Dawn Starts to Thaw, Red is Sound and Pie is Very, Very Good

It was another very good day with horses - have to love every one of those I get.

I worked with Dawn in the morning.  Things were beginning to improve - I think she's beginning to get over my daughter leaving - it's been about 10 days.  Her demeanor on the cross ties (by herself in the barn aisle with no horses in) was back to normal - she stood there while I groomed and didn't fidget and fuss.  And she even did some nose-resting - she didn't ask for it but when I asked her if she would do it she agreed.  We did that for a long time, and I told her that I missed my daughter too and understood how she felt.  That seemed to help.  Saddling was uneventful - no pinned ears or unhappiness.  We rode in the arena by ourselves, and she was completely willing, although not completely relaxed.  I was delighted with how well she was doing and didn't ride too long.  I turned her out and she walked off happily.  She seemed a bit sad in her stall this evening, but I think things are slowly thawing . . .

Red did very well in his ridden session today.  We did some more trot work after a long walk warm up - only trotting in straight lines although he was volunteering to go around the corners for the first time - and he was completely sound and moving beautifully, with his lovely, flowing, engaged trot.  We only added a minute or two of trotting to our regime, although he felt like he wanted to go on all day.  It's such a delight to ride him - his gaits are exceptional, and with his new work ethic and desire to please, there's a lot of good things in our future . . .

Pie and I also had a very nice ride.  We worked in the arena, using cones.  We did a lot of transitions, and shortening and lengthening at the trot, and serpentines in short trot and diagonals and long sides in big trot.  I did a fair amount of sitting trot, and it felt a lot better - Pie's trot can be hard and rough, but because he was carrying himself with softness, it felt very good and I was able to sit and let my back move.  At the end, I had him stand and walked all over the arena to pick up the cones - he stood beautifully - what a good Pie.  He had a sore spot on the point of his right shoulder - I noticed this during grooming and it may have been a glancing kick blow - so I rubbed in some arnica lotion (Sore No More gel) after our ride and he seemed to appreciate it.