In which Fiddle and I return to the arena for a lesson
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| "Back in the 'rena again!" |
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| Dory usually works us to a hard sweat, but today's lesson was easier on the muscles and more strenuous for our brains |
1. Keep her forward in motion and forward in attitude
2. Work her lightly and evaluate her recovery from the tye-up.
Since Fee doesn't enjoy the company of other horses in the arena, I started with nearly 60 minutes of solo warm-up before anybody else arrived. We mostly walked, with a bit of trotting and LOTS of bending.
She had two tiny rebellions, about two strides each, and then decided on her own to cooperate with me. Hooray for a cooperative Dragon!
After Hana and Duana joined us
she lost her concentration only briefly, and then we went back to bending and stretching.
Then, it was time to work:
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| learning to extend the walk...and then REALLY extend the walk |
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| extend...then collect...then extend...then, at the trot we were actually better at the trot than the walk, because face it: we are really good at trotting! |
This has been a huge issue in the past--one that we hoped would be "broken" by moving Hana to Fish Creek/Fat Camp for a few months. So far, so good!
And best of all, Fee moved forward with bounce (whenever I didn't impede her with my ineptness!) and peed a lovely yellow lemonade-colored urine when she was done. In other words: her recovery is progressing nicely. Whew.
After the lesson, the puppy:
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| Dory named her "Poppy", which suits her perfectly |
Absolutely adorable.
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| Rhetta is Poppy's new BFF! |
If you worry about the puppy and the pibble, you clearly haven't spent enough time watching Dom's blog and Erin's blog--and you definitely needs to see this PUPPY LOVE video, featuring Herbie the pibble and Jabby the standardbred.
But, then, we have a video of our very own, featuring Poppy and Rhetta! Goodness <<--our lives have it.
I dread arena work now that I have discovered the trails. That said I really need it-I lean to my left pretty badly.
ReplyDeleteI am also planning to adopt a pit breed after we move in a few months-I've been doing the research I can and it sounds that, properly socialized and trained, they are one of the few dog breeds trusted with small children-most dog breeds don't recommend kids under 8. That's a long time to wait for a dog! Whereas the breed website and many rescues and personal blogs all mention how gentle and patient their pits are around younger children. That said, it's going to be tricky finding a rescue dog who's history with small children is known. Research, research!
I briefly considered a puppynappping after I picked up Poppy at HOTR...
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the Fee Pee is looking good and the trot makes it clear she is moving freely. We were doing this same exercise yesterday, checking that all parts were lubricated and working.
- Monica
Glad to hear the Fee Pee is normal and the trot looks nice. We did the same exercise yesterday just to check that all systems were lubricated and working.
ReplyDeleteI almost committed a puppynapping after picking up Poppy at HOTR...
Good mare :)
ReplyDeleteAnd ADORABLE puppy!