Amazing how often I can manage to get to the barn these days without that pesky little day jobbe stuff going on. Doesn’t hurt that the horse is now shaven and that reduces the after-ride care by quite a bit. Plus her skin is looking a lot better. She’s not as itchy and I try to find a time and place for her to roll after a ride in the winter if she’s not dripping wet. Incredible what a difference this makes for a working horse. She’s much more relaxed than she has been. She also stays warm under her blanket, so no worries there. A happy Mocha is a hard-working Mocha, and that’s good.
And, as far as working goes…we keep on with the counterbending and the more elaborate two-tracking work. Slick today, so we didn’t work on counter-canter. So far the area’s at the fourth highest recorded rainfall for the month, headed for third or even second….it’s amazing the footing in the arena has stayed as nice as it has. We loped big circles as part of the warmup, but it was too slick in one corner for my liking. That’s okay. We have lots of stuff to school at walk and trot.
Then I discovered that one of the other boarders is playing with low-level jumping stuff. She was going into the arena just as I was leaving…but hmm, maybe we can set up a mutual session working ground poles and crossbars? Miss Mocha is going to need a break from plain vanilla lateral work soon. I’ve been contemplating ground pole patterns…but a jump session would also be good. In any case, a low-level bounce would be good for a mental break.
Hmm. Maybe if there’s a few more days without rain.
