On Saturday, Confetti turned twenty.  We had a delightful mediocre ride in the woods during which she needed to pee but adamantly refused to do so.  She was behind my leg for the majority of the ride.  It wasn’t terrible, but we’ve done better.

On Sunday, Confetti turned twenty and one day and we had a positively lovely ride in the woods with a friend, where the pony was 100% adjustable, responsive to seat and leg, quiet, and a joy to ride.

A recent lesson with my trainer showed two things: she is dull to the leg and incredibly insensitive to the bit.  I have homework that I am dutifully schooling to remedy both of these issues.  These are pretty big rideability problems.  Hopefully, getting a better handle on these will make her an easier ride, and an easier-to-condition horse.

Conditioning status: I am not happy with where we are right now.  She’s breaking into a sweat easily (needs more salt/electrolytes?).  It would be great to know what her pulse looks like, but the HRM and I are still in negotiations about correct placement for a reliable reading, argh!!  We’re briskly trotting an eight-mile loop once weekly, “sprinting” our easy four-mile loop on at least one weekday, and varying work the other 1-2 days.

Currently “sprinting” that four-mile loop involves zero cantering. Hopefully we’ll be able to add in some canter work on the two miles out.  It’s getting done in just about an hour even with schooling stops (in one ride, Confetti considered stopping to pee; in another, we detoured around a fallen tree and negotiated the detour by a very scary bush), so while not terrible, there’s room for improvement.

Ran a bit after detouring around tree. Felt like a real runner, if only briefly!

I’m also hoping to return to the Big Hill I mentioned a while back.  Unfortunately that requires a twenty/thirty-minute hike through town.  That makes it feel like an all-day project, so that one may be tabled until I get a weekday to head back over for a proper ride.

I have no idea what rides we’ll make it to this year, how, or when – so we’re conditioning and preparing on the theory that I’d like to be ready to take her in a 50 with just a few weeks of notice.  Learning to roll with the punches and all that.. sometimes it really is the getting there that’s the hardest part!