Ride No. 2

We had house guests this week, which yesterday gave me the opportunity to go to the barn and ride Rose again. This time we rode for about 35 minutes and did a bit of cantering. Rose was good and forward and worked really hard for me, but I can tell she is massively out of shape. She kept falling in and had a couple massive trips at the canter. Speaking of which, I'm not sure if its me, Rose or a combination of the two, but when I asked her for the first canter transition I was shocked. She gave me this huge transition (or that's how it felt anyway) and her canter felt like it had a ton of movement in it. It was very forward, very uphill, like a rocking horse on steroids. This is not a bad thing, but I wasn't ready for it. On the other hand, it could be her regular canter but my jello-y joints are all out of whack so it feels different to me. Not sure. But at least it was forward and willing, regardless of her balance issues.

Chunky Monkey

Upon closer inspection I've also noticed that Rose has indeed gained quite a bit of weight. I should tape her to find out just how much. Regardless, she has started developing little fat pockets here and there and I swear her bum is starting to get fat. Good thing that we are getting back into work. For now I've cut down her timothy pellets that I add to her grain. She simply doesn't need them to maintain her weight at the moment. Until she's more svelte I'll just have to keep rocking my girth extender. Thank goodness for girth extenders. Right about now I need a 56" girth!

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
•DS•