Dead Batteries

You guys I have another Pixio confession to make. This morning I set it up (I'm really getting in a groove and getting quicker with that!) and was excited for some good Ruby media. And then I realized I'd forgotten to charge the camera 😂 I'm legitimately the worst at this! But I did get 3.5 minutes of walking for our warmup, so you can have screenshots of that I guess 🤷 anyway....

My ME contest prize boots arrived last night! Cinna was interested, but clearly not as excited as me haha.

I've been slowly recovering from our hay extravaganza -- yesterday was Cinna's turn to work and I still wasn't feeling 100% so I opted to lunge instead of ride... And then halfway through I was kicking myself because she was being SO GOOD. No spooking, no bolting, no dolphining into canter transitions. She was rhythmic and methodical, keeping her mouth quiet and her attention focused on me.

So majestic, haha.

Cinna would like the record to reflect she could also be a bridle model -- especially when braided Otto is involved. 

When tacking up, I noticed a small wound on the inside of her left hind, but thankfully she was sound on it. There was some swelling so after a short lunge I cold hosed it and cleaned it up really well, and will be keeping an eye on it. She tends to bang herself up a bit and it seems like as soon as I get one cut healed up she's done something new. Horses! Thankfully she's never lame from these misadventures, I think she just likes the extra attention and fussing...haha.

Definitely an attention whore.

Ruby's ride this morning was similarly uneventful, working on simple concepts. I wanted to really focus on straightness down the long sides so I rode a lot of quarterlines to test myself without the rail doing half the work for me. The first few were wiggly but when I really focused on keeping her between the aids she was happy to march along. I dredged up a technique from a previous trainer imagining Ruby as a flowing creek and my job was to clearly set the boundaries (my legs and hands) in a straight line to direct the energy forward -- it's been more than a few years since that lesson (which was actually on Topaz, before Ruby was even under saddle, haha), so I may not be explaining it well, but it made sense in my head and worked for the ride, so I'll take it!

Accurate representation of how we usually warm up -- I'm on my phone setting up EquiLab and the music, while she's just motoring around getting loose.

The canter was a lot of fun today, I am a little sad the camera died so early in the ride. I was really focused on keeping my reins short (because no matter how short I think they are, the Pixio video tattles on me) and my hands forward. I know I'm a broken record, but the left lead canter was so fun I could have ridden it all day. She's getting the hang of letting me half halt more in the canter and not immediately thinking that means break to trot, but rather letting me adjust the tempo. The right lead was a little faster, and she wanted to zoom off a bit more, but it's getting better. 

Realizing I had forgotten to turn the Bluetooth speaker on and remedying that haha.

I'm so grateful for summer hours right now because we're back in a heat index through the weekend, but being on by 6 am means I can usually squeeze in a productive 40 minute ride before it gets up to the 80s.