Better and better

Okay, so things pretty much went as-planned today.

I tied her up in her paddock, brushed her out, booted her up and straight to the roundpen we went.

Almost.

She refused to go in said roundpen, because as I mentioned before, shooting backwards is her new answer to everything.

My immediate response was to make her work.  Disclaimer:  I never like to work a horse before they've had a warm-up.  Just like an athlete, it's always best to start slow and then build up the workout.  But in this case, she just needed to move, NOW.  So when she shot backwards, I pushed her into a circle with the leadrope and the lunge whip and around she went.  Still no go.  So I "lunged" her again, and after two tries of that, she walked right in with me.

Whew.

I had her work hard enough in the roundpen to get all her attention back to me, and then I spent 10 minutes just doing stretching exercises with her until she was giving to pressure easily.

The ride was good.  She feels unbalanced, of course, since I've been really inconsistent with my riding lately, but we did a lot of shoulder-ins and moving the hip in one step at the walk.  I really avoid lateral work--I used to think that I just hated doing it, but lately I've realized that I really avoid it because it hurts my hip.

Oh, the hip.  I managed to tear a ligament in my hip while jogging when I was in highschool.  I am always really aware when I'm riding of how much more stiff and closed my right hip is compared to my left.  This is really unfortunate for a lot of reasons.

When riding, one of the major goals is to be as straight and balanced as possible.  Good communication is much easier when the cues are even on both sides of the horse.

Unfortunately for me (and my horse), I'm crooked all the time.  Because my right hip flexor doesn't work as well, I don't sit as deeply or move as flexibly in the saddle on the right side.

Bummer.

I think I'll write more about imbalance later.

Anyway, we did a lot of lateral work (all I could handle) and I spent the whole last 20 minutes of cool-out riding with one hand and trying to give her all the signals with my legs and seat.  What an exercise!  It really shows you how much (or little--in my case much!) you rely on the reins to get your directions and movements.

Man are my legs sore now.

I did hose her off after the ride with hardly a look from her at the hose (which was the source of this whole pulling back problem we're having, ironically!).  It's been 70 and HOT in Wyo lately, and she seemed to appreciate the hose down.  I brushed her out and put her up, and both she and Speedy got quite a few carrots.

I also bought a girth extender for my English saddle, because Ms. Chubby outgrew all of my girths.

I'm hoping to get out there tomorrow too...stay tuned for how well that plan turns out!