Spent the earlier three quarters of the day driving to Floresville for hay. Family of R's knew of a fellow with fertilized irrigated coastal squares, relatively inexpensive. Hooked up the trailer, out the door by 7:30am. Minimal traffic up & back, and beautiful happy green bales. Loaded 30 squares up in the trailer, two guys helping R load. This was one of those hay buying days it was best I stayed clear during loading. Three guys, all in an organized manner, tossing hay, loading up in trailer... I stood by & watched. Hay-Man Mister Tom took R and I on a little gator-trip to look at grass that will be cut this week. Amazing. No weeds, all pretty much evenly grown up, and lush! Very impressive! He had plenty of hay in the barn, so I believe we'll be back.
When we got home, unfortunately, there weren't three guys to UNload & stack the hay, Just the two of us. =) After unloading & stacking with a broken shoulder last year, this wasn't much to do. R and I got into a "one then the other" little organized system, and, in short order, the barn was full. There's about 36 full bales in the barn now, and it's nearly full. It smells great, and it's about one of the best horse-owning feelings - walking into a barn full of grain & hay. It's a rich feeling.. one I appreciate given our current drought conditions in the pasture.
I looked out in the pasture later in the evening, and saw Ransom almost pouting around the barn, looking towards the house. Yeah, I was tired. Late lunch wasn't agreeing with me 100%, but I changed clothes anyways. Wandered out to the trailer, dressage saddle in-hand. Found Ransom at the gate, staring at me. Whatta pony!
We rode dressage, and concentrated on our transitions, and asking for canter more than once, and in different places. I need to keep asking in different spots, because my habits are starting to become anticipation. Primary concentration on our second spurt of canter - collection. I now have a rhythm to my elbow-bending tugs at the bit that brought Ransom's head down, and definitely changed his canter. Instead of up & out, it feels straight & energetic. Something neat to work on, for sure. His head came down, and poll bent in, and with minimal nudging, he held it nicely for 5-6 strides at a time. Muscle development, I'm sure!
Most of our work was quite good. I had my mp3 player going in my head, and we both enjoyed the first leisurely half of our work on Norah Jones. When I decided that was enough sleepie time music, I ramped it up with Third Day's Revelation album. That got the forward juices flowing!
We played together for about 45 minutes. I say "we played" because I concentrated on our practice, but also focused on having fun. I was singing out loud, laughing at his ears flapping with our gaits, concentrated on my hips opening up at canter, arms bending with his front end, and plenty of laughter... All fun!
2 comments:
sounds like you had a great day!!
Yes. Yes I did. I was tired, and beyond unmotivated to ride. Ransom was darn sweet looking through the gates, wanting to play.
One of my favorite things about my boy.. Loves to play!
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