1.75 miles and Happy Gotcha Day, Gwyn!

Today was less than stellar for a ride, at least at the start. I didn't go out as early as I normally do because I ran back home after dropping Kaylee off for school. I needed to grab breakfast and then I ended up looking up trucks for my husband, which he had already done the day before but hadn't told me. Grr.

Anyway, Gwyn was already outside sharing hay with her pasture mate. Awww

We started going around the hay field, it was crazy windy and MUCH cooler than the day before! I was happy I had a fleece vest in the car to add as a layer. Gwyn argued about leaving the barn but eventually settled into a tense walk. I didn't even bother trotting. 

As we returned back to the barn I was already planning to head into the arena to finish the ride. Gwyn was too tense and I was thinking it would be just a little thing that could set her off. Sure enough, she spooked. I tried to stay on, I swear I did. But off I came. Sadly away from anything that could serve as enough elevation to assist me in getting back on.

So we walked back. Apparently there's a skunk over in the area she spooked. Grr.

Back in the arena I set up trot poles. I'd looked up good spacing and found a 3-2-1 rule. You set up the poles so that you can do three strides of walk, 2 strides of trot, or one stride of canter. I walked Gwyn across the sand and since it had rained the night before I was able to see her fresh tracks and set up the poles at the third stride. Three walk strides is 9 of my feet heel to toe. Now I can measure!!

We did lots of figure 8s over the poles and then called it a day since I needed to get Kaylee. Gwyn wasn't sweaty at all, perfectly dry, in fact!

4 years ago today Gwyn walked off the shipping van from Florida and I've been loving and so lucky to have her ever since.

Selfies

2.74 miles on a humid day! Happy Birthday Gwyn!

Today was crazy humid! It's going to be interesting getting used to the heat AND humidity that Michigan has to offer. In Washington the humidity always accompanied cooler temperatures. If it got warm, it was a dry warm.

Today is also Gwyn's Birthday. She turns 9!  It's crazy to think I've known her for 7.5 years and owned her for 4!

Here is our GPS track for today!

It's fun, you can see the point at which we hit a canter, at 12 mph.

That peak you can see right around 1.25 miles is where we had a nice 12 mph canter. I walked the first mile and did majority trotting for the second and the 3/4 to finish.

When I first got her out in the arena today, however, her behavior left much to be desired. Gwyn tore the lunge line out of my hands and went tearing around the arena bucking like a bronco. So we played the "You want to run? RUN" game and I made her canter around and around and around until I was ready for her to stop, she tried to slow down several times before I gave in.

There's a lunge line trailing behind her. I realize it's not safe, but she was being an idiot and needed the discipline

Then, when I went to set up some ground poles she wouldn't let me catch her. So we played another ground work game, the C game where I didn't let her complete a circle around the arena, she had to stay on the half I designated. This is something I learned in the groundwork clinics at Shadows but was always done on a lead line or in a small round pen. I was in a 100 ft round arena with just a dressage whip. But I did it!  I texted Dani after the ride to tell her because I was so happy it worked and Gwyn was listening to me. Hurray groundwork.

Once I had her listening, I rode her. I had set up some ground poles but they weren't spaced well to be trot poles so I gave up on that and went out for my perimeter rides. It was a hazy, humid day, the kind where it storms in the afternoon.

The hay field looks delicious

I am hot and sweaty, but man those Kerrits IceFil tights were amazing!  The bottom half of me was cool. I decided to order a top in IceFil today to match since the temperature is only going to increase.

Red tailed hawk taking off. I tried to get a picture of him on the ground but we got too close and scared him.

Gwyn's feet. They are white/light with minimal striping compared to the dark rest of her which I always thought looked nifty and not the norm. Bonus, she's barefoot and no chipping so far and no soreness on the small amount of gravel we rode on today!

Toe Trimming Day!

Since the farrier was coming out for a few other horses at the barn, I added Gwyn to the list. I knew she was about due since her last trim and shoeing was about 8 weeks ago, the day I left Washington. I really like this farrier, he seemed knowledgeable and was able to talk to me about what to expect in her feet. We made the decision to pull her front shoes since she's not in nearly as wet an environment as WA was. I'll evaluate in a month to see how she's doing. He left her front toes a little long to adjust and to give her some chipping room to heal from the nail holes.

