Arena Day

Took everyone to the arena today. Now this is probably one of the more stupid things I do, please not too many lectures. But I take all four horses at the same time. As you can see from the pic I alternate riding the chestnut or black gelding, and always pony the mare with Rifle tied to her saddle. Now this was really easy when I only had three horses but it got more difficult with the fourth. Thank goodness Rifle is such a good boy and happily follows along. The only one who is a problem is the chestnut Ike who if I am riding he either goes to slow or fast and if I pony I have to drag him.

So we made it there and back safely. Everyone was a little hot today, not sure why maybe the irrigating this morning and them getting flooded lol. So Rifle started out a bit tense and jittery. We just walked around the arena for a few laps then started adding halts. He would not stand still at first but with several one rein stops he finally decided standing still was a lot easier. Tensed up again as we started trotting but relaxed after a few laps. Now when I say tense that's all I mean, no bad behavior he is just on alert trying to figure out what you want. I think he keeps expecting someone to tell him to rush or get mad at him but when I just wait him out he calms right down. He used to do this every couple of rides but has not done so in months. Something about today as all the ponies took extra patience in their own way. We did some leg yielding at the trot then went to canter. His canter is great, it is so easy for him to collect up and go slow or fast. He prefers to drop him head rather than go into a frame so we worked on that then added in leg yielding. We did some more work on transitions then called it a day as he was chill and I had two more to ride still. Totally calm on the way home. Had a big almost semi truck pass us rattling and a pack of small dogs charge us but did not even blink a eyelash. Several days off now and then his first 50 on Saturday.