Snow Day with the Fam

We went out to set the horses free from the barn; they ate inside this morning because of the wind that would have blown all their hay away. I got in Misty's zone 5 and began literally pushing her around. I was just pushing whatever direction she was going. I thought I would get her moving and playing with me--usually after being inside, she wants to run a bit. She was not pinning her ears at all, but as she slowly moseyed to the water trough with me jumping up and down and saying "Yeah, Misty, let's go to the water trough, then! Let's go!" she clearly had a look on her face of embarrassment.

I pushed her to the gate and pushed her into her pasture. Then we played. She came to me and stood on the pedestal with all four feet. Then I pushed her off the pedestal and got on her from there. My family arrive and I asked if someone could get me a savvy string. I waited around for a bit, but no one heard me, so I put my coat around her neck and Misty raced around the pasture. I knew where all the obstacles that were buried in the snow drifts. Misty did not need much steering, but she was very responsive to my coat. It was fun. Now her blood was up. I let her get relaxed. I took her to the pedestal and got down. She chooses the pedestal all the time as a place to relax.

Then I got news that I had to go to work in a few hours. I was quite devastated. Today, was a snow day. My university hasn't had a snow day in 32 years. Today, thus far had been magical. It was going to be a magical day of horses. If I had to go to work for 3 or 4 hours, I was going to need to go inside and do homework. That's what I did after standing somberly with Misty on the pedestal. She was a good shoulder to lean on.

After an hour of homework, I found out that I only needed to work for an hour or so. So, a session with Maggie and my mom was back on!

On the ground, I had Blu on the feather line. I was working on our circling game. He sent very nicely, putting his forequarters onto the track I had chosen for him. We had to do lots of half-yields of the HQ, at first. We were having trouble staying in the canter. At one point, he got very worried and was going sideways. I just drifted with him. We ended up on the other side of the pasture. He relaxed. His circles were much better. When I started talking to my mom and Maggie, he was circling 1 foot from me (just the walk). I suddenly realized he was doing this and thought "what are you doing?" He did not stop, just kept walking around me. I think he was trying to tie me up :D. He had maintained the canter, now and I felt that we were ready to ride.

I got on from the tire pedestal. He was looking at me funny. I held the carrot stick up and waited until he relaxed.

In the 100X50 arena, we warmed up by recreating our follow the rail tracks at all gaits. When I started the cloverleaf pattern, it was there. I felt him KNOW what we were doing! It got better! We did some spins in both directions at a slow-medium speed without any forward correction. Then, I ended by jumping out of the arena :D.

We went on a ride around the property, me and Blu bridleless. It was relaxing.

Today was a nice surprise, but now it is back to reality. I love my family and my horses.

Natural Horsewoman Out.