Great Day at the Barn!

We got a huge thunderstorm Monday night, so Tuesday the barn was a muddy mess. Wednesday, we had sunshine, but it was still kinda muddy so I just said a quick hi to Gwen and came home. I had dinner plans that night, so it turned out alright.

Today was absolutely beautiful! Clear blue skies, a light breeze, temperatures in the mid 80's. Fantastic barn weather! I rushed right over after work. I decided to do a little riding today, so I borrowed a saddle from the barn owner, and got Gwen all set. I even lucked out with the arena! There were only three people riding, and they all left as I was about to enter. Score! Since this is only the second time I've ridden her in a saddle, and the fourth time total, I really didn't want to do anything too demanding. So we worked on maintaining gait. I knotted my split reins and looped them casually over the saddlehorn so they wouldn't get lost (but they were lose enough Gwen could put her nose on the ground without any tension at all) and just asked her to walk around. As long as she was walking, I didn't care about where we went. She did a pretty good job, we only had two little "stops" right at the beginning, and then she got the idea. I experimented a little with shifting my weight and turning my upper body, to see if she'd listen or be influenced in some way to "go" that direction. Mostly, she wasn't paying much attention, but if I leaned a little, she'd kinda drift the direction I wanted her to go.

She did well enough that I decided we'd try a bit of trotting. She wasn't too thrilled at first. When I asked her, she'd turn her head and kind of scowl at my boot, as if to say "seriously? I don't wanna!" but I was persistent enough that she finally gave in and we did some trotting around. It was definitely speed trotting, and ended up posting like a crazy person, but as long as it was /trotting/ I didn't ask her to do anything else. I asked her to walk, and then surprised her by asking for a halt as soon as she gave me the walk. We took a little break under the big tree, and she gave a huge breath. A definitely "Phew. That wasn't so bad!" kind of sigh. After a little break, we did some backing. She really surprised me by backing at very light pressure, so after I got three steps out of her, I immediately hopped off and loosened her girth.

Did some grazing and then a little of the circle-game near the pasture fence, and then back out into the turnout. She seemed pretty pleased, and I was very proud of her! I'm so excited about going back on Saturday! Unfortunately, can't go tomorrow :(

 Grazing!  Awww, pretty girl!!

J