She started out being a pistol...at least after the initial warm up in the front lot. It was out in the woods, she was good until she spotted and scented a deer. This got her little radar up and she wanted to start rushing things, at one point stopped and bucked, and jumped around. I rode that out, and continued two little loops through the woods. The rest of our ride was out in the field, I just wanted to work her from the walk to the trot, back to the walk, with the emphasis on WALK since she seemed so hyped up. Stall time just isn't good for this horse, and I'm contemplating leaving her out at night as long as it isn't wet and cold. The 7 pm to 6:30 a.m. in her stall is just too much, she is like riding a ticking time bomb, you can feel all that pent up energy balled up underneath the saddle. I was able to extend her trot up to 8 mph tonight for a brief period, but shut her down before she broke into a canter. I'm trying to get better control at the trot out in the open. She is fine in a fenced enclosure at the trot, but in the open she tends to want to break gait into a canter. I don't intend to use the canter all that much, though she sure likes to climb hills in a hurry. It could come in handy if she conditions up to it, but right now she is too young for any real speed. I'd like to get her trotting out about 6-7 mph solid, without wanting to break gait, then cooling back out to a nice forward walk. Her walk is not very fast as you can see by our average speed (which has our stops in the mix as I don't turn the timer off). In real time her speed should average about 3.2 mph at the walk, but that is still slow. Puddin' had a nice 5-6 mph walk, and a really nice forward trot. Puddin' is Phebe's mommy, so I keep hoping it will all come together eventually. Phebes daddy was known for his pleasure horse trot, and she is smooth when things are working right. It was good to get out and ride after the five days off. Phebes didn't need the time off, but I really did. Still trying to heal up from my fall, and today was the best day in the past week for me as far as pain is concerned.
Doug took the file to her hooves after our ride, and cleaned up the mustang roll, so she should be good for her next journey to the park either tomorrow or Sunday (maybe both if Doug doesn't need the truck on Sunday).
Phebes body is really looking good. Her chest is rock hard and muscular, she's lost that fat belly, and is very much the "arabian" in her looks these days. Almost time to feed the horses. Next time~E.G.
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