Poor Cody

Yeah, poor Cody. I ran out to the barn at lunch today and actually rode. I don't think Cody is terribly thrilled with that. He and I just have a hard time with each other. Cody wants to mosey along on a very loose rein and I want to practice dressage. Now that Axel is officially retired (I even brought his saddle home from the barn - boo hoo) Cody is the only one left for me to practice dressage on and he's not happy about it. I try and give him as much rein as possible but I tend to gather my reins up bit by bit until he's mad and yanking them back. So far I have not found a way I can get him to bend and listen and "work" without having more contact on the bit. I really think I have to put the western saddle back on and teach myself how to neck rein and get him to bend and listen and "work" western style. Maybe I should take some western lessons to get motivated.

It would be really nice to have Axel back undersaddle so I could work on my dressage, boo. Anyways. My new tall boots came on Wednesday (the day after my last riding lesson go figure) so I wanted to give them a try. Of course I wore my muck boots out to the paddock and back so I didn't get my new boots too dirty. They worked pretty well. It'll be a few more rides before I'm totally used to them but they are really nice. The leather is soft so there really isn't a breaking in period. Cody and I worked on a bit of trot and he offered some canter. He still couldn't get the left lead but when I dismounted and lunged him he picked it up alright. We might have to just lunge and lunge and lunge til he's comfortable on that left lead. He gets so excited after he canters and it's hard to bring him back to earth. We tried a little turn on the forehand so I could get him moving off my leg. At the trot if I put my leg on to keep his rear end in on a bend he thinks I'm asking for a canter so I thought doing some turns would help. In the end he was a bit sweaty but the good part about working at lunch is that it's 40 degrees and sunny out so he was able to go right outside instead of waiting ages until he was dry (which is next to impossible since he gets nervous inside by himself sometimes).