So, I broke a few ribs so I have been off for a few weeks. When I brought her in and tacked her up, it was as if we hadn’t missed a day. She was good on the flat in all gaits, though a bit exuberant at first, but nothing compared to what she could have been.
With the One Day event coming up at the end of July, we need to get some condition back on her, so I took her down the hill and back up again twice in mostly trot with some walk breaks. She did excellently.
So, yeah, I broke my ribs so Harley had a few weeks off from me. But today when I went out to get him in the paddock it was like old home week. He put his face right in the halter and off we went. I groomed, lunged and rode him in all gaits. He was pretty tight to the right, but he improved and we had a good day.
After warming up on the lunge, I worked on backing in hand and then I got in the tack. He is improving on standing still while being mounted, but there is more improvment to go. We did a lot of work in suppling in walk and trot. He is starting to allow himself to come over his topline in walk and trot. Canter work was pretty good tonight. To the right he did well, but to the left, he did even better. Great!
I tacked up Elsa and took her straight on a hack, no warm up in the arena. We went out west down to the river in walk and then trotted up the hill for some conditioning. Then we went into the big field behind the house and worked in all gaits, requiring correct work and proper transitions. She did very well. At one point we went through a grove of grass so beautiful that I stopped, got off and took her bridle off and let her graze for 10 minutes. She loved it and went right back to work when asked. Quite a girl!
I brought out my Micklem competition bridle and put it on him. It is horse sized and fit ok, though the cheek strap was on the last hole. He looks pretty cute in it!
I got on and we warmed up in the arena. We worked on suppling and staying straight when asked to back up. He wants to put his hip to the right. He got better and better.
Then a hack west to the end of the road, then around the field. We did a lot of transitions and suppling and he did very well. This is exactly what he needs. He’s coming right along.