A post just of words

We've had our first really cold weather and brrr! this swampflower is having a hard time adjusting. Yesterday and today it's been gloriously sunny, but so cold that I've not wanted to do anything more than stay inside bundled up in my flannel-lined blue jeans and sweatshirt and thick, wool socks and sit on the couch and watch Farscape, but have I done that? No, not yet, but I hope to tonight. Instead, yesterday morning I finally went out and ran two miles when it was in the low thirties. A week ago last Tuesday I came down with a nasty cold and quit running as I felt drained all the time. Finally, I feel mostly over it. And it's true what they say about exercise: that the first day back is easie peasie because it was. I did my two mile run and felt pretty good while out there even if I was freezing. This morning I ran later, so it was a tiny bit warmer (low 40's), but those two miles were agony. My legs felt like lead and I actually walked up the last hill because I just didn't have it in me to run. Still, I got out there and did something and that's good because I've signed up for another 5k that's next Saturday and I need to regain some fitness.

And although I said I wasn't going out to the barn in this chilly weather, of course I did, but I stopped by Old Clinton BBQ and ate lunch before visiting India, Asia and Babe. Because there can never be enough good bbq in my diet, I stopped off on my way home and had another lunch special, which is a bbq sandwich, bag of chips, and a medium drink, all for $5, but because I'm a regular, they upsize my drink to a large for free. Jenny, Steve and his girls joined me for dinner and we laughed and talked about our weekends while we ate.

When I got to the barn today, my goal was to work India on trailer loading and to ride her, too. Since some of the weanling cows were being castrated, the ring was in use as it was the holding pen for that operation. I missed all of that, getting out there too late, but I got to watch the dogs enjoy the mountain oysters after the weanlings were moved back down to their lower pasture. In a few weeks, they'll go off to the sale and to a better life full of grain and puppies and sunshine. *g*

India loaded right onto my Sundowner stock trailer, but she rushed out everytime I asked her to unload. She isn't freaked out by stepping backwards out of the trailer (my trailer does not have a ramp), but I was unhappy with her mad dash to exit. Also, I was having troubles getting her to load when I wanted her to be in the spot for the second horse, so I decided to enlist Jenny's help for this. Since Jenny was busy with the cows, I took India up to the round pen and we worked on some flatwork. She was not bracey at all when I asked her to back in a big circle, but when I asked her to move forward and then bend and crossover with her inside hind, she was anticipating a change of direction, so I decided that for today there would be none of those, just forward, engage the hind by crossing it over and then forward again. After several minutes of this, she quit anticipating a direction change and went forward quietly. Ten minutes of flat work and she was quite relaxed. When I took a hold of her tail and moved it up and down and in a circle, it was quite loose, not tight at all, so I knew it was ok to tack up and that the odds of not having an explosive pony were in my favor.

So I did and we went for a stroll around the barn since the weanling, newly castrated were still in the ring, but Elaine and Richard soon moved them down to their pasture and India and I took advantage of the opened panel to enter the ring. The panel was put back in place and we started work. We were tracking to the right and one thing I love about India and how Jenny has trained her is that she's forward moving, not pokey at all. Jenny has never inhibited that propulsion that India shows and today India felt good. We picked up a trot and immediately India told me that she wanted to canter and I could tell that she was going to take the right lead without any issues, so I let her. We moved off into a very nice canter, not too fast, not too slow and she listened to my seat and legs and moved over to rail and bent nicely in the turns and after we circled the arena once, throwing in two 20m circles along the long side, I sat deeper and thought "slow" and India dropped to a trot. I had been riding her with a fair amount of contact and she asked for rein, which I gladly gave and she stretched her topline down and forward while still maintaining a nice rhythm at the trot and I could have shouted for joy at how well she's doing.

We worked for about 25 minutes in the ring, trotting and cantering both directions and she gave me a lovely canter on the left lead, but that is her favorite lead. I'm working hard on keeping my shoulders back and my hands higher, for I know that I need to work on both. It's amazing what a difference it makes when I sit correctly (shoulders back) in her turns and her ability to put that inside back leg under her in a turn.

Then three little girls riding Babe, Windy and Filena entered the ring for a free for all of mass confusion and it was great fun. Marissa was zooming around on Windy as Pony Pie's back leg is still swollen and Babe was proving how wonderful she is as Steve's daughter, who has ridden maybe five times total, rode her trotting a few strides here and there and just generally pointing her where she wanted to go and Babe did it. She didn't ignore her, she didn't stop where I was parked in the middle of the arenea to avoid the melee, and she gave this little girl a lovely ride. Babe truly is worth her weight in gold.

As for the POTU, what did she do during all this wild excitement of zooming and not zooming horses careening around? She stood calmly in the middle right where I asked her to stand and did awesome turns on the forehand when I asked so I could see what was going on. And then, after about 10 minutes of that, I asked Jenny if I could join the melee and she said yes, so we calmly trotted and cantered both directions and avoided Filena being led around by Jenny and Marissa and Windy cantering too and Babe trotting on by. India was a star!

After untacking her, Jenny and I took her down to the trailer, where it was still hooked up to my Tahoe and Jenny worked on loading India and most importantly, having her unload with a minimum of fuss, which she did. Since India didn't want to get on the trailer when she had to get in the second horse spot, she put Windy in the first stall and then India jumped right on. So, I think she'll be no problem for our trip to Hard Labor Creek State Park for the annual December ride. I'll be taking India for her debut there and Asia will be going along as a mount for Marian, who is flying in from Boston for a guest appearance and I'm thrilled to see her again. She's a very good rider and I think she and Asia will get along just fine. As Asia only will ride in that front stall because she prefers riding backwards in the trailer, India has to take the second spot. Thursday is a state holiday, so if it works out, I'll trailer India to Dooly County for a visit. She'll get the experience of trailering and going out in the wild world to someplace new and I hope not too exciting.

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I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying the new album by Doug Paisley, Constant Companion.
It's playing in the background right now on my iTunes and his lyrics and tunes are both wonderful. He's quiet and insightful and it's the sort of album that I know will stay in rotation on my iPod for months to come. Right now it's pretty much John Prine, John Hiatt and Doug Paisley showing up over and over, with the occasional John Mellencamp thrown in for good measure and then the Cowboy Junkies or Natalie Merchent will sneak in. All good. :-)

Oh, and I think you should all rush over here and read Fiddle's post about Real Horse Monsters for Sensible Horses. It's hilarious and so true.