Tuesday and Wednesday

Well, some of the stuff I'd ordered arrived on Monday in the mail. It's always nice when the mail is too big to fit in the box, because then our mail deliverer brings it to our door - she seems very nice!

Anyway, it was a little square box from Running Bear that contained my s-hack, an adjustable girth loop, and two of their Smart bridle parts: the browband that has a snap and a place to run a crown/cheekpiece through, and what was supposed to be the crown/cheekpiece - all in DAY GLO BLUE! It's pretty :-) Well - the right part didn't come - so I still have to wait to try the s-hack out because instead of the part that would actually hang the hackamore, it was just a crown piece. I expect it to come any day now. I'd had a gift certificate from there, so I wanted to get my stuff there - I had an awful time trying to order through the site, apparantly they'd just done some revamping and hadn't quite worked out all the bugs. I think I encountered every problem there was - it should be good to go for everyone else, now!

I've ridden twice now (sunday and tuesday) in the riding halter I bought from Little Joe - and it's working beautifully. I almost wish I hadn't bought the s-hack. But, I think it will be good to have another option, in case I end up having issues with rub marks, maybe I can alternate days riding in the halter and s-hack. It'll be interesting to see which she goes better in when in a high energy situation. For Arabee, a bit isn't it. (or maybe it's just my hands...who knows, either way she just gets more tense with rein pressure holding her back in a bit)

Anyway, the point is I rode Arabee on Tuesday. I put the girth loop on her girth and adjusted the breastcollar to fit with it on. I wish I'd have just bought a girth with a D-ring, but this is certainly better than having to put the breastcollar loop around the girth. I'm glad to be riding in the breastcollar again, because I don't have to girth up near as tight, and I have much greater stability side to side in the saddle - Arabee just doesn't have the withers to hold the saddle in place.

I started the stop watch function on my watch when I mounted up to make for sure I got a minimum of 20 minutes in. We walked between the barn and corn crib on a loose rein, then I put the reins in one hand and flapped the rump rug with the other. I had to do this a lot longer than I expected - she was jumpy. Did this both ways/sides. Then we ventured out towards the road, then back past the tool shed almost to the house. Then we did a little trotting, more walking, and eventually I took her out to the road, then back, then we went back out onto the road at a trot, and went about 50 feet, then turned around and walked back. All in all we rode for about 23 minutes. Pretty good ride, she was doing a little bit of stupid shying at things like clods of mud in the gravel driveway, but she soon got over doing that with a quick boot reminder.

Then on Wednesday, I haltered her, picked her feet, and we walked/jogged up the road almost to the red barn. We went to the telephone pole past the hill. (I realize NO ONE knows where that is or how far but me, but it'll help me remember what we did when I look back) I pushed pretty hard and was pretty out of breath. I've discovered these protein/energy bars that when you eat one before and after exercise, they amazingly prevent lactic acid from building up and help your body draw energy straight from fat, so your muscles really aren't sore! Now, my joints sure were/are stiff but I attribute that to my body still getting back to normal from pregnancy (it's amazing, God designed the pregnant body's ligaments to loosen up in preparation for delivering the baby...and gradually after the birth things tighten back up)

We're supposed to get a pretty significant snow system come through tomorrow, but I hope to make it over to the arena at least once this weekend.

I've been having so much fun getting back into shape, and it's fun to have a workout partner (even if she is hairy, muddy, and smells like a horse!)