Saturdays are busy days

24 minutes - 1.08 miles - Morgan
32 minutes - 0.11 miles - Rhulain

The kid and I went for a two mile walk and hiked around the sand dunes.  I taught him how to slide down the dunes on a piece of cardboard, but the sand was too soft and he got stuck half way down.  We found a dune that had a nice drop and we tried it on our butts ... worked great!

 Morgan and I headed out for a quick mile ride after I finished the hike.  I think she was cranky it was me doing the riding rather than the kid.  Or maybe she doesn't like the Aussie saddle.  Whatever it was, she wasn't happy to go out for a ride.  She was unfocused and coiled the whole time, so we cut it short and went home.

Rhulain and I did some ground work on flexing her neck then I saddled up and practiced standing still for mounting.  Her job was to do nothing, and she did it quite well after a few attempts.  She was nervous, but she sure tried hard, and I love a girl who tries!

Quick one Rhu

17 minutes - 0.63 miles - Rhulain

 I didn't ask her, I just grabbed Rhulain and saddled up.  Rhu didn't seem very pleased with my idea.  We walked a quarter of a mile, but the light was fading too fast for much else.  

I had to ask her to hold still three times so I could mount.  She was clearly anxious to get going.  I hopped in the saddle and we boogied home ... where we heard Bill dropping food in everyone's bins.  No wonder she was in such a hurry!

Bliss.

28 minutes - 0.91 miles - Rhulain

Poor Rhulain, this is what she has to contend with while I saddle her in the mornings.  There is always chaos going on behind her, yet she blithely ignores it in favor of breakfast.

Did a little something different today ... hopped in the saddle as soon as we shut the gate.  I hopped off twice and walked beside her for a few minutes before climbing back in the saddle.  Wanted to see how she would do with mounting in the "wilds" with items found in the area ... might be a large rock, a dirt mound, or a fallen log.  She did rather well!

Having fun Rhu?         Nom, nom, nom, yes!

After drifting through the open desert, we practiced trotting/stopping in the yard.  Needs a bit of work; looks like we need a cue that works for both of us.  Then I introduced her to the feed trailer ... she loved it!

Trying Some New Things

80 minutes - 76 degrees!

Solo Ride

1) New rhythm beads

2) New "old" saddle

3) Walked beside her for the first 20 minutes of our ride

4) New commitment to 2 days work, 1 day off

4) Need to work on standing still for mounting

5) New saddle needs more flexibility

I made Morgan a new set of rhythm beads ... they're a bit too long, but that's an easy fix

I pulled out my Bona Allen saddle that I bought last year.  The right fender got a small tear near the stirrup, so I put the saddle away while I decided what to do with it.  I took it to a saddle shop yesterday to see about repairing it, and he said it could be ridden as is. So I did.

I walked beside Morgan for the first 20 minutes for three reasons. 1) I need to get in shape if I really plan to do endurance riding. 2) It seems to help her leave the rest of the herd. 3) I read that she should walk 20 minutes, then trot for 5 minutes, add a 20 minute walk as a cool down to help her get back into shape.

Also, no more riding once a week.  Her topline is losing definition.  Need to work on building that back up. 

I noticed we stopped jingling somewhere in the dunes, so I had to turn Morgan around and try to find them.  Took us 10 minutes, but here there they were.  

So, I dismounted and tied them back on Morgan's neck.  Then I tried to remount and Morgan was moving off before I could get sat down.  Four times.  We need to work on this, badly.  

It's totally my fault.  I need to be more consistent when I mount. Sometimes I let her move off, and sometimes I don't. Sending mixed messages doesn't do either of us favors.

This is Morgan's pissy face after our 15 minute "discussion" about standing still while I tried to mount.  Neither one of us was happy with me at this point.  I'm disappointed in myself more than anything.

I think the new schedule will really help us both. I noticed how much our rides improved in the summer when we had consistency and at least 3 days of saddle time a week.  My fault, but it's something I can remedy.