Thursday, May 8, 2014

Stella #23

First time riding Stella today after 2 weeks off.  She needed time off after her hocks were injected and then I had a hard fall that tore some muscle in my hip flexor.  I only rode her for around 15 minutes after some good warm up time in the round pen.  My hip was still sore and we found a nice place to stop after managing some obstacles.

Unfortunately, she had quite a high head when I asked for the trot under saddle.  This tells me that she hasn't fully accepted softness in the bridle outside of the walk.  In the walk, it's very positive, but at the trot her head and poll shot up immediately.  I'll continue to work on that with her.  It only took her a few minutes to find comfort again  with a low head at the trot, but I realize she's not quite there.

This week, I intend to try the rope halter instead of the bit.  I'm curious if the bit itself causes the negative reflexive behavior or is it higher speeds with a rider regardless of the head gear.

Also, planning to get her on the trail!  Not cooperative weather so far...  Today we got very unexpected snow.

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