Dressage Lesson #6

I love how when I go out to the pasture to get one of the horses, I can stop walking up to Axel and he'll meet me half way. I'm guessing he's looking for some treats but it's still fun. Brought him up to the paddock and just left him wander there while I got my stuff together. I took his flymask off and was confronted by a goofy hairdo. His forelock had been parted in the middle and each side curled up to the outside. He looked pretty silly. Chatted with Tom for a bit and Tricia arrived while we were talking. Got Axel ready and we went down to the sand hill again. Did some trotting in circles at the bottom of the hill to warm up but the ground is really lumpy so he was tripping a lot. Did some cantering up the hill and walking down the hill. We have a little difficulty steering when we're concentrating so hard on the canter. But our bending is getting a lot better at the walk and a bit of the trot. I could actually keep my legs where they belonged this time. After the hill we went back up to work a little on the flat. We were trying to get him to extend his trot a bit and get his rear end working. It was a little tough keeping him trotting, partly because he was distracted with the other horses watching, and partly because he has to think too hard. He was still tripping quite a bit but we got a few good strides out of him. By the end this time he actually had some sweat on his hindquarters. Usually he's just sweated up in the front. Some of the stuff Tricia has me doing is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. Trying to cue him while he's trotting and keep my seat or keep posting at the same time, and steer. It's quite complicated.

We discussed me possibly learning to file his feet myself between trims to try and keep them a bit shorter. They grow so darn fast and that could be part of the reason he's tripping. Along with the fact that he seems to only be able to think about one thing at a time and forgets he's got to pick up his feet. His one foot is still kind of swollen but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. Not sure what is wrong. He's still got some scabs so the mud fever must not really be gone yet either. I should probably shave his foot with the electric clippers and get it really clean. But keeping a horse's foot clean is next to impossible.

After our lesson and the weekly apple distribution I swung by Tricia's to meet her new horse. Coincidentally his barn name was Axel as well. But he's a big Appendix palamino. She's probably going to change his name. She rode him around a bit for me so I could see him move and then she had me jump on him and trot around a bit. He's quite a bit more forward than my Axel but we didn't have much space so we didn't get a lot of trotting in. But that ride solidified my need for a dressage saddle. Her saddle is so awesome. You're just glued to the horse. I slip and slide all over my AP saddle but not in this one. So I guess my shopping list just got a bit longer.