Rocks

Today we moved several hundred pounds of rock out of the arena. We may have cleared 25% of the rock larger than 1/4" through the process of shifting the rock through a screen cable tied to a hayfork. It was over 90 while we were doing so and every muscle in my shoulders and back feel like I have been pummeled and pulled apart at the joints. I'm sure there has to be a tool or piece of equipment that will do the same thing, but we couldn't find one in Denver. We are talking with Cassandra about having her husband help the barn construct one (Shiloh next door has one they made that we can look at for a prototype.) We also raised some money to buy sand for the outdoor arena, which is the same arena we were taking rock out of.

After the rock removal, there was a potluck and a raffle. There were only two things raffled off, since Sherl wanted to wait until we had more people involved (raised more money for buying sand for the outdoor arena). The day left me too tired and sore to ride, so instead I worked Ashke in his training system.

I groomed Ashke in his stall, using the new crossties I picked up today, attached to bolts in the stall wall that Henry put in since the last time I was at the barn. It is just as well, since the grooming stalls were full. I still need a saddle rack to put my saddle on and I placed an order tonight on Amazon for a portable saddle rack, single arm, in purple. Henry has already created a hanging place in my stall where I can put the portable arm when I need to groom Ashke there. Hopefully, it won't have to happen very often, but it's better than waiting for an open bay.

I got him groomed and put the balance system (like a pessoua system only with bungies instead of static rope - there is more give to the ropes) on Ashke. He wasn't real excited. I took him to the round pen and let him get to work.

 

He is getting long and low at the trot.

He did some cantering, too. At first he was cross cantering to the left. (Damn right hip thing again). When that happened I encouraged him to speed up, which forced him to canter correctly, since the circle was pretty tight. He only cross cantered at the very beginning, and then stayed on the correct lead, both front and back, after that. 

We spent some time, actually quite a bit of time, doing trot-canter transistions. It must not have been easy because about the fourth time I slowed him to a trot, waited until he was relaxed and low then asked him to canter again, he began kicking and bucking in protest. We did transistions for twenty minutes or so. He was plenty warm by the time we were done. 

I untacked him in the wash stall, since I really didn't want to wait to rinse him off. He walked right in for me. Good Boy! I rinsed him off and then put him back in his stall with some crunchy treats. Tomorrow we ride.