Typical week

Laz and I did lots of little activities this week, just he and I (and sometimes Mason)

After our trail ride last Saturday, we had a spot where I asked Laz to cross an iced over puddle. It was wide, frozen on top and about 8" deep of mucky water. He didn't love doing it but he did it. Slowly. He let Pito go first, he pawed at it (breaking it up/testing it out) and then crossed slow and careful. When it came to re crossing it on our way back, both ponies said "NO" so we found a different path. I circled back and asked him to take just two steps toward it, he did and we retreated with lots of neck pats. That spurred me to continue our 'desensitizing' that we ALWAYS work on.

So, below was a hand walk for Laz, Mason and myself

We walked, trotted and cantered. Yes, WE. You try to run along side your horse at a canter, it's funny.

Here's a quick video of it:

I'm still such a fan of hand walking exercise.

1. I don't have to do a heavy groom session and sometimes in between my work day, it's all I can do to get him out and moving.

2. It allows me to study his foot fall, hoof balance and landing

 

3. We work on confidence and 'touch it' games

"Iz tuchen itz"

"Lez tuchen dis toooo"

Wasssa milk? Alll dis plasdicz for me to cheu"

I'm sure the neighbors appreciate a 1200 lb fur ball digging through their trash

4. We worked on our water/icy puddle crossing

"Uh whad dis?"

"I can no see so I can no walkz on"

"Okai onlee one toez"

"Or one futz ana time"

"I smardest horz in wurld"

March 25th was my Bday! 

Booyah to waking up to this per my Hubbie

 Red Velvet cupcake for breakfast. Yes please

Coffee in my kermit mug that I've had since I was (4?)..yup.

And holy Kate Middleton, I got these from Hubby (is he smart or what?)....literally too nice to wear to the barn, but I'm no poser and I don't wear Hunters to run errands, unless said errands are after barn time...so for now they are on display in my home office so I can drool daily at them before they get smeared with Laz DNA and put to the test.

Groom session; Laz is shedding about 80 lbs of fur a day

Here he is nuzzling Pito in a tender moment..

And the truth 3 seconds later lol

FuzzyLazzy

Kindergarten hair cut--yes I don't pull his mane, I CUT IT (gasp!! the horrors!)

 

and on a nice 50 degree day, our ride

I rode him bareback pad, with bitless bridle and he did awesome. Warmed up a bit spritely but we did LOTS of bending, lateral work and transitions from w/t/w and w/c/w and he was a super chill star.

 

We rode in the large pasture where the ground is flatter because I really wanted to work on being clear with my aides/seat and I'm better on the flat bareback vs hilly and bareback 

(am I alone with that? #thighsofbutter)

Pito pretending to be mad

Sniffy sniff and then he napped while we rode around him

We chased the busy squirrels with no issues, weaved in/out of trees forwards, backing up, laterally (our lateral work needs MA-jor practice)

This is part of my frustration with my bitless lately, a few minutes into our ride, it slips or is uneven by some reason. Me/riding too heavy one side, stoppers not working, etc

See the difference between left and ride, that pulley/ring should be equal on both sides. I had 100% refitted/readjusted hoping for better results but within minutes, this happened. 

Bless Laz for not dumping me or throwing a deserved fit

He was so tired after our 1 hour ride, and I think it was because I was asking for more mental riding. He also got his feet trimmed right after and was falling asleep during trim, lol

                              With our upcoming day long clinic, he's going to be ZONKED