Ha thanks guys <3

---

Kay, some basic updates:

---

In other news... It's been dry for the last few days, so today I got to ride Terry!

Went bareback with a halter, and she was loose rein for most of it. Walked around doing circles, leg yields, and forehand turns (meaning only her haunches turned). In the trot, we just did circles and went forward, practicing transitions to the halt and responsiveness to the seat (mostly slowing down and balancing to it). She was a very good girl, and her trot felt very nice. No more lameness! She was smooth and even did some framing up at liberty. Very good baby <3

We ended by grazing in the sun while I sat on her back and gave scratchies. Major summer vibes today! :D

Got to ride Terry again today! The rain is coming back, so I took advantage of the last bit of dry time to go for a quick trail ride. We used the new western tack set. Didn't work on anything-- the whole ride was just a for-fun loose rein. Terry was a bit nervous at first, but I got her stretching later on. Got to do some trotting and she did some lovely stretched collection at will, searching for rein contact on the halter. Overall, it was a peaceful, quick little ride, and I'm so glad that I've been able to work with her these last two days.

Unfortunately, Terry isn't doing well without her shoes. It's worse when I'm riding her, especially on the trails. So I'm going to keep letting her sit. Lucky for us, the farrier is coming on March 3rd and, since the snow is done for, we can finally stick her shoes back on! Hopefully I can snag a ride on the 4th. Sadly, I'll be heading to California for a bit on the 5th, so I won't get to hang out with the horses for a little while after that-- but hopefully the usual full time riding schedule can get rolling again when I return! My dad should be getting the space for the new arena ready soon, so riding will be easier, and possible through all seasons. Very exciting :D

On another note, I also took Dixie into our gravel drive to mess around a little. I did a very quick, simple lunge to start off-- walk a circle to the left, turn in for pets, walk a circle to the right, turn in for pets, walk to the left for a half circle and then trot a full circle, turn in for pets, walk to the right half a circle before trotting a full circle, then turn in for praise once more. Very simple and relaxing; it was just to get her moving and used to the area. Then, because she's a very anxious little beanie, I just did some calm in hand walking, halting, and such to get her calm and trusting me. There are a few details in there, but nothing important. Just getting her to stop worrying and put more trust in me.

Had the farrier cancel for yesterday and reschedule for today.

Terry, Dixie, and Rosco got trimmed up, and Terry got her shoes back on (woot woot!). Tiny didn't need anything because he's a slow grower. That little shit did shove his way into our sessions, though-- he charged through the wire as we were trying to close up the gate and then he ran away to the other side of the road to eat grass >u<

I'm a little sad because I won't be able to get in rides today. The weather was perfect and all, but I'm just running out of time. I'm also pretty tired from my usual lack of sleep and such. So, working the ponies will have to wait until I return from California. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Anyway, the last horse related thing that I'll be doing today is cleaning up my tack. Mum will be caring for the horses while I'm gone, so they'll be in good hands (I have to force her not to feed too much LOL).

Ran and kicked around the pasture with Rosco on the 9th. Same day, I stuck rides on Terry and Dixie. They were very good girls, but I can't elaborate much further on that-- my memory isn't that great, bros! What I do know is that I'm wanting to get more serious with training Dixie, so we did some harder work. She has a much greater understanding of steering and responded so much better to leg and seat aids. We also worked a lot more on trotting and circles, and I got her to be much more enthusiastic! Once again, I can't recall many details on my ride with Terry, but it was a lovely walk/trot dressage school.

For no particular reason, the horses got down time for the following two days. But today we got back into it. Dixie had some simple ground work. We lunged walk/trot, did some leading and in-hand trotting, and did a couple turns on the forehand.

I think that she's having a harder time breathing as she gets older. It'd take a bit to get into the details there, but I'll just say that I'm a little concerned. She still breaths well enough, but it's kind of the breathing pattern that'd you'd hear if a horse was super scared and upset (she's an anxious horse and all, but she isn't scared or anything when she does this. And anyway, she does "dinosaur snorts" when she's upset.). I dunno, maybe I'll have the vet look into it when we do the yearly check up. It's nothing active enough to fuss much over.

