On Saturday, my husband was off backpacking with his friend in practice/preparation for a longer trip in August. Thankfully, I’m not going on the trip so I don’t have to practice by hauling a heavy backpack uphill in 95 degree weather. It was hot again on Saturday, so I arranged to meet with Shasta’s leaser to go on a trail ride early in the morning before it got really bad.
We just meandered over to the winery park next door and then had a leisurely ride around. Then I went home and spent the whole day inside watching the new season of Orange is the New Black and not leaving the house because it was boiling hot outside.
On Sunday, we went to the barn in the evening and my husband didn’t want to ride due to a combination of blister from hiking and the heat. I wanted to get some work into Nilla so I still rode. We did a good 30 minutes of lunging with side reins and practicing shoulder yielding from the ground before I even rode. Then I just stuck to the small arena to work on bending and contact.
How does Nilla feel about this? Let’s ask her tongue:
Not a fan. I wanted my husband to help me by telling me when Nilla was getting on the bit, but he can’t tell the difference between false frame and actually collecting and pushing into the bit from the back end. So we had a mix of good and awkward moments. Thankfully, I have a lesson with a dressage trainer coming up, because I need help.
I haven’t taken any close-ups, but you can see the extent of the hip injury in the picture below. She basically scraped all the hair and skin off her hip on just the left side. She also really banged up her left hind leg, but it’s harder to see that in the image as there’s swelling there, not missing skin.
I hope the dressage lesson goes well and I hope her injury heals!
she looks cute (even with the scrape). I really like the last one- she's reaching under and her back is up- you can see that too in her stomach muscle.
Enjoy your dressage lesson! I agree with Teresa about liking the last pic best 🙂
I hope so too.
Yes, I like that picture too. She gets it sometimes.
It was a good lesson; post to follow. I also like the last picture.