Cinnamonster Superstar

Another bonus to my life leveling out a bit is I can put Cinna back to work! I don't know what it is about her more than most other horses I've had/ridden, but she is SO IN TUNE to my emotions. Which means, if I am in any kind of spun-up emotional state, I cannot have a productive ride. Or really handle her in any other way aside from turn out/bringing her in -- see, the many unproductive trailer loading sessions we had when she was a baby. Ruby (and before her, Topaz), I could pretty reliably get on even if I was having a bad day and they could usually help me turn things around, but with Cinna, that's a nonstarter. She feeds off my emotions and amplifies them back to me. She keeps me honest, that's for sure, because I can't fake it with her. So any time there is any emotional turmoil going on in my life, I drop the riding with her. 

She doesn't mind being out of work. 

And she always picks right back up where we left off! (just less fitness). I dug this Hidez mask out to possibly send to a blogger friend for funsies and then naturally I had to make the horses wear it once or twice before I did anything, haha. 

The weather Monday was lovely, and my arena was freshly dragged and begging for some hoofprints -- so I saddled up! I kept my expectations low, since between the weather and Cici I don't think I've sat on her in.. 2? 3? months. Plus everyone else was turned out on grass in the back and naturally since this is the first time they've been separated in a while, Jack was SCREAMING his head off and running laps of the pasture. She was a little bit amped up in the cross-ties, so I tossed her on the lunge first just to make sure there wouldn't be any shenanigans. 

No shenanigans, just this lovely trot. 

And some stretching!
(and they say Iberian horses can't stretch. Pfffft)

Between her lack of fitness and starting on the lunge, we didn't ride long, only about 20 minutes walking and a little trot. She started off a little tense and bracey, but settled in quickly and gave me some really lovely work. I was a little sad I didn't think to charge/set up the Pivo, it'd be nice to know if it looked as nice as it felt! (probably not, but that's the story of my life lol)

Naturally she had to drag me over to stare at herself in the mirror for a bit. I thought she'd get over that eventually, but 5 months in to having mirrors, nope, still wants to go ogle herself every time!

Towards the end of our ride, DH had pulled out the ZTR and was mowing in the back. A few years ago, that would probably have caused a meltdown -- but now she just took a quick peep at it, then continued to walk around on the buckle while I answered emails (perpetually multi-tasking, sigh). 

It was in the mid-80s, so she worked up a bit of a sweat! 

She even sweated through the mask a bit, lol. 

I need to start getting her off the property a little more this summer, particularly on trail rides -- that's something I talked about with my friend on our ride Sunday. She's really never "bad" per se, she just requires a lot more attention and management than Ruby, and sometimes I just want to loop the reins over the saddle horn and be able to mindlessly stroll.... and that's definitely not something Cinna is ready for yet. Frankly, she may never be like that, she and Ruby are polar opposites in personality. But, it's still my responsibility to make her into as solid of a citizen as I can, which means more life experience off the farm :) I was hoping to really focus on that in 2020 after we were done building the house, and you see how well that worked out for me.... lol. So let's try a do over in 2021?