Fancy is a Go horse. She likes to go. She likes to speed up. Fancy is a wheels down freight train. These are true statements unless she wants to argue.
Day two of Question Box Pattern. I decided to ride with her bridle on today. I mounted and we practiced with the neck rope. We turned circles around the question box obstacles. I really don’t like the neck rope. It’s too short. I have to put the neck rope up on her neck which makes me lean forward. That isn’t good because my body position is ruined. Practice, Susan. Practice is wonderful. Of course I had to use the horsemanship stick and the reins for backup teaching.
It’s time for my beloved Question Box Pattern. What are patterns good for anyway? The answer is everything. Patterns fix both the go and the whoa horse. After tonight’s ride, I’m wondering if that is correct! ha
If Fancy isn’t arguing, she just might be in her speed up “GO” mode. Yes, that is what we did tonight. I tried riding one-handed with loose reins. We did circles at a trot. I tried to slow her down using one rein “jingle bell” action to slow her down. That didn’t work at all and I tried a variety of circles. She does have the idea to stop in the Question Box, but she starts arguing right before we get there. When I say the word trot, that is exactly what we were doing. It’s fast and bumpy which doesn’t help me be a precise and wonderful rider. My body is jolted, my arms are moving, the rein is bumping trying to get Fancy to slow down into a smooth fox trot. Scream
Finally, I decide to get a soft feel on the reins and control the speed. After a few attempts it worked. When we had a successful circle, we did get to stop mostly in the Question Box and once or twice at an obstacle. We also did get to go find the hidden treat bag. Fancy has not seen the bag yet. She knows basically where it is, but not exactly. heh heh heh
We started again with a full arena wall ride. Of course she tries to come into the middle. Her body is positioned wrong and not balanced. She tries to run over a few cones when trying to move her shoulder illegally into the middle. Geeze Louise, this is darn difficult.
We go back and try the Question Box Pattern again and get better with my use of soft feel on the reins for better control. We try to get a flat foot walk and that is darn difficult. Yes, we did get a flat foot walk and did it long enough to land in the Question Box. She )got a treat.
Next I decided on a Million Transitions on the Question Box Pattern. We tried flat foot walk to fox trot to canter to fox trot to flat foot walk and whoa. Good Lordy. Fancy is a speed demon trying to zig zag the Question Box Obstacles.
Fancy won today. I lost. Still, I love to go fast and fast we went today! I had a thrilling ride even though I lost. Note: I really did win with the joy of riding such an amazing horse.
I decide we had done enough and go to a corral panel where I can dismount without hitting the ground. Fancy knows what we are doing and takes me there. Darn! I want to dismount from the other side. I’ve never dismounted from my left side, always from the right side at the corral panel. We have a brief argument and I finally got my position. However, my body would not cooperate. My body refused to dismount from the left side. I told Fancy she had been right after all and we turned around to let me dismount from the left. Tonight, standing on the corral panel, I thought was a great idea it would be to massage Fancy’s rear. I became a chiropractor and massage her rear end. She liked it!
Due to horrid rain today, Fancy was confined to her stall. I had bought two bags of shavings. I had cleaned out her stall and emptied the new shavings before I rode. After I rode, I spread out the shavings better. I took off the saddle and piled it on the cement aisle. She went into her soft and comfy new stall. I stuffed hay in her hay bag. I carried her water and stood beside her as she drank it. I got her alfalfa cubes to eat before her supper time. I filled two small buckets for her supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow.
I had to wear my glasses on my hair as my steamy sweat watered up the lenses. My four layer upper body was soaking wet with sweat. My three layer lower body was damp. I had laid my hat down on the hay and it now is covered in hay. I picked up the Question Box Obstacles and put them away. I rode and took care of one horse today and I’m ready for a nap and then bed on New Year’s Eve.