Snow is coming

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Cold winter days are often bright and sunny. When I woke up to bright sunshine, it was an omen. I finished grading my mid-term papers early to hurry to the barn and finally get in a good ride.

“Be careful, your horse is going to be fresh in this cold weather” says my wise husband as I leave for the long commute (2 hour round trip). Sure enough, when I got to the paddock my Q was literally bouncing in place like a ball. As all the horses in the other paddocks.

An omen.

The barn was quiet and the arena empty. So I pulled out the lungeline and some poles and got to work. Popped over a few jumps, trotted over some cavaletti, practiced trot-canter transitions until Q was happy to drop down to a trot. 20 minutes later he was soft and compliant. Bouncing ball no more.

I brushed him and put him away for his lunch, while I had my own during the daily chitchat with the crew. Then I tacked up and got on the trail.



It was fabulous. The cold weather had no impact once we got trotting. And he gave me some glorious trots and canters. No freight-training like he has been doing recently. Quiet, responsive to my seat, no spook, without rushing. Lovely.

Lesson learned. Sometimes we need to run first.

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