Finally!

Well I am home again, begrudingly. I went yesterday to visit Mo and Indy to re-aqquaint myself with my fluffy friends. Indy was prety much indifferent to me showing up, she perked her ears and said hello but then moseyed on her way. Mo, on the other hand delighted me entirely. She was in the far corner of what used to be Candy's paddock and didnt notice me until I called her name. What followed was utterly adorable and totally made me squee. Her head shot up, she looked around to see where I was and then GALLOPED her lazy bum allll the way over to me. *squee* You know when your heart does that extra little thump-thump when something really touches you? Thats what happened to me. I just couldnt believe her reaction. I loves my Mo!

I dawdled around with her outside a little, playing some tag and what not before taking the round about route into the barn so I could open the door and let Mo in. Indy, the ever present oppurtunist, weasled her way in as well. Mo and I hung out a bit, played with trying to kneel [its still a bow] and then she went back out. Indy just got some cookies and then went out.

Today was actually a great day. I thought it was raining when I woke up and heard the water dripping from the ... words escape me.. the piping that runs the length of the house and then drains down one tube *right* by my window? Anyways, usually that means it raining, and it was supposed to be, according to the radio weather man. The only plus of the whole forecast was that they were calling for above zero temperatures! I woke up planning my day centred around indoor activites - watching Parelli dvds! Finally got my Savvy Club dvd after all! When I finally dragged myself out of bed and went up to check the actual weather, I was pleasantly surprised! All that dripping I had heard was not the called-for rain at all... it was SNOWMELT! WHOO!!

It wasnt exactly sunshiny, but it was warmish, and not raining. Bonus. I had some things to do this morning - like go to the dollar store, trying to find a ketchup squeeze bottle to make  putting molasses on the bit super simple... alas, no luck on that front, but I did find a snazzy massager to practice clipping with! When I finally got over to the barn, I realized I had forgotten said massager, but all was well, because what  I hadnt forgotten was my Fluidity Saddle!!! Thats right! After goodness knows how long, I finally got to try out my loverly saddle!

Mo was out with the herd in the middle of the pasture along the treeline, but once more, to my infinate delight, she cantered and trotted her way over to me when I called. LOVE IT! Mo is a rock star and a half!  In the barn I brushed her all up, detangled a weeks worth of tangles in her many many hairs... I swear they get thicker when I am not looking... !

After she got all gorgeous we went out to play on the 45' line because it doesnt get so heavy when snow laden. I didnt use the whole thing, but we played with circles and me being NEUTRAL. I have gotten in the habit lately of playing with tranistions on the circle, and not really giving an allow... This last week really reitterated the importance of neutral and an effective allow, so I wanted to play with that a little bit. At first Mo was everywhere, but on the circle. She was going sideways, stopping, turning, going, pulling, trying everything basically, except going forwards on the circle. I just had to laugh because the look on her face was "What about this? No.. how about this??" She is such a goofball.

When she finally got it, I found out my maintain gait is pretty good! Especially for climbing through snow and avoiding frozen-to-the-ground barrels. She was even asking some questions about the barrels, putting feet on them and such. We played with some moving circles and change of direction [can we say rusty?] until everyting was flowy and nice. Driving from zone 3, we headed back to the barn. After an interesting gate adeventure, we made it and I started playing with shimming.

My first thought when I put the saddle on Mo was actually "uh oh, might need a super-wide!" but once I got things shimmed, I think it was good. More playing required either way. Mo always ends up more beefy than I imagine... I started with a three shim wedge, made from two thicks and one thin, but when we went to play with that things were slipping forwards and sideways, so obviously the stability was being compromised, so I put it down to one thick shim, and then hopped on to try it out. Throughout the ride I pretty much decided to add one more shoulder shim, but it wasnt disastrous, just not perfect.

Being that its winter, and this is Canadia, I didnt really have to many rideable areas as options. The ring would have been ok, but the deep snow would have made it harder for Mo to move and she would have wanted to stay on the few paths the horses have created. That left the laneway and the road. Off we went, with Teddy [dog] as our leader!

Teddy trotted happily off down the laneway and me and Mo came after at a more sedate walk. Mo was looking around, happy and stretching. She is usually pretty stretchy, so I am not sure if I put that down to the saddle exclusively yet or not. We picked up the trot and played with some transitions a bit, Mo was pretty go-ey for her! She didnt really want to slow down, which is good because sometimes she is hard to motivate, but I'd also like her to pay attention to me! We did a whole bunch of isolations, fore quarters and hind quarters and a little sideways to. She is getting really good at those, almost at spin in slow motion... almost! She is getting much better at staying straight to, and not just spinning like a top.

As we progressed down the laneway something really fun happened. We were trotting, and then I asked Mo to walk.. but she didnt. In an "ok, lets see what she offers" kind of moment, to not make her feel wrong, I just kept my energy low and waited... what I got was the most lovely, slow, wonderful jog/trot ever. With a little more suspension it could have been passage! How cool is that? I've never been offered that before! It was wonderful! I also tried some canter transitions, but Mo wasnt super confident with the footing [snowy/icy a bit] so I didnt push her.

Once we made it to the road we played with a lot of transitions, sideways at a trot and I *think* we even got a little shoulder in! To make things more interesting for me [extrovert] and Mo, I used the lines on the road as transition points, or as a weave to go through - which I decided we should have to go through sideways, at a trot. Mo was a complete rockstar, she was right on! I have never had her so light and willing to go from side to side! By the end she was a little hover craft.... MY little hover craft! It was so neat! It got to where I was accidentally shifting my weight and she would go "sideways? yes?" and step over a step or two before I could apologize and get back to centre. I will really have to work on ME now!

As I was playing some people on skidoos were coming so I did the savvy thing and jumped off. I had no idea what Mo's reaction would be, since I am sure the last time she saw a skidoo up close was at least two years ago! All for nought though, she calmly watched them pass [slowly, thankfully, they were polite skidoo-ers] and licked and chewed after they were gone. She didnt even move one foot! Isnt she great? I hopped back on and we proceded home, I didnt really want to over-do it on her first ride out since... a really long time ago? I cant even remember the last time I really rode.. ack!

Either way, it was a super awesome ride, Mo was and is a super mega rock star. LOVE my saddle. It was warm. I saw sun for ten minutes. Good times!

:-)
S