Okay now I am tired!

I woke up to about an inch or so of new snow - which was actually a good thing as it gave me some traction to walk out to the barn - a big improvement over yesterday when I had to hold on to a horse to get down the driveway!
So first up was *Kobee - I thought I would ride him over to the indoor and then work him in there.... that was the plan..... I got most of the way over there, heading up the neighbor's driveway (remember, it is uphill both ways....) and as I was going along, the snow began sliding off the arena.....!  This was way past Kobee's comfort level and we did get a significant spin and spook.  So I settled him down a bit and decided it was in both of our best interest for me to get off and lead him the rest of the way - from where we were standing it may have appeared to him that an avalanche was occurring and he was in harms way!  So that was fine, led him the rest of the way and then into the arena where the snow was continuing to fall off making a very loud swooshing noise.  Sometimes when the snow is powdery it makes a little poofy noise, but this was loud and he could see it as well as it was sliding off.  It was pretty scary for him so I lunged him first for probably close to an hour.  He settled down pretty well and then we worked both on the lunge and then I got on him and rode him for about another hour.  He was a good boy, he didn't get as soft as I had wanted, but he did try hard and I was happy with him - it was his third time in the indoor arena, (first time alone in there), it was very noisy and I have only ridden him now 5 times since last summer.  I did ride him back home and he was a good boy - that uphill both ways is getting exhausting - I can't wait for my own ring to melt!

So after lunch Anastasia and I took Tessa and Bijou back to the arena.  The snow was STILL sliding off the roof and my lovely Tessa was "so" scared - I walked her around the arena twice both ways, practicing listening to me and lowering her head - she is such a good girl about this - hard to describe how she trusts me, her head is down, she is looking at me intently and yet her heard is just pounding - I can see it!  So then I got on her and she worked very very well - I was really thrilled with her!  I took this picture especially for Betsy - she always sends a photo like this of Keri so I thought I would send one of my girl :)

She worked SO well for me, she was focused, lifting her back, hanging her head, using her hindquarters - what a good girl!  The only trouble is that I had to stop after a while - I was too tired to ride effectively and I didn't want to interfere with what we had accomplished today.  I guess working and riding Kobee earlier today sapped me more than I thought.  But Tessa and I had a good hour long ride - she is going to just rock this year in the dressage ring!
So Anastasia also had a really good ride on Bijou - hope she gets to blog about it!
Shelly in Summerland, BC Canada
http://www.curlystandardplace.com