How the day went

Looking at my list of goals for today, I think I did pretty well.

After morning chores I groomed Gem and Jul: combed out the tangles, curried and brushed, and fly sprayed. I'm hoping to wash Jul tomorrow, as she's pretty grubby. I may have Ken do her feet while we're at it.

Then I washed up and had my own breakfast and checked my email, comics, and forums. Ken came in just as I finished up and asked if I want to walk out with him to check on the hops (we've planted a test crop, and after some general hesitation it seems to be growing pretty well).

When we got back I started on the lawn. I ran out of gas about halfway through, and of course it was at the farthest point of the property (I was mowing the path to the hopyard). I walked back to get the gas can, and decided to have lunch before I hiked back. I finished up, then started the fine edging, pulling weeds by hand and cutting grass around the shrubs and stuff with shears (the weedwacker would damage the plants).

I felt like baking, so I made a rhubarb crisp. Then I went out to work with Sketch.

I didn't do as much warm up with him as I probably should have, just walk-trot both ways around the pen. I did try to coax him into a canter, but while he took a few steps one way, he just extended the trot the other. I used a bareback pad instead of the saddle, just to see what he would do. He didn't seem as stiff in the trot, but he still offered a buck at the canter in one direction.

After some false starts, aggravation, and hunting for a better mounting aid, I finally got on. I am really out of shape, and it's times like this that really underscore that fast. The biggest reason I like riding Western and shy away from bareback is the ease of mounting. The second biggest reason: security! I had the pad, which kept me pretty much in place (it's the good felt and suede type). We walked for a bit, to the left first. He wanted to trot after a few laps, but I did a one rein spiral to slow him back to a walk, and then spiraled out again. Pretty good.

Not so good the other way. All he wanted to do was trot, fast or slow he didn't care. He has a nice trot, but I wasn't ready for that yet. I tried the spiral slowdown again, and discovered he doesn't bend as well to the right as he does to the left (good to know). He just kept trotting, even in a tight circle. At one point he tried to speed up, turned, I lost my balance a little and overcompensated: fell forward, grabbed mane, gripped with my knees and legs. He's sensitive, so he took this as a cue to collect and canter. Just a few steps, but enough to startle me a lot. *S*

To see if maybe it was just to roundpen that was making him antsy, we did some walking in the yard and around the driveway. He has a very smooth ground eating walk and pays attention to everything, but he wasn't that spooky. We went back to the pen and I dismounted there, then went to the barn where he got a treat and groomed again. We did some hand grazing and then I turned him back out with Never.

Things I learned today:

*Sketch bends better to the left than the right
*I need a bigger round pen, and an outdoor arena wouldn't be half bad
*While he may be pudgy and out of shape, he still has a lot of energy and extra laps won't hurt him
*He's really good on the ground, almost puppy-like, but while mounted he's got a lot more spunk
*He seems to collect really well
*I need a dressage saddle, or at least a saddle that fits us both
*I need lessons, with or without Sketch
*I need to start working out again

I think tomorrow I'm going to try cleaning his sheath to see if that helps, and I have one more saddle I can try on him. If that doesn't fit, well, I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably try and improve my seat bareback, I guess *shudder*

Okay time for chores.