LOST!

It's a good thing one of us knew where we were. It just wasn't me!

We don't have bad rides often. Well.. yesterday, L was a real stinker! She was just fine walking. And she'd do a really nice sitting jog. But when I'd start to rise and ask her to extend she got all kinds of pissy. She'd pin her ears and get crooked and toss her head and get all kinds of bumpy in her hind end. How much sense does that make?!

I don't know. She did something to her back? Sometimes her hip goes out. Back to a walk, fine. Jog? Fine. Extend? Nope, no way. Saddle slipped? No. Of course I'm not going to push her if she's having a problem. It's hard sometimes. She doesn't always tell me exactly what's wrong. She had more of a sweat going than she should have for what we were doing. Sometimes you have to be a mind reader I swear.

So I cool her off and I get her stuff off and rub her down and it becomes abundantly clear - she doesn't have a problem. Oh, not like what I was wondering anyway. She was just being a perfect ass! It's a mare thing. I went over her back. Her hips. and ... she's fine. Shoulders? Fine. Feet? Fine. Legs? Fine. Oh she was plenty "up" going to eat grass!

So today we go off and she's in heat. She's doing what I ask, she's doing it well, but she's cranking her tail about it. Oy me. A little bit crabby. I *finally* got her to move out and extend. When we're having issues I back off when I get what I want. My trainer, btw, doesn't always agree with that.

So we're cooling off and - I used to do this a lot with my crazy J, I pick out some paths through the grass and do "obstacle course" around the shrubs and taller grasses. I brought her close enough to some treacherous footing that she had to pay attention and she had a good time with it. I think she's been a little bored.

So I took her off into the woods. I just had us pick our way through the brush where the footing looked good and the trees wouldn't knock me off of her. After 15 minutes or so I got out the camera and I fiddle with the settings and I took some pictures. It didn't work out and I fiddled with the settings some more. I really wanted some pictures in the woods! By the time I got a couple of shots I thought were ok and put the camera back in my pocket I had no idea where we were. Not a clue.

Oh we weren't in deep trouble. I really don't think it's much more than a thousand acres of woods out there, and I could be wrong about that, but I was pretty confident we'd find our way back by dark. But still...a little disconcerting.

But L looked to me like she knew where she was. And where she was going. I left her on a really loose rein and just steered her such that I could clear the brush and it wasn't too long before I knew exactly where we were. How does she know this stuff? It's good one of us pays attention. She really is my rock star!