Lucy Goosey

Yeah, that's her nickname.  Because she is a goose sometimes.

Saturday, after I finished working with Tex, Brett and I rode.  Given Lucy's antics the day before, I lunged her before getting on.  Specifically, I lunged her in the troll corner of the dressage court.  She had a lovely circle going on the side furthest from the corner but consistently scooted in towards me as she went by the corner.

We worked there until she relaxed, in both directions, around the whole circle.  It took awhile.  She was blowing hard and sweaty when I took her to the mounting block.  I tried the method I learned at the clinic, climbing to the top of the block and asking Lucy to come to me and line herself up.  She nailed it the first time.

We didn't do too much since she was pretty much out of steam by the time I got on.  The little bit of work we did, though, was very good.  Then we watched Brett and Pistol working on her trot.  Pistol was bracing a bit and Brett was working, using frequent turns, to break the brace and get relaxation.  Pistol threw in a few trot-a-lopes, but definitely improved as they went along.

Lucy and Pistol spent the afternoon in the top pasture, grazing on the grass that is growing deep and green up there.  We brought them back down in the late afternoon and put them in their regular pasture.  I took a side route; one that crosses over one of the streams flowing through our property.  We haven't had rain since last weekend so the stream was not very deep or very wide; I was able to step over it with no trouble.  Lucy reached the bank, planted her feet, gave it a hard look, and then sailed over the top.

Pistol stepped over like the solid trail horse that she is.