![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riding today
Jan. 7th, 2007 07:12 pmIt's been a lazy day but I expect to be up half the night programming, since that is when I seem to be most productive, and productivity is of the essence right now.
I rode with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
goddessfarmer earlier. It was actually a nice long ride, from the house up to the indoor arena, some time there, and then riding back. It was mostly walking so I shouldn't be sore.
All the females in the party (me, J, and Minnie) were having hormonally unpleasant days, which was mostly an issue during tacking up (and the considerable brushing that happened before tacking up, because the horses had been rolling in the mud.) Minnie wasn't keen on having her face brushed, and she seemed to choose to stand such that whatever part of her I needed to get to was hard to reach. Once I was on her, though, she was good. She does pay attention to *everything* except the cars on the road. Ears pricked at several times: flapping plastic, a yellow earthmover, a red feed bucket. Both horses shied at an offended duck quacking and flapping through the reeds as we disturbed it while walking across a berm with swamp on either side. The immediate three previous events of "offended ducks flapping into the air" only caused ear-pricking, probably because the ducks were farther away and the reeds weren't as dense, and the first two times, the ducks didn't quack. But that last one -- oops. Minnie also shied at some bicyclists on the road. J tells me that a lot of horses shy at bicyclists. And I had to stop her once from dropping into a particularly muddy and puddly patch for a roll.
At the indoor arena, I got to ride Trumpie for a while and J gave me some tips. He is much smoother than Minnie, and more responsive to slight cues, and, well, lazier. His walk feels like a shashaying woman -- lots of hip action. His trot is smooth; J had to remind me to post the first time! But... he is lazy!!!
It was fun to watch J and Trumpie jumping. Minnie would love to jump but she isn't sound enough. And I am not ready for jumping just yet. At lunch, J and I talked about some lesson alternatives. I am still going to get a trial lesson with Rebecca at Gaston Farms, even though J has some issues with her (things that may be in the past, from Rebecca being young and stupid -- as I have experienced with rat people.) But J had some other good ideas and is going to try to talk to someone she knows who would have the scoop on good stables in the Westford/Chelmsford area.
The weather was totally wrong... warm enough that I had to shed a layer before we ever got on the horses. There should be frozen ground and snow everywhere, but there is none. This is.... wrong! I worry about it.
I rode with
goddessfarmer earlier. It was actually a nice long ride, from the house up to the indoor arena, some time there, and then riding back. It was mostly walking so I shouldn't be sore.All the females in the party (me, J, and Minnie) were having hormonally unpleasant days, which was mostly an issue during tacking up (and the considerable brushing that happened before tacking up, because the horses had been rolling in the mud.) Minnie wasn't keen on having her face brushed, and she seemed to choose to stand such that whatever part of her I needed to get to was hard to reach. Once I was on her, though, she was good. She does pay attention to *everything* except the cars on the road. Ears pricked at several times: flapping plastic, a yellow earthmover, a red feed bucket. Both horses shied at an offended duck quacking and flapping through the reeds as we disturbed it while walking across a berm with swamp on either side. The immediate three previous events of "offended ducks flapping into the air" only caused ear-pricking, probably because the ducks were farther away and the reeds weren't as dense, and the first two times, the ducks didn't quack. But that last one -- oops. Minnie also shied at some bicyclists on the road. J tells me that a lot of horses shy at bicyclists. And I had to stop her once from dropping into a particularly muddy and puddly patch for a roll.
At the indoor arena, I got to ride Trumpie for a while and J gave me some tips. He is much smoother than Minnie, and more responsive to slight cues, and, well, lazier. His walk feels like a shashaying woman -- lots of hip action. His trot is smooth; J had to remind me to post the first time! But... he is lazy!!!
It was fun to watch J and Trumpie jumping. Minnie would love to jump but she isn't sound enough. And I am not ready for jumping just yet. At lunch, J and I talked about some lesson alternatives. I am still going to get a trial lesson with Rebecca at Gaston Farms, even though J has some issues with her (things that may be in the past, from Rebecca being young and stupid -- as I have experienced with rat people.) But J had some other good ideas and is going to try to talk to someone she knows who would have the scoop on good stables in the Westford/Chelmsford area.
The weather was totally wrong... warm enough that I had to shed a layer before we ever got on the horses. There should be frozen ground and snow everywhere, but there is none. This is.... wrong! I worry about it.