He explained everything, the whys and whats of what he was doing. I REALLY like that in a professional that I use.

Also, it seems like everyone knows the people we're buying the house from. The horse world is crazy small.

The farrier, Steve, really liked Gwyn. He thought she was a stallion with her huge neck. Nope, just a baroque horse, bud, heh.

We're showing the house to Eric's family on Sunday. The owners said they'd go over who they use for hay and shavings and show me everything with the house. I'm really excited! This feels like a much more intimate house purchase than our first was.

Kaylee gave Gwyn a check up

Evening Ride

Yesterday I kept Kaylee home from school so she could sleep. The kid has been coughing lately and it's keeping her up at night. She was sound asleep when my alarm went off and I figured it was better to have a healing child with no horse time than a grumpy toddler and still ride. Instead Eric let me head out to the barn once he got home.

I was hoping that other boarders would be there so I could meet and socialize but no such luck, despite me being there from 5 to 7 pm. After the shenanigans from the day before I made sure to lunge, but Gwyn was being really good, and even had a genuine canter instead of her crazy canter/hand gallop she likes to do on the lunge line. I hope this means that she's building the right sort of muscling to help her with it.

I didn't have much time to ride because I promised I'd be back in time to put Kaylee to bed but we did a lot of schooling work in the arena, as the gps map shows.

The weather was lovely, sunny and a little humid but 70 so I was in a tank top and after a half hour of lunging and riding Gwyn was sweaty. 

Gwyn was falling asleep.

Happy mareface has dinner

No ride today

Last night was a mess of awful sleep because Kaylee either has a cold or allergies and her coughing woke her up in the middle of the night. I did not sleep well. This morning I was not feeling at all like riding, which is entirely unlike me, but that more illustrates how exhausted I was.

I did want to get out and move in some way, despite being tired and decided to work on the small trail obstacles that are set up at the barn.

I mean, that kind of worked. I wanted her to get all four feet, or stop with the front two, but this was the best effort and she stayed that way only because it let her eat.

I should have lunged her first. That's the take away from today. Gwyn wanted to be out with the other horses eating and she was a handful on the ground. I tried to take her for a walk/jog on the dirt roads but we couldn't get 50 feet down the road before she flipped out from all the cars and took off back for the barn while I sprinted after her.

I can run when motivated, apparently.

So after that I decided that we were just going to free lunge in the arena.

That went decently well until I got a call from Eric to discuss the arsenic levels of the well water at the new house (6 ppb above the safe cut off) I was still exhausted and called it quits there. This outdoor arena is vaguely circular and despite being farther away than in a regular round pen, Gwyn was responsive to cues and body language.

We did have a "oh you want to run? so GO, TIME TO WORK"

I hope tomorrow is better. I'm going to bed early and I'm hoping for better toddler sleep so I can actually ride.

Monday Ride before the Rain 2.33 miles! May the Fourth Be With You!

My ride today was exciting. Gwyn was feeling amped up and I think it was because a storm was rolling in. The air was humid and in the mid 60s. I was wearing a tank top under a light jacket and I ended up riding without the jacket because I got too warm.

There's now a small obstacle course set up at the barn so we started out by playing with that, since Gwyn was bound and determined to get over by the other horses. I'm going to have to go back and work on the obstacles from the ground because I wanted her to stand on the dirt filled tire and she just kept semi-jumping it instead. We headed out into the north field and had a few arguments about not turning around and instead going forward.

She felt very tense today, so I started asking for her to bend her poll and doing some leg yields back and forth to drop her head. I used the one rein stop frequently. When we got to the western most point of the field I sent her out onto the road (another argument) and her tenseness intensified. It appeared to be trash day and each new pile got a very hard stare by the Goober Mare. Her biggest protest was when we encountered a garbage bag wrapped fire hydrant amongst stalky weeds.

We did not go as fast as previous rides because she was so tense but as I said, we worked on collection and listening to seat aids. I got a most gorgeous collected trot on the way back that I was able to sit to.

I braided her mane today, which meant I had less time to ride.

