Hottttt day today!

There is nothing worse than working horses in 90 degree weather. Yuck!

So my dad dragged the ring this morning, so it was nice and smooth to ride on. It's actually pretty decent footing when it's taken care of properly! I even moved all the poles out of the way, so he did a good job.

I took Bella out into the 'galloping lane', as I call it, and let her do some serious extended trots back and forth. It was a little tough to get her focused, and took about 6 trips before she stopped ripping on my arms and actually used her back. Then we went into the newly dragged arena and did some collected work. Her collected trot is still a little stiff in the neck and takes some work to get the kinks out, but her canter has really improved. It's actually to the point where it takes nothing but the occasional half-halt to keep her there. It's all seat and leg. Pretty awesome:D

I just took Patrick for a solo walk around the farm and did some walk circles in the ring today. I figured he worked pretty hard yesterday and he deserved an easy day. I put him in Bella's loose ring snaffle, thinking it was no big deal just for walking around, but he didn't seem to like it at first. He really likes double jointed bits; I think it gives him something to play with. I'll have to pull out my lvl 2 Myler and my double jointed loose ring and see if he likes them any more than the full cheek. He's to the point where he doesn't really need something so stationary. Experiment time!

Lastly, I put Bailey in the chambon (which took forever to get a hole punched into!) and put her back on the lunge-line today. This time I ventured into the ring, instead of the round pen, and with the cavesson on, she was super. I really love lunging in the chambon, rather than side reins, especially early on. I love that it lets them stretch their head down as low as they want, instead of giving them a specific area to contain themselves in. She really stretched out and seemed to enjoy the work. After quick rinses, I tossed them all back outside with their fly masks (which hopefully Patrick will not rip off today) and called it quits.

Ah, air conditioning!