All Moved In

 Cinder moved to our new barn, MDT, on Thursday. And in true Murphy's Law, the weather has been absolutely horrible and all the pastures have been closed since, then so she's been stuck inside. We've had rain, wind, hail, snow, and little brief patches of sunshine that trick into thinking it's going to clear up only to dump rain on you five minutes later. But despite being in a new place, with new people, and being cooped up in a stall for days, Cinder's handled it remarkably well. 

All of our 2023 year end swag

 Trainer M rode her on Friday, and I got a good report. Cinder tried to pull the alpha mare/who the hell are you move on M, but gave it up rather quickly. M really likes her, and said Trainer A and I have done great job with her, which is always nice to hear. 

She only gets supervised open window time, since she will 100% chew that hose and drag it into her stall

I had my first lesson with M on Saturday. Cinder was quite manic in the crossties tacking up, moving around and almost constantly pawing. When I got on she felt like a ticking time bomb. Normally, I would have gotten off and either free lunged or put her on the line for a few minutes, but I decided to tough it out. Don't want to come across as too much of a weenie ammy for my first lesson. Trainer M and I talked for a bit about what we've been working on with Cin, and what I'd like to focus on going forward. During our talking, I felt Cin start to relax and that her brain was coming back into her head. 

The lesson mainly focused on my hands and position, and pushing Cinder out and into my hand. It was similar work to what Trainer A has been having me work on, just said differently and in more of a h/j way vs a dressage way. