Perfect barn day

On Thursdays this term I dont (usually) get out of class until 3 50 from my beef production lab. Since it is so late I also dont have to work so I can go straight from school to the barn! Today since it was just a long lecture we actually got out of class 50 minutes early, perfect end to my day! I headed straight out to the barn. I had someone else ride Tolo yesterday (he hasnt been ridden since the beach, whoops) and they thought he might be lame, great... He maybe looks a little funny at the walk on his left front. Up in his shoulder area? Its not bad at all and it even makes me wonder if I am seeing it but I gave him some bute and called it a day. I will hop on him tomorrow to see if I can feel it better than I can see it. He was super good for the lady and she has a friend that might be interested in him! Fingers crossed, although it wont be easy to part with him again :/

Pony got a little spa day. His mane was SO gross. I braided it down for the beach and then never fixed it so in the span of 4 days he has eaten about 3 inches off the top 1/3 of his mane from it interfering with him eating (nothing stops this boy from eating!). He got all washed and braided back up and then zip tied and vet wrapped. It looks goofy down now because its all chewed off but it will be back by the summer as long as I keep up on it. He was awesome for our ride tonight too! I just kept it nice and easy with basic walk/trot/canter and threw in some leg yields, shoulder in and lengthenings. I havent been very motivated this week so he really hadnt gotten much real work. I was super pleased with how he came back today! Normally I can really tell when we havent worked on our dressage for a couple days but he came out super from the beginning! One thing I have changed is how I warm him up. I used to walk him for 10-15 minutes then go right to work. I recently started (during the cold spell!) walking him for the same amount then letting him trot on a loose rein stretching down. We change rein, do some circles, etc before I ask him for a little more contact at the trot. Once we canter I push him more forward and give him more rein both directions before I start demanding nice work out of him. It seems to be working well and we had a great ride! I love this pony!