Dun Da Da DUNNNNN SUPERRRR MO!!!!!

Today was a great day.
A] It was sunny
B] It was warm
C] I got to play with Mo!

Not all day like I would have wanted, but after work, which is better than not at all!! Any is always better than none at all :-)

Lately C and I have been riding together in an attempt to get the ever pudgy pony back into some form of rideable shape. Candy is just ridiculousy overweight right now, to the point that two laps of the ring at a trot put her into a full sweat!  This summer wasnt exactly a riding summer for C & C so their ponies are all out of shape, Candy especially because she is always really prone to ... chunkiness... on a regular basis.

Today when I got there I found out I only had a half hour with C before they were leaving so with a mild timeline, we went out to fetch our ponies - all of who were refusing to come over to the barn, even with much pleading and grain shaking. Oh well. C had to go change for boots, but I started hiking out to get Mo, so that hopefully I could jump on and then go round up ze pony.

Luckily as I started walking Mo did to - she really has a fairness complex! We met at the fallen tree and I jumped on [with help from the tree... not literal jumping] and off we went to round up Candy, who had made it all the way to the back fenceline! Mo and I trotted and cantered our way back there and poor Candy saw us coming! We kind of played cow with her all summer so when she saw us heading her direction she opted to head for C who was calling her name  and offering cookies as a reward.  Candy happily trotted over and was summarily caught.

On our mosey back to the barn C and I talked and she opted to go bareback today, since we had a time limit, and tacking up takes to long. I thought that was really cool ! I took Mo out to the ring while Candy got bridled and played a little at liberty. Wasnt really that long before Candy came out and we both mounted up.

We played with the weave pattern I had set up, walking through it, doing transitions, and doing little bits of trot and helping C stay balanced. It really wasnt long though until she had to go :-( So I lost my riding buddy to there perils of Pork Tenderloin Dinner a La Grammie and Grampie. Cant really compete with that I guess!

Just because she left though didnt mean I was done! I kind of lost my train of thought for a while, and just moseyed around at a walk, but it didnt take long before I was back at the weave pattern trotting it and trying to refine our communication and then finally cantering little parts of it and then cantering the whoel length of it only slowing down on the one end because it was slippery mud.

I had to jump off to lengthen one section a bit though, but that was ok, Mo liked that. The last section was a little smaller than the rest and instead of arguing with Mo when she missed it, I just made it match the others. Easy peasy right? Silly logic.

Once that was done Mo had no problem cantering the whole line. We still had to stop at the end, because now the last one was really in the slippery part, but it was cool. Mo wasnt doing flying changes or anything, but she was cantering really nicely, smoothly and calmly!

Finally we got to the point where we could canter the whole thing, including the one dry turn, and slow down only at the wet end. That was really good for Mo because every time we turn Mo like to slow down. After a couple of really valient tries by Mo, and one slip that turned semi flying change [ and there was much rejoicing] I jumped off again to re-arrange my pattern. I moved it across the ring to the scary side and set it up there instead. Now I had dry turns at both ends!!

 We practiced at the trot again, and Mo was really good, not really thinking about the [non-existent] scary things.  When she started doing the whole pattern with her nose on the ground all flowy and calm I asked her for the canter again. She picked up a lovely slow almost collected canter and wove through the barrels like a pro, went around the turn like a superstar and came back up the line. On the last turn around guess what Mo did?? I asked her to turn around the last barrel and POOF  FLYING CHANGE!!! *squeee!!* Now THAT was a cool feeling! I let her go on a few strides before stopping her and giving her a cookie and letting her think. AND BOY DID SHE THINK! For something like six minutes, she just licked and chewed and yawned and blew out! WHOA!

When she finally came back to earth, we trotted the pattern again and cantered some more, and this time I actually thought about what leads I was getting. It is weird, but I am getting to where I can hear which lead she is on - her feet are oh so ..tiny.. so its easy that way once I figured out what to listen for! I found out we were pretty much always on the left lead. Thats pretty normal for Mo-sy, so I thought about really trying for the right lead instead. I picked up a cirle around the last barrel going to the right and did canter trot transitions until she picked up the right lead then we stopped and she got a cookie. It took a few transitions for her to try the other lead, but she got it and cantered a whole circle without changing back - thats one of her favorites, pick it up and then slip back. Silly girl. We did that a couple times before she got it really feelng good and I jumped off to hug her. She did amazing!

Funny thing I have been wondering for the last week - I hurt my knee somehow [and am relegated to bareback riding as such] and I am finding that I compensate more with my left leg when I am doing things day to day, that I wonder if it will help me get my body aligned for a right lead. Usually it is the oposite, I am compensating for my left foot [born with a clubbed foot, fixed now but still compensate somewhat for no reason] so I naturally get set up for a left lead. I am hoping that this 'injury' of sorts will help me be more balanced. At least thats what I am telling myself to make the best out of a ridiculous knee ouch that I just wish was GONE! 

But anyways, Mo was a superstar and when we went out the gate she was a true lady and waited for me to ask her to go graze please. I got all my grooming things and went out to shiny up my awesome pony. She was perfect about that to. Everytime I asked to see her nose to bush her hair or face she came right up and waited for me to say she could graze again. I love that about Mo!

Mostly, I love everything about Mo :-) She is my superstar! She is filling out all nicely to, getting her topline back [lost on holiday the last month of my externship] and looking super black with her [uhg] winter fluff coming in!

I just hope I can get my L3 auditions filmed before it snows or drowns me in rain... *coughiknowyoureadthismomwhereisyourcrazycamerathingercough*
I did film some earlier this summer, but I feel like we have come so far since then that I want to re-try, just to see what happens :-)

OH! The second best thing that happend today was done by Indy :-) She was standing at the fence watching us play so I rode over and gave her a cookie and went on with Mo. About five minutes later when we were on the other end of the ring she nickered at me, it was so cute! She keeps standing at the fence when me and Mo play, but Mo is always the first to come up, so Indy has to be quicker! She gets jealous, but only to late! HA! Silly pony :-)

:-)
S