Waterlogged

It rained a lot on Friday. A lot. Not much compared to Houston, but quite a bit for Vegas.

By the time I got home at 5 more clouds were threatening to drop rain, so my plans of a good 20 minute walk, practicing my dressage seat at a nice slow pace and letting her muscles stretch and walking my dressage pattern was accelerated.

I brushed her quickly, threw her half pad on her, and hopped on as fast as I could. About 10 seconds after I got on, it started drizzling again. I only managed to walk the pattern once. There was a lot of lightning off in the distance, the thunder was getting worse and it felt like it was raining a little harder by then.

Sweet girl was like “ew, mom, why are we in this stuff?” but she never once startled or paid any attention to the thunder or lightning other than flicking an ear at it. Shortly after I got off, the wind and rain started in earnest, and we had to shut the girls in for a while. Amber was her usual you-must-scratch-me self and adored her butt scratches.

It kept raining for a good three hours – not too common in Vegas, but we really do need the water. So, after one last check, it was time to call it a night.

Saturday morning was nice and cool. It was such a nice relief from the boiling weather we’ve still been having into September. It couldn’t have been more than 80 or 85 when I stepped out at 9 in the morning. It was humid due to the clouds, but even the humidity was such a welcome change, and the light breeze definitely made it bearable. I’m ready for summer to be over, but I also don’t want winter yet. I am not a cold weather person.

I wanted to do some jumping on Saturday or Sunday before I’d start dressage and western in earnest for the show, but considering her recent smacking of her left front, we just dressaged. I had watched another master dressage video, and low and behold it was just what I needed to give me a kick in the pants (because lord knows I don’t do it right).

I did get some nice work from her, but I was focusing more on my seat and translating that to her, and it worked out much better for us both. Even still, it was mostly a chill day since her last few outings haven’t been the most pleasant. I think she may need her teeth done soon, and she was still a bit sore on that right hind, but otherwise it was a good day. Not our best work, but I was still happy with her. And I did threaten to show you guys video of our dressage, right? So, enjoy the torture.

She still tends to nose out above the vertical instead of on it, but for me, it still remains a non-issue and something I’m working very slowly towards. I know how hard it is to change a horse’s habit of going way back of the vertical with nose to chest, so the fact that she’s way more prone to be above than on it is in my opinion much easier to work with. Plus I want her to utilize her body and her butt first. Her head can come later.

Our canter work is still looking promising, although I’m certainly glad I won’t be showing cantering yet. She has really nice natural balance, but since her hip and this is a new discipline, it just takes time for her to settle in.

Torture #1:

Torture #2:

Torture #3 (if you’re even still watching at this point):

While these snippets are our good stuff, we still have many, many moments of this:

And this:

And this, too:

It was a short ride – 20 to 30 minutes of light work mostly just working on letting her mind settle back in to work. And, since Whisper is on stall rest at the moment, my mom hopped on! She hasn’t done English in a while, and Amber is fun and lazy so why not?

She was absolutely superb with my mom. She started with this itty-bitty jog and just kept a nice, slow pace for my mom. Sweet girl. Part of it is, though, that she knows it’s not me, so she figures she can slack off a bit, but also, she’s just so great at taking care of you when you need it.

I know my mom was happy to be in the saddle again, and Amber was great with carrying her around. It was supposed to be a “fun” little ride anyway, and that’s what it was. I know it’s frustrating when your horse isn’t rideable, and it’s not like Amber will take off and bolt like one of my mom’s old horses did, so it was easy for me to offer my mom a horse with solid brakes. (Literally, anything sounding remotely like “whoa” and she stops)

All in all, it was a nice Saturday.

It was easy for me to see that she’s still sore on that right hind – if I won’t get it much better after me trying to work it out and the chiro/massage/laser therapy, then I’m probably going to have the vet stop by and inject her SI. With her being in progressive work, and her never being injected for anything until her knee a few months ago, I think it’s safe to say that it will help a lot.

Sunday I didn’t get to ride. I had planned on it earlier, but realized I’d forgotten a few last touches on a birthday present for a friend of mine’s daughter. It was a little mermaid (though not The Little Mermaid) wooden box that I painted and varnished as a little jewelry box for her daughter to throw all her fun jewelry in. So after I fixed that, we had miscommunication on exactly where the party was.

I ended up leaving around 5 so by the time I got home, chores and other adult responsibilities were due so no hack on Sunday. But, I plan to take her on her usual hack today, try to sort out her sore hip and see where that takes us. Hope you guys had a good weekend, too!