I had accidentally left my lunge whip and driving lines out at the barn Friday (normally locked up in my shared tackroom) and they were still there today and I didn't even go out there yesterday. Woo!
Tacked the brat up and, while we normally work on ground driving and a little bit of lunging the last week and a half since she's been a pill--I didn't, and we had a pretty good ride.
She was full of it to start and would not stand still. She was eager to get to work (or so I tell myself). No bucking, crow-hopping, or misbehavior except wanting to go go go. She did well but I've come to realize, if there is another horse in the arena, she tries to show off.
We've been working on doing lots of bending, flexing, circling..and serpentines while ground driving and am working to incorporate more of that under saddle. She did awesome figure 8's (okay they were decent) for only mostly going off of leg pressure and very little rein. I was so proud of her! However, I realized one problem: she's really heavy on the forehand when turning and tends to drop her shoulder (mostly her left one--weaker one). Ground poles! I do know she is unbalanced because of her unbalanced feet--which makes things harder (though I'm working with my farrier on this, as well as doing trimming myself to help and might have my masseuse friend help) but doing even more transitions, ground poles, and even more leg should help her lift her front end better.
We'll get there. It'll take time and patience and with good, solid work, she'll turn out fine. Just need to get her feet back in better shape to help with all this too! Grrr...
Here she is from today:
Awww she looks great in those pics! Dang her colour is just awesome :D Glad you had a great day. I am giving you this link to a blog I adore, she rides her endurance horses barefoot (she'll use hoof boots though) and has great information on hoof care. I linked you to her hoof care section :) Good reading there!
ReplyDeletehttp://enduranceridestuff.com/blog/category/hoof-care/