First ride back

Thursday, I rode for the first time since abandoning Dandy for Christmas in Alaska. We had a breakthrough the day before I left, jumping over two feet in a riding lesson.  I wouldn't call our ride this week much of a "breakthrough" but at least I took the edge off a bit in prep for our lesson this morning.

I should have know Thursday was a bit too cold to ride.  Even with an indoor arena, Dandy was the only horse out of the 80 at the ranch whose owner was crazy enough to be riding.  I wore three pairs of pants and four tops.  I felt like a marshmallow, a marshmallow with no feeling in its extremities. 

Despite all this, we practiced walk, trot and canter transitions and turns.  It was hardly a workout for Dandy, but I was fearful of him breaking a sweat due to the cold.

Dandy spooked a bunch at random things.  I thought we had worked past spooking, but I guess a few weeks vacation was enough for him to forget all common sense.  He was especially bothered by the arena mirrors.  At one point while trotting, he was so astonished by his own image that he screeched to a halt and nickered.

So this ride wasn't much of a success, but if he behaves in his lesson later today, it will have the desired result.