We weren't sure if we were going to have a lesson last night but we figured we'd try and if all else failed we'd go to the bar. I arrived around 5 and let Beau in the barn so he could graze. Axel wandered away from me a few feet before stopping so I could catch him. I decided to groom him inside so I could see what I was doing. He had been laying down when I got there so I had to brush all the snow off. I had tied him up which I'm pretty sure didn't make him happy since Beau was loose and eating. I remember just a year ago it took some work to get him to pick up his feet to clean them. Last night I barely touched each foot and he lifted them for me. If only everything else was going that well! I didn't know what the plan was so I put his saddle on while I waited. Tricia had gone out XC skiing before she came down to the barn so she was a little later than normal. She decided the deep snow in the round pen would be perfect incentive to get Axel to pick up his feet. Of course once the snow was packed down that didn't apply any more.
So I have a fairly difficult time getting into the saddle in the first place. Axel is tall, I'm short, and then add big winter boots and long underwear. I tried to climb up there and ended up on my butt in the snow. Second time in two days I might add. Not the most graceful mounting I've ever done. Tricia gave me a leg up instead, but of course I jumped on the wrong count so she pretty much had to heft me up there. Luckily that wasn't a sign of things to come. Axel was very forward in the snow. I had a whip just in case, we've decided to stop with all the kicking and see if a whip would get a better reaction. It seems to do the trick. He's catching on that he needs to just keep moving until I tell him otherwise. When the snow got packed down he started dragging his feet again so we threw a couple cavaletti in. That went pretty well tracking right but left is our worse side so that direction it was a bit "wonky." But all in all he did well, rarely did he actually clip the poles with a hoof. Maybe twice at the most. We moved on to some sort of figure 8 type turning but that was just off. I didn't feel right and Axel wasn't listening to me, or he was and I wasn't telling him right. In any case it was the end of the lesson and it seemed like Axel was getting pretty tired. Though not sweaty which was good. My legs are sore today from all the posting trot. That was one of the first rides in a while with no tail swishing or bucking attempts.
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