Wizard Sessions 309 & 310: Ball of Confusion

Sunday, 11/13/11

The arena was freshly-watered and groomed, and the footing was really nice. My friend Kris rode and longed her mare Sunny while I longed Wizard. We followed our typical routine: walk with no side reins as a warmup, then trot with no side reins, then trot with side reins, then canter with no side reins. During our side rein work, I asked for a spiral in each direction. Wizard was perfect. In our last longeing session outdoors, he was cross-cantering, on the right lead in front and the left lead in the back. I see him do that at play sometimes, as well as in deeper footing. In the nice indoor footing, he picked up both leads perfectly.

Monday, 11/14/11

Another nighttime longeing session. I did a little pre-workout stretch work with him, including belly lifts (video here) and butt scrunches (video here). He longed really nicely again. He did a little cross-cantering again, but I was able to get him on the correct lead. It happens mostly on the right hand side.

I noted the sweat pattern on his saddle pad with the new saddle. It is straight down the panel on the right side, but a little patchy on the left. I think it is a combination of his crookedness and uneven muscling. He does seem less snarly about the saddle, so maybe he’s getting used to it and his back is loosening up. I asked for some more stretches after our longeing session, and he did them nicely.

When we were done longeing, Kris brought Sunny into the indoor arena to play with the big toy ball (pictured above). Sunny handled it well, despite her obvious lack of amusement at the large and strange toy. It reminded me of my wintertime soccer games with Alibar- video here: http://youtu.be/M6jV18C5OwU I need to find that clicker…