O, Panda Mare
Thursday I took Panda over to the property for a ride. I was determined to put in a good ride on her and ride her through the little bit of silliness she gave me last week. I know last week was a lot about me and my anxieties feeding over into Panda and I still don't quite feel as 100% comfortable in the Dressage saddle as I do the Western and it may stay that way forever, but it could also be that my Dressage saddle is a little big on me and it doesn't have any big knee blocks like some that I have ridden in.
I had Bud in the roundpen as I had brought him over to work earlier, which he was mostly good for. He was being a knucklehead in the roundpen running around like an idiot, bucking, and calling to Panda. Panda completely ignored him, but was a little wide-eyed at me and with some of the traffic noise.
I mounted up and could feel her tightnes. My resolve was to keep a (relatively) loose rein and simply direct the energy I had. We had a good five minutes that were a bit ugly. She would jump forward at some random car noise (the intersection can get pretty busy and includes semi trucks and landscaping trailers with wonderful rattling noises as well as garbage trucks, dump trucks, and the occasional tractor). Of course when I started doing what I was supposed to she did better. I allowed her forward so we did a lot of trotting, but if she scooted faster I started picking up the rein for a stop and held until she stopped and gave. After the initial five minutes we started having periods of going on the buckle and her stretching over her topline and really relaxing. I knew we were doing really good when the neighbor's cattle dog rushed the fence while we were going along and she slowed down and looked rather than rushing off.
We ended with a couple nice canters around the outside track and called it a day. If I could do that every day for a week I'd have a different horse under me. It would be awesome. Part of me wonders if a lot of this isn't from her trip to New Mexico, which knowing what I do now I regret a bit, but you don't know some things are going to turn out until you do them.
I did contact Christa about Panda. She's still interested, but can't commit until the end of February. If Panda's still here by then I won't be sad to see her go back to Christa. I just really wish Christa had been more upfront about what she was going through and we could have worked something out for a month or two rather than buying her back, puttin her through training, trying to sell her, etc. and soforth.
If it's meant to be it'll happen.
That said I think I have more videos of me riding Panda than any other horse at this point. I need to video myself riding the rest of the herd... Chewy definitely needs to be on tape because she is a indescribably adorable mover. Man I wish I had a Chewy baby... it would have been eight this year.
I had Bud in the roundpen as I had brought him over to work earlier, which he was mostly good for. He was being a knucklehead in the roundpen running around like an idiot, bucking, and calling to Panda. Panda completely ignored him, but was a little wide-eyed at me and with some of the traffic noise.
I mounted up and could feel her tightnes. My resolve was to keep a (relatively) loose rein and simply direct the energy I had. We had a good five minutes that were a bit ugly. She would jump forward at some random car noise (the intersection can get pretty busy and includes semi trucks and landscaping trailers with wonderful rattling noises as well as garbage trucks, dump trucks, and the occasional tractor). Of course when I started doing what I was supposed to she did better. I allowed her forward so we did a lot of trotting, but if she scooted faster I started picking up the rein for a stop and held until she stopped and gave. After the initial five minutes we started having periods of going on the buckle and her stretching over her topline and really relaxing. I knew we were doing really good when the neighbor's cattle dog rushed the fence while we were going along and she slowed down and looked rather than rushing off.
We ended with a couple nice canters around the outside track and called it a day. If I could do that every day for a week I'd have a different horse under me. It would be awesome. Part of me wonders if a lot of this isn't from her trip to New Mexico, which knowing what I do now I regret a bit, but you don't know some things are going to turn out until you do them.
I did contact Christa about Panda. She's still interested, but can't commit until the end of February. If Panda's still here by then I won't be sad to see her go back to Christa. I just really wish Christa had been more upfront about what she was going through and we could have worked something out for a month or two rather than buying her back, puttin her through training, trying to sell her, etc. and soforth.
If it's meant to be it'll happen.
That said I think I have more videos of me riding Panda than any other horse at this point. I need to video myself riding the rest of the herd... Chewy definitely needs to be on tape because she is a indescribably adorable mover. Man I wish I had a Chewy baby... it would have been eight this year.