getting in shape

After coming home and seeing all the super fit horses at Equine Affaire, I had an itching to really start putting Shyloh to work. I was tired from the weekend, but it was beautiful outside, so to the round pen we went!

Shy was pretty feisty. . .well about as feisty as a lazy Haflinger can get. I had her going around and she actually picked up a canter! Canter is her least favorite gait and she never holds it for long. That day, we went around a few times without me pushing her into it. I let her go for it because it wasn't a crazy all out canter. It just seemed like she was having fun. And she was still listening to me.

I had her switch directions and gaits a bunch of times. Her turns were sharp. When I asked her to turn, she almost sat down on her back legs, slid to a stop, and switched directions. Maybe she wants to be a reining horse?

We did stretches after I had her warm up. Shy loves her stretches, especially her tail pulls. We haven't done the stretches in a long time, mostly because I will not stretch her cold and it was interesting to see how less flexible she was. Not much, but when I went out of her comfort zone, Shy let me know. After stretches, we did more lunging.

I got some video of her going round and round. It may be 30 seconds of nausea inducing video. . .

And we even had a little sweat! This is good news because it takes a lot for Shy to sweat. 

I plan on putting the surcingle on her and attaching side reins the next time we do this. And I am going to have to put bell boots on her as I heard her clipping herself at the trot. I will also look for poles that we can use. 

I plan to put some muscle on my chubby Haffie. Also, this is the last week of my internship, classes are over, and graduation is right around the corner. Hello free time! Gotta get me in shape, too!