Terry had another bitless walk/trot dressage school today. Let me just say, she is SUCH a lovely little gal. Can't believe she was so cheap lol (I'm a bit head over heels for her, can you tell? x3). We worked a lot on relaxation and balance, doing lots of calm transitions and smoother circles, as well as direction changes. She wasn't so fond of me having my reins very short, which I suppose has always been the case. She goes behind the vertical and pulls with the stereotypical chestnut mare glare when she dislikes the amount of contact/pressure. So I kept my contact a little loose, like normal, and when I switched to that she became SO supple and rounded and smooth. Felt like I was riding a cloud, and she looked so pretty and focused in the window reflection. She was able to slow down while keeping energy stunningly well.

Basically, it just boils down to... I saw nothing wrong with our ride. She had a couple of her usual feisty moments, but they were very manageable, 'cause they were all the fault of how I was riding. As soon as I fixed myself, she turned into an angel. Especially with how much muscle she's lost during her winter break, I am SUPER proud of her for today's performance. I'm sure the pre-ride message I gave her helped with some relaxation, to be honest, though ;)

Here's the tack up pics I got of the girls the other day <3

>>click for Instagram<<

Whew. It's been amazing getting back in schedule! The weather has been very nice, dry and warm enough to take off blankets through the day time, so it has been great for riding. The girls are putting on muscle very well and they seem happy to have a job.

-Terry-

Chubby Pumpkin has been doing amazing. She usually goes in a loose snaffle, but I still need to clean up my bridles and switch bits around, so she's been going around in her new leather halter. Can't even tell a difference! In the past, I've tried bitless with her and it didn't work out well, so I just stopped trying and focused on progressing the "important stuff". A few months before the horses went on break, I changed my training methods, and it's done wonders. Now that we've gotten back into the groove and I've made another attempt at bitless, I can really see how the new work I gave Terry a few months back made her very supple and responsive, and now she does bitless just as great as bitted. Funny how that works!

Anyway, here's what she has done this week. Saturday/Sunday/Monday, dressage school. Tuesday, very quick refresh on groundwork and lunging. Wednesday, western trail ride (walking) with my beginner brother. Thursday/Friday, rest days.

On Saturday, we only did walk-trot. She was an absolute beast. In the good way, that is. She was responsive, supple, and very hard working. Nothing negative to say about it. On Sunday and Monday, we did a little bit of cantering as well. Walk-trot was just the same as Saturday, just with a little bit of tensing and confusion with bend. Sunady, cantering wasn't an issue--she always gets anxious after her first canter but that's nothing I can really change in a snap. Monday, things went really trashy after her first canter, and she stopped being a listener. Actually cantering was amazing but everything else turned to shit lol. Tuesday lunging was brief walk-trot, as we mostly did groundwork to refresh on manners and such. Her trail walk on Wednesday was just a relaxing for-fun thing, but she decided to be a pretty western framed pony for some bits (without my brother asking--he doesn't know how to lol). Overall, she's been really great. We've always struggled a lot with the canter so I don't blame her for anything, especially since I've lost muscle to help her transition correctly.

Today my dad is having a friend over and his daughter is a young rider. She will very likely go play around with Terry a bit. If she wants, she can mess with Dixie too, but I'll have to evaluate her skill level before deciding what she can do with her.

-Dixie-

Dixie's work schedule has been a little funky. I'm hesitant to work with her because I don't know what's up with her breathing, but she really likes to come out and look around the yard and I still want to get her trained, so we're still messing around a bit. I remember what days we did what, but I know we did a day of lunging, a day of groundwork and walking around bareback, and a day or two of walk-trot work in english. I also rode her on the trail walk on Wednesday with my brother. I'm fuzzy on details of the at-home stuff, but I know she was very good and is getting better at stearing and transitions. We've started work with leg yields. What I know for sure was her trail work-- she was a very enthusiastic and happy little girl. I changed from Terry's fleece girth to a leather and gel one that I got from my trainer a while back, and I think Dixie liked it more. She was looser and stretchier. She speed walking most of the way, which is great for her (since she is usually super slow, and she wasn't being spooky or anything, it was -for once- enthusiasm!). The only times she trotted were when she tried to chase the birds!