Sophie did sooooo well today. I figured out how to tack her up for our longe session with very little struggling on my brain's part using the new running side reins. We got started and I only had to adjust them twice, but I think that's necessary because I don't want to start her out in the same position as where she will be by the end of the session.
We started out on her mane side, which is her worst side. It was hard to get her to bend toward me in the beginning, but then she got better about it. After 12 minutes in that direction we switched to her non-mane side and she was fabulous. Trying, reaching, trotting out when I clucked and just going really well. We'd worked on stopping a bit to the other side, after reversing we worked some more on stopping as well as a little on cantering. We did about 10 minutes on that side and then I took off the side reins and walked her for 10 minutes to cool down.
She was pretty sweaty (though still not as bad as yesterday) and tired once we were done, so I stripped her down, gave her her bobbing bucket to play with, and put everything away. I found stuff to do until she was dry and curried and brushed her really good a couple of times until she was smooth and shiny. There was one downside though, when we're switching sides she tries to stretch her head out and pulls the surcingle forward so it rubbed her elbow a little. I put Corona ointment on it and we'll see how it is tomorrow. I noticed a little rub after the first day she was longed but it was haired over again within a week so I didn't think it was still a problem. She may get tomorrow off, depending on how it looks.
Is it possible to have a little OCD? I've noticed that I'm slowly becoming more and more OCD, if that's possible. Last year it started with cleaning my tack after every ride. Now it's grooming Sophie (and still cleaning everything). I also like my little area in front of Sophie's stall to be just "right". I have my two lead ropes and spare halter hanging on the claw thing, my empty saddle rack next to that, and my cupboard, which I keep in pretty good order. Except today my saddle rack wasn't empty. *Gasp!* One of Kim's saddles was on it, I think because the girl whose horse is stalled next to Sophie is using it. That's fine, but don't put it on *my* saddle rack. Just because I don't leave five feet of stuff on it every day doesn't mean I don't use it!!! I use it every time I come to the barn, thank you very much. So I moved it over to a different rack and unhung the saddle rack and rehung it so that it's laying flat against the wall instead of sticking out.
Maybe I'm just too anal, but I like having my space and being able to grab my stuff out of the trailer and being able to just put it on my saddle rack without having to worry about moving someone else's stuff out of the way. The girl who put the saddle there has 7 saddle pads and her ancient all purpose saddle on the rack in front of her horse's stall. There were also 3 sugar cubes on the drawer directly under my cubby as well. I was very confused when I arrived at the barn. I just hope it doesn't happen again, I hate to be confrontational over something so silly, but it does bother me. Right now I'm just putting my thick, western saddle pad on my rack and Sophie's dressage boots because that's all I need for longeing. But when I'm grabbing my dressage saddle, pad, and girth out of the trailer on my way into the barn I'd like to be able to just set it down when I get there.
So am I being silly to be annoyed? I guess it doesn't help that this girl hasn't ridden or come to the barn more than 15 times this year (and none last year since I started boarding there), she's only riding now because she has the county fair coming up. I've been out to see my horse more in the last month than she's seen hers in the last year, and I can't even RIDE!
We started out on her mane side, which is her worst side. It was hard to get her to bend toward me in the beginning, but then she got better about it. After 12 minutes in that direction we switched to her non-mane side and she was fabulous. Trying, reaching, trotting out when I clucked and just going really well. We'd worked on stopping a bit to the other side, after reversing we worked some more on stopping as well as a little on cantering. We did about 10 minutes on that side and then I took off the side reins and walked her for 10 minutes to cool down.
She was pretty sweaty (though still not as bad as yesterday) and tired once we were done, so I stripped her down, gave her her bobbing bucket to play with, and put everything away. I found stuff to do until she was dry and curried and brushed her really good a couple of times until she was smooth and shiny. There was one downside though, when we're switching sides she tries to stretch her head out and pulls the surcingle forward so it rubbed her elbow a little. I put Corona ointment on it and we'll see how it is tomorrow. I noticed a little rub after the first day she was longed but it was haired over again within a week so I didn't think it was still a problem. She may get tomorrow off, depending on how it looks.
Is it possible to have a little OCD? I've noticed that I'm slowly becoming more and more OCD, if that's possible. Last year it started with cleaning my tack after every ride. Now it's grooming Sophie (and still cleaning everything). I also like my little area in front of Sophie's stall to be just "right". I have my two lead ropes and spare halter hanging on the claw thing, my empty saddle rack next to that, and my cupboard, which I keep in pretty good order. Except today my saddle rack wasn't empty. *Gasp!* One of Kim's saddles was on it, I think because the girl whose horse is stalled next to Sophie is using it. That's fine, but don't put it on *my* saddle rack. Just because I don't leave five feet of stuff on it every day doesn't mean I don't use it!!! I use it every time I come to the barn, thank you very much. So I moved it over to a different rack and unhung the saddle rack and rehung it so that it's laying flat against the wall instead of sticking out.
Maybe I'm just too anal, but I like having my space and being able to grab my stuff out of the trailer and being able to just put it on my saddle rack without having to worry about moving someone else's stuff out of the way. The girl who put the saddle there has 7 saddle pads and her ancient all purpose saddle on the rack in front of her horse's stall. There were also 3 sugar cubes on the drawer directly under my cubby as well. I was very confused when I arrived at the barn. I just hope it doesn't happen again, I hate to be confrontational over something so silly, but it does bother me. Right now I'm just putting my thick, western saddle pad on my rack and Sophie's dressage boots because that's all I need for longeing. But when I'm grabbing my dressage saddle, pad, and girth out of the trailer on my way into the barn I'd like to be able to just set it down when I get there.
So am I being silly to be annoyed? I guess it doesn't help that this girl hasn't ridden or come to the barn more than 15 times this year (and none last year since I started boarding there), she's only riding now because she has the county fair coming up. I've been out to see my horse more in the last month than she's seen hers in the last year, and I can't even RIDE!
1 comment:
Gaaah I HATE when people take my space over with their stuff!! The only worse thing is when they take my stuff and use it. You are right to be careful and PO'd when things go wrong. None of us has all day to spend with our horses, and we need to have a system or it can take forever to track things down.
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