much productive work done.

Ran over to the lesson barn, taught one lesson, then ran to barn #3 of the day.  This is the barn I kept Mollie at for about 3 years before moving her to her current location.  A few of my friends were all riding together so invited me there to ride a schoolie with them.

Got to visit my favorite barn cat, Moose :)

The pony I rode is actually super cute, and was quite fancy at some time.  Since then she's had ridiculous amounts of lameness issues and as a result has spent a lot of time out of work.  She came out "Annie-Lame" as we've dubbed it, since she's always her own special kind of lame, but worked out of it and got really cute.  It was fun to be able to get on something and actually feel like I was schooling her, and making a difference.

Blurry photo, but good Princess Annabelle

Sunday

Sunday I taught lessons first, and had two little girls to teach.  The first lesson went alright, although the pony was a total pill and the kid was too timid to actually get after him.  He's an older pony who is very out of shape however so I'd like him to get a little fitter before I get on and give him a few good hacks to remind him of his job.  The second lesson was great, and I had a new (to me) student who really seemed to enjoy her lesson.  It's always nice when I get compliments from parents too.

After teaching one of the boarders took her mare out to lunge and she was FRESH.  Super sassy, defiant, and her owner is older and timid and was a little bit afraid to ask her for anything.  I didn't want to be pushy so just said, "Well if you need any help let me know." and she said, "Oh would you?"  So I took over and really got after the mare who spent a whole bunch of time and energy with all four feet in the air.  After one particularly nasty buck where she tugged me forward, then bucked so high her legs went over the lunge line I let go, she scared the $h!t out of herself, and then realized she was acting like a fool.  I got a few nice trot circles in each direction (without any theatrics) and called it there.  Her owner was super grateful and it was fun to work with another horse.

Finally made it out to Mollie's barn and decided to bust out my Higher Standards to clean my boots while she BoT-ed.  Clearly, they needed it :)

Left hadn't been cleaned, right has

Molls had her panties in a bunch again, and I'm still chalking it up to the bad heat cycle.  She was super cranky about being groomed and everything so I'm thinking she's just irritable in general.  I did let her blow off some steam and we hand galloped a good bit which she seemed to like.  Again, I found a good spot to end and got off.  She had actually worked up a decent sweat (for her) so I guess there's that.  She did cough a few times and was breathing a bit heavily, so I'm going to have to order and get her started on Tri-Hist.  We go through this every Spring/Summer but usually the Tri-Hist combats her heaves nicely.

Obligatory crosstie photo