If there is anyone reading this blog you are probably getting pretty tired by now of all of the good, wonderful, incredible things Sora is sooooooo good at lol! If that is so, than you maybe shouldn't read this post jk.
I took Sora for our fateful eleventh ride today and once again she was more than perfect (I also noticed that this happens to be my eleventh post. Perhaps the world will end ;-). I got home from work after planning allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll (of my long and horrible day) to ride but almost didn't. I almost didn't because I got home and it was stormy, windy, cooler than it has been, the horses were all worked up, the extra terrestrial had gotten out and was racing back and forth along the fence line going nuts because she couldn't see the others, etc. etc. I had my heart so set on riding but I didn't want to do anything foolish so I decided to just go and get Sora and Jackson and put them in the dry lot since they are both getting a little fat. However when I caught Sora she was so quiet and well behaved and friendly (she's been bitchy and testing me for the last few days. I think because she's been in heat) that I decided to at least take her in and groom her and longe her.
I got her in on the cross ties (by herself) and groomed her (in our barn that sounds like it's going to fall down around your ears everytime the wind blows :X ). She was quiet, licking, blinking and chewing so I decided to wrap her front legs in polos for the first time. I also french braided her mane, for the first time, bridled her, for the first time in awhile, and decided to try my Dressage saddle again even though she wasn't happy with it last time. None of it fazed her and she was SO well behaved and calm on the longe that it would have been silly not to ride her.
Of course at this point I was up against the following.
- unusually cold, windy, stormy weather.
- wearing a bridle for the first time with me on her back.
- wearing the Dressage saddle, which she didn't like last time, for the first time with me on her back.
- wearing polo wraps for the first time with me on her back.
and the big one,
- the horses decided to LEAVE her and gallop around in their pasture where she could hear them but not see them.
at that point I almost chickened out again. I do tend to be a nervous tense rider especially with the windy day and with the horses running around but I put that aside and climbed on.
I was completely rewarded for my trouble. She moved off my leg better than before. She stopped much better than before. I had set up caveletties all over the arena so I worked on different patterns and her steering, as long as I remembered to use my seat, was better than before as well!
My sister gets back early tomorrow and I can't wait to show her how incredible Sora has been. Honestly I was more confident, relaxed and loose than I would have been on my sister's teenage gelding in that situation. Honestly the gelding probably would have tried to throw me.
No comments:
Post a Comment