Filthy Pig-Mare

I. Hate. Red. Mud.

Because Dee grows a winter coat that would make a yak proud, the red mud just gets ground into her coat until it is light red/brown dust.  This dust will not come out.  I curry and curry, and brush and brush, but she still looks like an absolute dirt ball.  I know she can't help it, but ugh.  She looks terrible. I can't wait until it's warm enough for me to give her a long, warm, sudsy bath.

She looks EXTRA filthy because I had just finished some in-hand work, and had given her some bum scratches as a reward.  At least her shoulder is shiny.

Racing Dee

As a fun update, I bought an equibase day pass so that I could watch videos of all Dee's races.  Here are screen caps:

Snowmageddon

Photo from my mother (in CT) of her front yard / the road:

Photo from my ride yesterday:

So glad to be down south!  Stay warm, New England!

Getting Greedy

Dee and I have had two pretty nice rides this week.  I've taken a half-step back with her and have just been concentrating on improving her trot work.  She had regressed back to her baby-self a bit, with giraffe-neck and lack of steering, so now that she's on U-7 and Mushroom Matrix, which seem to have gotten her focused, I'm focusing on keeping rides short and pleasant and waiting to canter until the U-7's been in her system a bit longer.  I think that part of her problem in the canter might be stemming from being a little ulcery.  It would make sense.  She was hotting up right after canter work (NOT typical Dee).
I addressed her baby-giraffe behavior by getting a little tougher with her.  After allowing her to mosey around on a loose rein at the walk for 5 minutes, I've been picking her right up and sending her to work.  She's been starting off grumpy about this, and even kicking at my leg occasionally (which she gets a swift kick for), but after grumbling at me about it and having me growl back at her, she's actually been settling into some nice work.  Yesterday she was especially good.  She was quicker to settle and really moving into the contact from behind (she tends to want to drop behind the aids).  After about 15 minutes, I felt her really engage and push from behind, to where we had two or three gorgeous steps.  At this point, I thought "Yes!  This is fantastic!  Let's keep this up!"
Well, I got too greedy.  She responded well for a little bit, but the added pressure was just a little too much, and I lost the relaxation.  So I spent the last few minutes just asking her to relax into a quieter trot again, and once she gave me a few relaxed strides, we just quit.  My goal isn't to frazzle her, which is what started to happen by asking for the bigger, bouncier, fancier trot for more than two or three strides.  Oh well, I suppose that eventually three strides will turn into six, which will turn into twelve, which will eventually turn into that gorgeous trot always.