Selena Ride 16: Pretty Pony Party

Thursday, 8/27/09

Strike One: Riding during the time when the horses are brought in for feeding.
Strike Two: Riding outside while the horses are calling and restless about being brought in.
The result: Home Run!

Had a great ride today. I rode in the outdoor arena on about half the arena. Worked on taking and giving contact. Whenever I felt my arms locking, I channeled my inner Walter Zettl and gave, gave, gave. We did about ten walk-trot-walk transitions in each direction, and her improvement from one ride to the next is fantastic. I can feel her reaching into a bit and relaxing her topline by the end of each ride.

After our ride, I gave her a much-needed bath, grazed her, braided her mane to the right to begin the mane-training process, and clipped her bridle path and muzzle. She was about five shades brighter after the bath- she looked so pretty :^)

Poor Wizard was bitten by some sort of bug and has angry welts all over his front legs, chest, and shoulders. I scrubbed him with Betadine and gave him a cool bath. The bumps got smaller but they still bothered him. I kept him inside at night in a clean, dry stall in hopes of providing some relief. Several other horses got bitten last week- he was the last one to the bug bite party. I did not walk him- I just let him graze for a while.