No rain means fun outdoors!

Lola and I hit the pasture this evening after work. It didn't storm and bucket rain like predicted last night, so it was nice and dry. We started out by going for a jog. Yep, a jog. Like if she were a dog. Not really, it was a little more than that.

The thing is I haven't been taking lunch breaks at work because we are just so busy. Now I'm not starving believe me! I usually eat lunch at my desk while working then leave the office for an hour to go jogging or work out in the gym. But no time lately... so I've gotten creative. So now I take one of the horses for a jog as a warm up. Its a good warm up for me too!

So once we go back to the front of the pasture where I left my boots and helmet we started working on some trot poles and canter on the lunge line. We also spent some time last Sunday dragging logs out as small cross country jumps. So she got introduced to those also.

When I finally got on it was getting cool and the sun was setting, so we didn't have a lot of time. We picked a good spot to keep on a big circle and trotted and cantered. She prefers her left lead, and in an open space like that where she feels she can go any direction she automatically picks up her left lead. So we cantered to the left first and she felt really good. Then after trying to pick up the right lead by holding her together like I would a broke horse (and just getting the left lead) I got smart. We trotted away from the barn at an angle that when I just started to turn to the right to head back towards the barn I asked for the canter and since she was focused on going that direction she picked it up perfectly! Cheating? Nah. She's young, she's just getting the idea of cantering under saddle. Once she's got that and she's more comfortable and stronger on her right lead we can pick up the lead by asking for it. For now, I'm keeping it simple and easy.

It was dark by the time we were done, and we both got quite a work out. Tomorrow she gets her feet trimmed, so any work I do will be limited to what can be squeezed in before the shoer gets there. A quick lunge will probably be all, so she'll get to have a more chill day tomorrow.