Two on a Longe and a Song

Nice Saturday

Lovely weather, but I spent the entire morning and then some with non-horse activities...sort of.

I went to the chiropractor in the morning for an adjustment, then to the pet food store for some cat food. Made it home in time to go over my duet music a few times before heading to my partner's house for a rehearsal.

She was not quite as up to speed on the music, so I was pretty comfortable as we practiced. The two vocal parts need to be heard together, and without the accompaniment, even they sound a bit strange and incomplete. Pergolesi apparently was one of those composers who created an important line for each instrument/vocalist which were all dependent upon each other. As a whole, the piece makes sense, but in individual parts it is rather difficult to manage. We will be fine by the next rehearsal and able to work on interpretation, and some of the finer points of putting a duet together.

After rehearsal, we went out to lunch. Then, I needed to go to the feed store to get some alfalfa cubes. I finally made it home just a little before I was time to give the Boys dinner.

So, I fed and gave them about an hour for digestion before heading out to do something.

Lungeing was the order of the day, mostly because I don't like to ride after the chiropractor has worked on me. (I also did not yet unload the cubes.) I set up a little one foot jump on my lungeing circle and caught Chance first. Well, catching Chance is not really a "catch" but more of a self-defense haltering in order to not be loved to death.

He was lovely on the lines. His trot was nice and forward, and very soft. But better yet, his canter on both leads was relaxed and soft as well. I don't think I've ever seen him go that well. He has really found his balance and confidence. I set him at the little jump and again, he stayed soft and relaxed, with a very positive attitude. He mistimed his stride a few times, but still took himself over cleanly and with fairly good form. I don't know if he has an aptitude for jumping, but he certainly has a lovely attitude.

I got Tucker next. He figured I had treats in my pocket so he was quite content to be haltered. He too was good on the line. He could have trotted a bit more forward, but he was nicely relaxed and obedient. The only silly thing he did was put his nose to the ground and aim for the lunge line with his front feet. A little "snap" on the line corrected that easily. Then, I set him at the jump. His first two efforts were quiet and well balanced, but he found the whole experience far too much fun to keep himself steady.

Let me put it this way. From the looks of him, he would be a super speed jumper. Of course, this was only a one foot little jump but he can cover some ground and doesn't mind taking off from a long stride if need be. He was galloping on a bit too foolishly for my taste, so I insisted he steady up first to a trot, and then finally a more controlled canter to finish up. Since I am not really training him to be a jumper, I don't mind when he cuts up and plays a little. In a way, it's good because afterwards, his trot work on the circle is really engaged and forward.

Hope that doesn't mean I will have to jump a fence or two before every dressage test to get him going. *lol* I do know in the old tests, years ago, dressage horses were expected to jump something as a test of their training. Could be, for Tucker that would be the way to start a test instead. Prix Caprilli???

Toby wasn't interested in doing anything so I just let him be. Instead I spent about a half hour sewing up a tear in one of his sheets. What should have been a ten minute job was baffled by trouble with the bobbin in my sewing machine, and finally a broken thread in the needle which drove me to stitch up the last two inches by hand.

So that's how I spent my Saturday.