Monday, April 8, 2013

Spring is in the Air!

Finally - temps in the 70's!  Heck, I'll take 50's, but not going to complain.  Rode outside every day last week - heaven. 

 
Super Husband was able to play photographer for me last Friday afternoon!
 
 
We spent lots of time cantering last week.
 
Funny story to tell about last Thursday.  Went out to the jump arena to ride - as we had done every day last week (dressage arena footing was not groomed to Princess Diva standards) and as we came down the long side, headed towards the back of the arena, Riva wanted to spin and go back the other way.   
 
Turned her around and kicked her forward - this time she did a little rear and almost seemed to say 'Danger, Danger!'.   
 
So I jumped off and proceeded to hand walk her towards the back - the farther we went the more she snorted and jigged around.   
 
   Then I saw it...
               cue scary music...
                      someone had stood a jump gate up and leaned it against the fence (the nerve).   
 
 As we approached the out of place gate, Riva spun and jerked the reins out of my hands and started trotting towards the front.
 
All a could see was her new bridle snapping and thought to yell 'Stand'.  (the cue I use to get her to halt when lunging) 
 
Amazingly - she stopped...right then...even a square halt!  Took me a minute to believe she actually stopped :)  Walked up to her and sweetly told her we are walking by that gate - which she did but really didn't want to. 
 
Spring!
 
 


13 comments:

Hillary said...

Thanks sweet!

Hillary said...

Thats* glad she was so well behaved. Sorry for the typo in my first message. Darn auto correct

Karen said...

Hey! We are showing at Meadow Lake Equestrian Center. It is in Bryantsville, KY. I THINK it is about 30 min south of the horse park? So won't be far for you I don't think. It's a really quiet show atmosphere. There is no shortage of shows in the Lexington area - you will have to pick and choose! LOL! :)

Lauren said...

Oh wow, holy voice commands! Love the pictures, ya'll look great.

TeresaA said...

everyone knows that gates open into evil dimensions. When a horse gets too close they come piling out and eat him/her.
your horse was trying to save you.

you were lucky this time.

or that's what my horse told me. :)

Kelly said...

Karen - Thanks! When we were scouting out boarding/training facilities, I came across the web site for Meadow Lake. Looks like a great place to show. Getting excited to move :)

Aoife said...

Aw bless her cotton socks, scared of the horse-eating-gate, my older girl would agree with TeresaA's horse that they are dangerous entities - but my youngster would tell the silly ninnies to suck it up and keep walking à la Dory from finding Nemo "just keep swimming".

Gorgeous photos and great to see that the lunging does have a positive effect - must get back to lunging mine and see if we can have such a positive outcome for us! :)

Malin said...

Good Girl Riva!! Stopping like a pro even when scared. And who knows, that fence could have tipped, blown down, actually been a huge snake, one never knows!

Karley said...

Haha horse eating jump/gate!! Oh Riva!

Glad she stopped at your voice command!! :)

S. Lauren said...

Both of you look great in the pictures! Glad she stopped for you, I love it when they surprise us like that!

Bakersfield Dressage said...

Beautiful pictures!!!!!

Lisa said...

As always, stunning horse you have there!

Achieve1dream said...

Hahaha I've had that happen to me where Chrome got loose and I called whoa and he stopped.... took me a second to realize he actually stopped LOL! Awesome. She's such a good girl. Oh and you two look amazing!