It was a balmy 27 degrees...

So I rode Coriander. I haven't ridden him since December 26 because it's been SO COLD I didn't want to take his blanket off. So today I had to strike while the iron was hot because after tonight the temperature drops back down to horrifically cold. Ugh, you know it's a rough winter when 27 degrees seems warm.

I didn't figure it was worth it to really work on anything with him except remind him again that he's a riding horse - I won't be able to get on for another week at least. I hopped on bareback in the mini-indoor and mostly worked on my balance. We did a couple walk/halt transitions and did a lot of turning and walking over ground poles. He was so good: no spooks, no bucks, no tantrums. How many green horses can you jump on bareback after not riding for two weeks with limited turnout and have that kind of ride? Not many.

I got a bridle for Gwen today in the mail, quarter horse size. I tried it on her to see how it fit. I left it mostly undone so I could adjust it on her (without the bit), she wasn't too keen on all those floppy bits of leather coming down over her face but she finally relented. I was a little worried about buying her a bridle, she's got such a tiny head I didn't know what size to get. I was surprised that I had to let the quarter horse sized bridle almost all the way out for her. Hmmm.

Then I decided while I was playing with bridles to introduce Gwen to the sidepull. I put it on and took her out to the mini-indoor to work on giving to pressure. It's hard to work with a horse when you only have 20% of her attention at any given time, the rest was completely focused on the barn. Despite that, she did figure out that she's supposed to turn her face away from the pressure and not fight against it. She didn't rear or have a mega flip-out. I did feel like I was dealing with a teenager though. She'd kind of ignore me for a few seconds and then turn her head all exasperated. Like she was saying, "fine, GOD. I'll turn my head. Quit nagging me, can't you see I'm trying to pay attention to the barn? Sheesh." She is 5, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised to get some teenager behavior. I'm happy with what we accomplished though, she got it and next time we work on it she'll be better.