Conditioning With My Sister

On Friday, my mom promised I could go to Sunnybrook and ride Missy. We came home from school, Hannah and I worked on some homework and I posted a blog, mom took a nap, and of course, Luke watched TV. Then, I pulled on some boots and as I was walking out the door, I shouted, "Come with me, Hannah!" She asked if she got to ride, and even though I knew she'd mess up something, I said sure and she ran to pull on some jeans and a t-shirt (she was previously dressed in sophie shorts, leggings, and a t-shirt over a tank top, with the t-shirt tied up in the back so that the bottom of the t-shirt came to the top of her stomach). We proceeded to head to Sunnybrook.

We arrived and it turns out we were pulling into the driveway as Troy (in his big red Ford truck) was driving out. He said he had power washed the horse camper-trailer and the camper, along with the entire inside of the barn. My mom was so happy about 'no more cobwebs' that she about jumped out of the car. We went to the barn and I ooh'd and aah'd over the newly cleaned tack (that Lisa had stayed up until 10 pm Thursday night cleaning) while Hannah looked for a halter and lead rope. There were a few really nice breast collars, halters, saddles, girths, and bridles. My favorite was the brown leather breast collar with the QH-style English pleasure rider silver center plate. It still has some spots on the silver pieces, but the leather straps that attach the collar to the saddle are in excellent shape and there isn't very much wear and tear. I hope I can try it out soon. =)

Anyways, we went out and Hannah got Missy while I held Grinder back and we headed up to the barn. After quickly running a hard brush over her and checking her (newly shod!!!) feet, we put boots on her and threw the saddle and my show saddle pad on, attached the breast collar, and the front and back girths. I threw on a bridle and tie-down, grabbed my helmet, and followed Hannah to the inside arena / round pen. I lunged Missy a bit (free-lunge, of course) to make sure she wasn't too footsore and that she was OK with the way I put the saddle and saddle pad. I adjusted a few things and then we got moving. Hannah and I headed outside to the pastures to ride. Hannah moved Lucy (who is now allowed outside! Yippee!) from the barrel racing pasture to the "Total Redneck Pasture" (as Lisa and I call it), and then moved the sprinkler (the very large, 3 1/2 ft tall sprinkler) from the middle of the barrel racing pasture.

I tightened Missy's girth once more and hopped on. Hannah yelled "I'm GONNA SIT ON A GATE!" and sat on the gate separating Grinder and Missy's pasture and the barrel racing pasture. Since one of the barrels had been removed to make room for the sprinkler, there were two barrels (the second and third barrel) set up in the arena. I found this to be the perfect time to 'un-barrel-ize' Missy. I walked her around the barrels in a figure-8 pattern, and then did a serpentine around the barrels like so:

(The red line is the first part of the pattern, starting on the right hand side of the picture. The green line is the second part of the pattern, starting on the left side of the picture. I would occasionally do a full circle on the half-circle around a barrel so that I didn't get predictable.)

After this exercise at a trot, I did it at a canter. Missy seemed to like it as it kept her brain working. After this, I let her walk around a bit and then did some muscle-building running and turns, along with occasional walking rollbacks when Missy seemed droopy. 

When I was almost done, I decided to see if Missy could do a flying change. I cantered to a reverse along the diagonal and then cued for a flying lead change. She staggered and sped up a bit. I slowed her to a walk, switched leads, and did it again. She seemed to pick up on it quickly, and by the time I was done she could break from a canter and switch leads in a matter of seconds. It was awesome.

Then, I let Hannah get on and ride. She had fun, but she was sending Missy lots of mixed signals (she hasn't ridden a REAL horse in a while, inside joke) and made Missy really annoyed. So when Hannah was done, I got back on and quickly corrected Missy to make sure there was consistency in her re-training. We walked her a bit and then stripped the tack, put everything back where it should be, locked cabinets, moved horses, and fed Missy and Grinder their grain. I got a minute to love on Lucy and it made me very happy. After being on stall rest for two months, Lucy is a different horse. She's calmer, nicer and a lot more... frail, like she's going to break. I'm no too happy about her being outside already with just a bit of hay for two months and no hand grazing or ANYTHING outside of 100% dirt and shavings for that time. But, she seems to be doing okay. =) 

That was an amazing day. For now, I'm going to leave. =) Go hug a horse!