Frisky

After being sick with a nasty cold/flu all week, I finally made it to the barn last night. Donnie, Turi and I made the trek out in a snow storm to visit with Gram. I walked to her stall, and in typical mare form she was offended that I had not been there sooner. She gave me a bit of "the cold shoulder" and showed me how she was able to break her halter! I tried my best to make it up to her, but I think I was falling short of her expectations! Since I am still having trouble breathing, I thought that riding might not be the best option, so I opted for lunging. I put the side reins on the first hole, so I wasn't even expecting much from her. Now, keep in mind, I haven't lunged Gram since last winter, we have however, worked with a long whip (see Spanish Gram post). When she see's the big whip, she now thinks it is time to work on half steps. Not what my intention was last night. She was already excited for too many days off, it was snowing and the temperature had dropped. She took off on the lunge trotting, not a pretty either. It took a lot of calming noises from me, and waiting for her to settle. She was stiff, so the trot was choppy and quite painful to watch! Finally, we were able to come closer to the same level. I thought it was time to push my luck and ask for a nice canter, but prepared myself, as well as the other person in the arena, for the worst. To my surprise, she gave a buck, a kick, a buck, took off for a couple strides, but then came right back down to my level. She just needed to get the kinks out! A year ago, she would have dragged me across the arena! So I was impressed with her restraint. We did the other side, and then called it a night. I just spend the rest of the night pondering my big girl's improvement. She will be shocked that she has two more days off since we are going to Michigan... Poor big mare, I will have to bring extra treats for her next week to make up for my neglect! :)