It finally stopped raining long enough for me to actually ride this weekend. With all the rain we’ve had, I’ve only ridden about 5 times in the entire month of January and two of those times were this weekend. I’ve ridden so little, I’ve gotten completely out of shape. Just this short ride on Saturday left me aching on Sunday.
Our arena has been closed for weeks now. The BO finally opened it on Saturday, but half of it was coned off and the open half had a small section coned off and then the drag that broke in the one corner. It was still nice to be able to use it and get some schooling done.
As expected Levi has been going a bit nuts with the lack of exercise. My husband sent these videos to me when he went to feed them on Friday and my comment was, “Yeah, I’m looking forward to riding that.”
Actually, Levi was fine. He definitely had a ton of energy, but he’s a good boy. We started out in the arena and did some work on bending and going straight. I also practiced downward transitions entirely from the seat. Nilla’s trainer, Laura, wanted me to practice them so that I can do a better job of asking Nilla. However, Levi is really good at those though so it wasn’t really proper practice for asking Nilla. I need to do more lessons with Nilla. Hopefully I’ll get out there next weekend if the rain stops.
Our only real issue on Saturday was Levi’s desire to join Eugene in the center of the arena when my husband was taking pictures. Levi is very herd-bound and very convinced that he did not want to do canter work when he could be standing in the center instead. I don’t think he’d do well in a lesson program. It took a few “discussions” – none of which my husband caught a picture of sadly – but I got him listening and we ended on a good note.
After the arena work, we rode over to the winery. The trail was still pretty muddy in places and there’s a section with a mudslide going across the trail, but we just picked our way over carefully and carried on. I cannot wait for this rain to be over. I know we need the rain, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy it while it’s happening. I didn’t get any pictures from our trail ride, but it was a really gorgeous day for a ride.
I forgot to take a picture on Saturday, but I tried out Nilla’s Micklem on Levi and I think I like it better on him. He’s been getting increasingly worse about having his ears touched and I think his other bridle which is a little tight on him was contributing. I’m hoping this will work better for him.
It’s good to have a horse that can be wild in the paddock and fine under saddle. He looks great in the bridle.
As long as the crazy stays in the paddock.
He looks nice in the bridle. What a good guy he is. If I remember right, he had some herd bound tendencies out on trail too. I’m sure you’ll work through his need to be in the center with Eugene. He is going to become one heck of a horse.
He has herd-bound issues everywhere. I think it’ll be a lifelong issue. He’s lived in a herd his whole life and he’s very social.
Ha I love that you can ride over to a winery!! Also Levi looks super athletic in this gifs haha
Athletic is another word for it.
Glad you got a ride in! The rain was crazy the few days I was in town this month! I haven’t seen it that soggy in the Bay in a long time!
I know. Everything is soggy. It hasn’t been this wet in years.
Yay for rides! Would be interested in what you thought of the Micklem. Someone at the barn uses one too and likes it.
I don’t actually like it. The leather is pretty crappy and it broke within 2 weeks of my owning it. This one is actually a replacement for the broken one. It didn’t help with any of Nilla’s head fussiness issues so I don’t know how effective it is. It does have a somewhat padded crown piece so I am hoping that helps Levi’s ears, though I think I’d rather get something like the PS of Sweden with more defined ear relief.
I loved the videos of them frolicking in the turnout. I feel your pain. I’ve only ridden 2-3x this month. This weekend it was dry enough but we had Santa Ana winds and my lesson was cancelled.
Seriously. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
Frisky pony!!
Glad you had such a nice ride after all that time off! Mine don’t handle time off nearly as well. Levi is looking great!
I think they’re going pretty nuts with all the time off.
What a spazzy guy in the gif. Cracks me up! That’s awesome that he was so good despite all his energy when you finally got to ride again – even more kudos to the place that trained him prior to you getting him!
I may have spoke to soon as he apparently was very naughty for his leaser this week, but he was good for me.