Another full day spent at the barn. When I arrived at the barn Sophie was laying down. My heart stopped for a minute, and dropped to the bottom of my stomach. I slid her door open and she nickered at me and rose to her feet. She looked bright eyed and perky, searching me for treats. I set about getting my gear out of the trailer so that I could keep an eye on her and once she realized treats were not coming she started eating what was left of her hay. But coming to the front of the stall each time I came in.
I filled her apple/carrot/molasses bucket with some water and held it up for her to taste. She *loved* it. The apples floated and the funniest thing I've seen a horse do is bob for apples. After she got an apple I went to work grooming her and tacking her up for today's longe session. Her snazzy lavender dressage boots from TOTD came today and she looks great in them. We longed for 20 minutes and I brushed her again while replacing her water bucket with her "treat" bucket. After I was done brushing her I cleaned the rest of my tack. Yesterday I did two saddles and lots of bridles, today I did two saddles and bridles.
Once I was done Kim and Hayley were there, tacking up their horses, so I gave Sophie back her regular bucket and dumped out what was left of the water in the treat bucket (she fished everything out but drank a lot of water in the process). Then I went to watch Kim and Hayley ride, since they were riding their Grand Prix horses.
It was very interesting and really drove home the fact that you can't settle for good enough when schooling. Sometimes it was hard to watch because a passage or pirouette I would have been very happy with meant that the horse had to be corrected and asked to do it again. But, the horse recognized that it wasn't good enough and did do better the next time. I'm definitely too gentle of a rider for Grand Prix. I'm hoping to lose that once I get started again, because it's not doing the horse any favors by allowing it to "kind of" do what it's asked to, not in the long run.
4 comments:
I love letting horses bob for apples! It's pretty entertaining.
Yes, well if you see my most recent blog I decided to quit. It was a LONG time coming. I'm not trying to sound like a snob, but I was grossly underappreciated for all the work I did. I hope that I made the right decision - I really think I did.
I hate when they scare us like that! Laying down during the day, how dare they! :-o Actually Less never lays down during the day...cept when he's sick.
I've joined the "so so" club and Im pretty happy with anything I can get when it comes to riding Less- "You didn't spook and bolt? You're the best horse in the world!" ahhh simple pleasures:-)
Yes, I am excited about the changes I've made. I hope they're for the best.
PC is fun, but being totally honest, I only do it because of the ratings. If you can rate to advanced levels in the PC it really helps with your riding resume. They have such odd policies though! We have a saying that there's the "good way, the bad way, and the Pony Club way." :)
Sophie looks amazing. I liked her when you first posted the pix thinking about buying her-- she is beautiful.
Re: being a gentle rider. I have a hard time with this too. BUt it has to be possible to raise the expectations without ruining the gentleness of the relationship. I hope it is. Regardless, Sophie is at the beginning-- you can't raise your expectations too fast for her. It's time to be gentle right now. More precision later...
Love the braids and the shine.
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