I crosstied Sora in the "barn", pictures later, and got her groomed up. Her mane has been staying wind-knot-free for the past few weeks, which has to be some sort of miracle, but it has been flipping over her neck so I decided to braid the top part anyway to correct that. I also decided to cut her feathers off because she has been looking a little like a pony or a very small Clydesdale lol. I don't have after pictures right now but I'll get them soon.
After that I put the bridle on and longed her for a little to get her used to the bit again and continue to work on strength. I think she is in heat and she had a few little fits but continued to listen. What is really encouraging to me is that now after I have to correct her (read chasing her a little on the longe without even a whip lol) she no longer acts like I'm going to eat her for the next hour. This is such an improvement from when I first started working with her and will be soooo important for her to continue on with Dressage.
Once I had her back in the crossties I worked a little on rasping her feet and getting her to hold the back ones up for longer. Last time the trimmer came she had a panic attack when the trimmer refused to release her foot. (short rant here) *I did tell the trimmer to set Sora's foot down for a minute so she could relax but the trimmer said "but then she would be winning" and just kept right on trimming. Because of this a panic attack ensued and the trimmer was unable to finish with Sora's back feet. I know I am partially to blame because I wasn't working on holding Sora's feet up for an extended time, but honestly, keeping a horse comfortable is not always letting them win and the rest of the session would have gone fine if she had just listened to me about my horse.* (rant over) Luckly Sora is now over what ever scared her (irritated her) that day and with treats as bribes :~) has been doing extremely well with her feet.
So, since I didn't get any pictures of my day with Sora I thought I would post some of our "barn". Now, I'm not complaining because my parents are letting Sora stay at their farm for free until I finish grad school but the barn is kind of a mess. Don't get me wrong, I love it in there. I love how it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I love the big whitewashed beams and the rough cement. All I wish it could do is keep the rain and snow out and that is where there lies the problem. Sadly it got this way because the people who had our farm before us let it go and by the time we got it, it was too far gone for us to be able to do anything with it.
From the horse pasture end. Note the troughs on either side of the isle, the barn was a dairy barn and those were for the manure.
This is looking out on the horse's dry lot. You can see their shed. The crossties are the black hanging things. Note the tarp over the saddles. You'll see why it is needed in a moment :X
Hay loft floor water damage. Note that you can see daylight, bad sign huh lol!
The "roof". It is always quite relaxing during the winter when there is beautiful soft snow falling in a corner of your barn lol. :*(
Isn't that just wonderfully flat ground in our arena behind Sora there lol! At least we can work on strengthening on hills lol. I don't even mind the hills so much but I do wish I had some good footing to be kinder to Sora's legs.
This is part of why I am sooooo jealous of the facilities people like Klein's mom are able to use. Oh well, it could be worse! I am sooooo thankful to be able to wake up and see my horses right outside. I'll certainly miss that when I move Sora to a boarding facility.
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