One of Those Crazy Days

It had been about a week since our last ride, so I wasn't completely sure what to expect on Tuesday when I went out.

Let's just say that the cooler, nicer weather had both of the girls feeling pretty energetic.

I pulled her out, groomed her off a little (bay horse is DUSTY!), and saddled up. She was good as gold a little fidgety, but pretty well behaved for the most part. I had the teensiest bit of trouble mounting up because she didn't want to stand by the fence. I really really need a good mounting block, but since we ride randomly throughout our 10 acre property, nothing is ever in its proper place.

"Senior horse" was ready to go and we marched along on the buckle for a little bit so that she could warm up. Best walk ever. Seriously, if I could have that kind of energy in our walk more often, we could win dressage tests. It was awesome and swinging and she was actually mostly straight too.

The trot was a bit wiggly at first, but it settled down and we had some nice moments. After we were both warmed up we went into the "arena" because I'm still not confident enough to try and canter in an open area like that. Our stop/go/turn buttons just are not as solid at that gait and I'm still focused on making all our cantering into a good, safe experience.

However, cantering wasn't really in the sights because she was so full of herself. We did a few strides here and there, but a whole lot. Instead, we did a lot of trotting in boring loops around the arena and worked on rhythm. Boring to talk about, yes, but it happened. Lots of loops in this direction and that direction and through the center and around the edge and deep into the corners. I played with figuring out my diagonals and really stretching down into my heel because my right leg is stupid and won't stop swinging. My legs were pretty worn out by the time we finished.

Best view ever :)

Best of all, we actually jumped something!  There is a long feeding trough that I use a lot for practicing lungeing over and we were feeling so good (probably adrenaline) that I pointed her at it and we popped over it. Probably about 2', so not big, but it felt great.  Second go around wasn't quite so good since she figured out what I wanted her to do.
I also wasn't very good about setting her up with a proper distance or anything like that, so I ended up riding a few deer-leaps that were interesting. Definitely a first for me! Lol!

It was a great ride... we came across more problems and dealt with more issues than we usually do, but I kept my cool, she came back to me when I asked, and we had some fun. All great! :)