![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_crowtemp on rising: 12 F
temp on heading to the barn: 19 F
layers: long underwear, thermal shirt, fuzzy pullover, fuzzy vest, winter coat liner, red barn coat... six? plus thermal riding breeches which I only need when the temp drops below 22 F, otherwise they are Too Warm which is amazing and makes me happy.
Kaboose got moved to a farm with an indoor, which is completely fabulous and kind of strange.
It is kind of strange because she is turned out 24/7 in a pen next to friends, with a shed that keeps water off but not the wind out, and part of the pen's footing is frozen and broken up in an ankle turning kind of way. I am hoping it flattens out a little when the warmer weather rolls through, and then it can freeze flat.
The completely fabulous part is that the ring is flat and huge and has great footing all the way around and keeps the wind out and the rain off. So today, in 20 degrees of cold and wind, we could work until she settled and stretched out a little and we could practice cantering without worrying about the treacherous spot at the end of the ring that gets slippery. So although I was migrainy and the weather was outrageously cold and I thought the mare was going to pop out of her skin once or twice, we wound up with some really nice work at the end.
I still can't sit her trot. I decided totry really work on Lendon Gray's Lesson 7, including leg lifts at the walk to set the seat bones, and some posting without stirrups. My best moments today came when she and I were both tired and more relaxed. And when I was thinking about posting without actually moving my seatbones. When I lean back, she feels me driving her forward. When I lean forward too far, she hurries to get under me (?I think, might be something different) so I am constrained to a very narrow window of vertical correctness. Which is probably good for us both in the long term, but the learning curve is a bitch.
Alice and I went up to see the younger girls after school, and Alice (tiny Alice; 10 years, 52 inches, 53 lbs) requested and rode enormous Penny bareback and walked and halted. And she (kind of) tried a flying dismount too. I am so proud!
temp on heading to the barn: 19 F
layers: long underwear, thermal shirt, fuzzy pullover, fuzzy vest, winter coat liner, red barn coat... six? plus thermal riding breeches which I only need when the temp drops below 22 F, otherwise they are Too Warm which is amazing and makes me happy.
Kaboose got moved to a farm with an indoor, which is completely fabulous and kind of strange.
It is kind of strange because she is turned out 24/7 in a pen next to friends, with a shed that keeps water off but not the wind out, and part of the pen's footing is frozen and broken up in an ankle turning kind of way. I am hoping it flattens out a little when the warmer weather rolls through, and then it can freeze flat.
The completely fabulous part is that the ring is flat and huge and has great footing all the way around and keeps the wind out and the rain off. So today, in 20 degrees of cold and wind, we could work until she settled and stretched out a little and we could practice cantering without worrying about the treacherous spot at the end of the ring that gets slippery. So although I was migrainy and the weather was outrageously cold and I thought the mare was going to pop out of her skin once or twice, we wound up with some really nice work at the end.
I still can't sit her trot. I decided to
Alice and I went up to see the younger girls after school, and Alice (tiny Alice; 10 years, 52 inches, 53 lbs) requested and rode enormous Penny bareback and walked and halted. And she (kind of) tried a flying dismount too. I am so proud!
