Quarantine Birthday

My birthday was last Friday, and leading up to it I was a bit depressed. We were supposed to be at a show last weekend, hauling up Friday to school and settle in. My parents were paying my entry fees as my birthday present. Instead I had a three day weekend with nothing to do, nowhere to go, and to rub salt in the wound, Peebs had been a total twit all week. He was full of himself, jigging with his head in the air, throwing his shoulders around, and generally ignoring me.

I did get take out tacos from my favorite taco place for my birthday lunch

After talking to A and my trainer, everyone agreed they were fine with trainer coming out and doing lessons. So I scheduled one for my birthday. Not only did we desperately need help (our last lesson was 5wks ago) it gave me something to look forward to and to get out of my own head. As I was getting ready to leave for the barn, A's mom texted me asking what my favorite pizza was from one of the local places as she was getting pizza for after our ride. She's the type that loves a party and to socialize, so quarantine has been super hard on her. I shouldn't have been surprised she'd throw a little party for me.

Ponies are transitioning to the summer pasture, and while it's hard to see, Cinder had her first rider two nights ago. A little birdie on her back

Our lesson was 45 mins of mostly trotting and it kicked both Peebs' and my butt but it was so worth it. We started with circles, loops, and transitions trying to get his brain installed back in his head. Once we had warmed up, our biggest issue (as always) was him throwing his right shoulder out tracking left. Trainer described it as him dislocating his shoulder into the next county. Tracking right she had me establish a nice bend, and a slightly slower than normal rhythm, but keeping the impulsion, then trot across the diagonal and make Peebs hold the counter bend. Our first few attempts were pretty awful; Peebs was very confused and not too happy that he couldn't fling his shoulder lean on me. We did get a couple good circles before slowly bringing him back to straightness before asking for the left bend. We quit on that note since Peebs finally felt normal and was listening to me.

best barn fam

My trainer had gotten me a little birthday cake so after A's lesson we had pizza, watermelon and cake in the barn aisle with A and her parents. It was super fun and so nice to be around people again. While it wasn't the birthday I had envisioned, it turned out pretty well in the end!