OMG I Rode!

I rarely ever get sick, but when I do, my body doesn't fuck around.

A week ago, I came down sick, and I came down HARD.

What I thought were allergies, turned out to be a cold, which turned into the flu, which turned into some horrible, mutant sinus infection.

'Tis the season, am I right?

Anyways. Obviously, barn time has not really been happening for me lately. I feel bad for neglecting Gigi, but when the simple act of breathing in the cold outside air sends one into a coughing fit, it's probably a good idea to stay away from cold, dusty, horsey air. Blah.

But yesterday that finally changed!  I felt slightly less like death, and it was a sunny, warm (almost 60 degrees, WTF?) day. I decided that it would be criminal to waste a day like this in December. Plus, it was my day to clean stalls. So I drove out to the barn and hoped for the best.

Spoiler alert: The Best :)

When I got there, the two neighbor girls were riding bikes on the road in front of the barn. They were immediately very interested in what I was doing with Gigi, and stuck around almost the entire time I groomed, tacked up, and rode her. Gigi was very polite, and happy to take cookies from them. I think she liked having a fan club ;)

Since it was still pretty wet, and any sort of heavy exertion sent me into a coughing fit, we stuck to walk/trot stuff. I started teaching her the basics of doing a western jog. She was kind of confused, but a good sport. Basically, my goal is to teach her to slow and collect her trot down to jog-appropriate speed, while carrying herself in a low frame and not falling on her forehand. Eventually, all on a loose rein. To start that process, we did lots of serpentines and various-sized circles, leg yields, and walk/trot and halt/trot transitions. My focus was on maintaining a quality gait (no half walking, forehand-falling peanut rollers in this pasture, I'm tellin' ya) while working towards a more Western-Pleasure style aesthetic.

And yes, all of this in dressage tack. LOL

I think she will be an adorable Western pony someday :P. Regardless, it's fun to do some cross training. It was a fun ride and I am hoping to go bareback today. She really makes me feel like a kid again :D