I'm debating between roaching her for the summer, which will be hotter than Washington that she's used to, or just doing braid upkeep. Braid upkeep will be easier because she'll be in my backyard. Choicessssss

I didn't get photos before we turned back around and saw dark skies. Riding west on Markel Road it didn't seem bad, just overcast. I didn't look behind me until we were back in the field and suddenly, bam, dark skies!

3.87 miles today!

Today was crazy. I lunged Gwyn to see where she was and she was listening and attentive so I thought, "Great!"

We went to the outdoor ring to ride and all of a sudden I had a spicy, firebreathing Goober on my hands. The bucks. You should have SEEN the bucks. We did end up having some nice canter work under saddle but it seemed that's ALL she wanted to do was canter and buck.

So instead we worked on bending at the poll and downward transitions from the seat. Finally I thought I had a reasonable horse so I went out in the hay field. I didn't particularly trust her on the road today after that great bucking session so we kept to softer ground. She was okay. We had a discussion about direction of travel that ended in her agreeing that I decide the direction of travel. I still managed a decent length of ride, it wasn't as fast, but I increased mileage from wednesday.

Gwyn was very sweaty so I hosed her off and stuck her out with the thoroughbreds. There was no drama with that introduction, they all just sort of nodded at one another and went back to the numerous hay piles that were spread out (5-6 piles for 3 horses, no fighting!)

Where I took my spill the other day. Off the right side, and using the logs on the left to get back up!

3.42 miles today!

Increased distance today!

I've noticed with Gwyn that the first day back that I ride after a hiatus she is on her best behavior. We have no spooks, she listens, she doesn't fight me. I liken it to her going "You're back! Stay back please! I'm a good girl I swear I'll be good don't leave me again."

The second time I ride (today) it's like she suddenly goes "Oh, well,  you're coming more frequently so now I'm going to go back to my old shenanigans because I know you won't leave me again."

I didn't lunge today and instead started with about a mile of work in the arena. We did a lot of working off the seat and listening. I wanted to make sure I'd have control out in the field if I chose to go. She offered some good canter, which I was pretty happy with. It felt like there is some improvement there. I guess the little bit Beth was able to do with her, worked! I did raise my stirrups a hole from yesterday because I felt like I couldn't get my leg under me AND have my heels down. I felt much better today, especially in the canter.

We headed back out into the field and reversed the path from yesterday. Pretty much immediately I had a more 'alert' horse between my legs. Her trot was very forward heading away from the barn (we were also 'chasing' a cat) and as we came to the back of the field near a large irrigation ditch, we startled a bird out of the grass.

Gwyn jumped sideways and I came off. Thankfully, of all the places to fall, it didn't hurt and was rather cushy ground. Thank you hay field! Gwyn immediately stopped and started eating grass. Thank you again, hay field. I'd like to say she looked contrite, but that may be too much anthropomorphism.

There were some handy logs that I used to mount back up and we continued on. She continued to be much more tense. But no more spooks, thank goodness. We got some nice cantering in and I made an effort to trot more than yesterday. I need to increase my fitness in maintaining a posting trot if I want to do CTR and Endurance and now is the time to work on that. I'll also be adding in running to get in better shape cardio-wise. 

I decided to add a bit of length by going down the road. We only had one car drive by and they were very polite and didn't rush so it was a nice positive experience for Gwyn!

Neighboring fields

I tried to get a selfie of the two of us. It was less than successful, lol

Back in the saddle! 2.4 miles!

Today was a GREAT day to be back in the saddle!

In her stall, waiting impatiently for breakfast.

Yay! Tacked up! (Almost)

Lunging to assess. It seems most of her wigglies were gotten out the day before. She was ready to focus today.

Some canter-ish. The indoor footing is deep, soft sand. 

Relaxed!

Then up I went!

And out we went. It was SUCH a nice day out. Perfect for riding.

After riding briefly in both indoor and outdoor arenas, I decided I really just wanted to hack. 

So we did. The barn sits on 100 acres of hay field and we're allowed to ride around the edges.

It was great. The field had nice footing in most spots, there were still a few wet patches but nothing awful. We walked, trotted and cantered. I think Gwyn really enjoyed herself.

She was watching the redwing blackbirds.

We came around behind one of the horse pastures.

Small ravine with a creek

Maybe an old orchard?