Schooling Sesh - Video Update

Tromped down to see the big mare on Friday last week in order to watch her work over fences a bit and get my horse fix.

whee!

Amazing that somehow bending down to tie my shoes seems like a physical impossibility at this point - but somehow picking hooves is no problem at all :) Shocking how that works!

Immediate observations - She looks rad.  I love her summer coat, it's so short and velvety.  Especially with HLL and main groom man keeping her polished to a high shine.  Plus, since it's been a few weeks since braids were in, her mane is all spiky and mohawky.  It's cute.

The weird faux-diarrhea is not better.  So, we're back to the drawing board on that.  Not sure what our next step is, but I'm working on one.

My obsession with tack has not diminished with less time riding/contact with it.  I fawned over my saddle a bit (man it's sexy) and ran my hands over the bridle to see how it's breaking in/holding up.  There is just no substitute for really gorgeous leather.  Or rather there is a substitute - and it's called money (damn).

In terms of the work under saddle - things look good.  It sounds like Prair has been getting more consistent with her good moments, and her sticky moments are more consistent too.. which is it's own weird sort of progress.  She's alternating between the Myler Combo bit and the regular Myler Pelham, with HLL mostly riding in the pelham, and N taking the combo.

Nothing very dramatic to report, but it was really nice seeing Prair's turn on the forehand and haunch be executed with so much relaxation.  She's really stopped running through them or bracing against the bit.  N has her nice and loose and supple, and I think that confidence and mobility will continue to help us over fences.

Here's a short clip of our trot... very similar to the last video I posted:


Then they moved on to some small fences.  Still asking the mare to stay fairly compact in her frame over fences.  N feels like she's finally starting to breakover a bit more (even over smaller jumps) which is great news.  I like anything that indicates her back in comfy and she's willing to use it rather than hold everything stiff like a board.

She was starting to throw her head a bit, which I think is a reaction to the bit, and maybe some pinching at the corners of her mouth... hard to tell but N said that given the timing, it felt very independent of her "work" and more like "OW!" response.

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After she was done I pulled tack and gave the mare a nice curry and plenty of treats.  She is such a lovebug these days it's easy to just enjoy a few quiet minutes with her.  I also gave the tack some love and cleaned everything to a shine.  Very pleased with how the new saddle is looking (both on the mare and on the rack) as well as the bridle.  CWD may have redeemed themselves after all!

My plan is to watch the mare once (or maybe twice!) more next week before the horses ship on Monday the 9th.  The upcoming show is where we had our first experience at an "A" show last year which resulted in two championships for me with the mare (Pre-Adult Hunter and Eq) and a rather tense/frustrating experience for S in the Pre Greens at the start of the week.  I'm eager to see how she does with a full year under her belt back at the same facility where we (mercifully) get to show outside.