This week we have had frozen ground without precipitation, so it was extra nice to saddle and load up for a trip to a covered arena in the next little town, Colfax.

This is the first winter we are keeping up on the riding over the cold and muddy season. Last weekend mud was a major issue, but this one was glorious; dry, frozen ground,  and wolly mules without mud.

 

Annie and I are continuing to work on the right lead. I think I left off where I was working on bending her by getting her butt in towards the arena center prior to lead departure. Well, that did not work so well. She got pretty stressed by the crop and by the forcing of rear end inwards. So I figured I will try something different. She is so good at bending and shaping now with only my seat as the cue. When i turn my seat in the saddle she immediately bends to a circle. So I figured I would bank on that and turn inwards just before lead departure. And that is not stressing her the least. We got 4 of 5 right lead departures right today so that is a step forward from our general 50-50! The left ones are never a problem so overall the lead departures today were great. 

 

As a big thank you we let them lose to roll in the sandy arena. My golly-they were happy and acted as wild mustangs after rolling ceaselessly for 10 to 15 minutes. Nice to see them so content!

Stay tuned to see if this is the answer to my lead issues!