I've ridden two times since last post on freestyle; all up the mountain with the cows. The session after my last post, I noticed my horse had a scrape on her left hind leg and a scrape on her foot. She didn't seem to be sore, so I wrapped the foot to ensure no further scraping and decided to ride, as we were supposed to check on some cows and calves. I had been feeling great about my OL program, so I decided to ride in the rope hackamore. What a great ride! I do use the reins too much, but found my horse is exactly the same without a bit as she is with a bit. Some snatching grass, but responds to my suggestion and backed up great as well. We had a beautiful ride. I used partial disengagement if she appeared to be going to eat grass and decided to take it easy that day; just walk around from point to point checking the cows. My horse got lots of rest time as I was sitting and watching a couple cows that appeared injured.
However, she was pulling toward home a bit, initially, so I turned and ran home...and then some. We cantered all the way back to the mountain gate and she went over small logs, through koa and tall grasses up hills...fun! After that, she was way more in tune with where my focus was when we quietly walked back where we needed to go.
Then, the most incredible gift! I saw a cow give birth. Such a beautiful day!
We were so in tune, I decided to canter back home and test both of our emotional fitness levels:-) It felt amazing!
Note: I played music throughout my prep and ride this day...makes a huge difference for me. My current favorite song for keeping my emotional balance is "Hey Soul Sister" by Train.
After that ride, I gave her a few days off to ensure her scrapes healed up and didn't want to make them worse by accidentally scraping something else. She had stepped into a huge sink hole during our last ride and was calm and confident enough to step out of it after she stumbled and, luckily, there was no harm done. But, I wanted to be sure there was no inflammation the next day.
Tuesday, we helped move the cows. Lots of sitting and watching as these cows come when called and know what to do! Very cool! I am learning the system and all the gates, etc, so this day was more about work for me. Also, the ground was muddy around some gates, so we were moving rocks to make walking paths in the mud. So, my horse really got rest. We only had to really move a few cows down to the new pasture, and my horse seemed to enjoy it. The small herd of 19 head came running toward us when called and we led while they followed us. My horse was a little amped and I didn't do groundwork before riding, so she got a little concerned. I turned and faced the cows and bent her where necessary, and she was fine. Very interesting for her to have them running up behind her. Great experience for this LBI.
Yesterday, I was so excited to ride after watching the new L3 Freestyle video with Pat, but we got a surprise rain storm, so I spent lots of undemanding time and groomed her to ease her itchiness and help her shed out...that time of year.
Spent time with Mambo (6 month old bull calf who lives with my horse), too. I had my horse loosely tied when it started raining. She was a little concerned at first so I decided to wait 'til she was calm and confident and then untied her. She walked away a bit...toward the horse she lives with, but then came back for a while. Nice!
No comments:
Post a Comment