It's been snowy one day, then in the 50's the next. On with the blanket and then off with it. Dani's had a few rolls in the snow but nothing else has been going on to post about.
Maybe on Sunday it will be tolerable for a short ride??? We'll have to see. Dani likes the snow. She finds a nice deep area to roll in. Then she gets to dig for remnants of hay bits in David's area. He'll probably be getting another big bale soon but I now have a green fencing to put up if I'm out and about and letting her wander.
I'm ready for it to stay lighter for a little longer when I get to the barn. I'm ready for some nicer days but I don't want to go through another fire summer here. For now I'm content with the snow and my mare with the fuzzy fetlocks! LOL.
1 comment:
hi, you've given me some things to think about, to research, and then yesterday i had an epiphany.
it started with something clinton said on a youtube video about riding spooky horses. at first i was like, geez, that's gonna make a horse trail sour, the way he spins them around, backs, circles, etc on trails. he said any time his horse looks at anything, he makes it do something difficult. he wants his horse head down, not looking, just walking along.
then he talked about helping a lady whose horse was fine in the arena, and horrible out on trails. he said think about how you ride - what do you DO in an arena. well, we work on dressage movements. ok what do you DO on trails, well, we just try to enjoy the scenery, we really don't do anything.
in my mind at least, arena stuff is work, and trails are fun, time to space out and enjoy nature, or cruise along enjoying nature in a faster fashion.
then i had my epiphany. the first moment i ever got on my new horse, i instantly knew, "make her do something, don't just ride, make her do this, and this, and this." i instinctively felt that she was the kind of horse that you can't just get on and walk along the rail of the arena, that she'll need to be doing something different every 20 seconds or so. (in fact, i've never just let her walk along the rail of the arena - that would be inviting her to start making her own decisions.)
but somehow that instinct didn't apply to taking her out of the arena? my longterm belief that trail riding is supposed to be fun, relaxing - it overruled this instinct about my horse? yah, stupid.
now i have to find a balance, because i don't want my horse to have to do shoulder-in and haunches-in and serpentines continually on the trail..
holy crap, i just realized something.
that explains exactly why mara always prefers to bush-whack rather than walk down the trail. why she'll just walk off the trail and start stumbling over fallen trees, slipping into holes, etc, rather than walk along easily. she has to DO something.
hm. i might have to blog about this.
thanks again for your ideas. if you wouldn't have mentioned CA i wouldn't have found that little (condescending, but helpful) youtube video.
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