Full of Piss and Vinegar

Yep, that describes how I found Rose today, after a week away. She was completely full of herself. Since it was such a great day and ride, I had sort of decided that our ride last week might be our last until the baby comes. So today I planned on simply going to the barn, dropping off her grain, grooming her and working on the people door some more.

All of that did happen, but all the while she was a wiggly in-heat mess. Apparently she is unaware that it is nearly December. Sheesh. She would not stand still in the cross ties, even after I just sat there for a half hour waiting for her to settle down, so I decided to free longing her in the arena to burn off some energy.

At first she madly galloped around the arena as I appreciated her seamless flying changes, collections, and extensions. Her canter, and even gallop, are looking so balanced and powerful these days. She is really using her hind end well and getting underneath herself. Once she burned off some steam I asked her to do some work and to my surprise she voluntarily started longing around me on a 20m circle without a longeline. She listened to all my vocal commands and even changed direction on cue. I have to say it was a very cool experience having her longe around me without a line. After all that, she was a tired mess and back to her usual self. So once all the sweat dried off her I returned her to her paddock and called it a day. I can see that she might be a bit of a handful over the next 5 months without regular work. I guess we'll see how it goes and figure it out along the way.

Happy trails and swooshing tails!