It was downright balmy today, we got to 50F briefly! We were lucky to get to the mid-thirties all last week.
I rode Mura, Lilja, and Star (Paso)! Everyone did well. Lilja is getting pretty good at side-pass from in saddle, but we mostly practiced her walk/trot. We had never cantered in the arena and it took a little work but the first time we got a few canter strides I clicked her, boy can she stop on a dime! After that first click, she picked up canter much faster the second time. We got about 5-6 strides and I clicked and quit while I was ahead! Mura did some Parelli ground work and then we did some trotting and then tolt. I tried ponying Mura from Lilja. It was a bit of a mess at first because Lilja is the pasture boss and Mura was afraid to get too close, then they decided to compete at speed! I finally got them to coordinate somewhat. Star is learning to walk! She belonged to teenagers for the last five years and I don't think they ever went slower than a fast Corto! She's always surprised when I ask her to slow down and click her when she does! She also is much stiffer toward the right so we're doing some flexing. After riding everyone, I trimmed Lilja's hooves and while I was doing that Roka had her first tying lesson! I ran her lead through a Blocker tie ring and clicked her when she was standing quietly. We've been working on giving to pressure and is pretty good at backing and moving over when asked. She backed up once while tied but as soon as she felt the pressure, she moved forward again. She tried going to either side and when that didn't work, she tried pawing and then realized she was only getting clicked when she wasn't fidgeting, so she stood still. All in all a productive and fun day! Cherie
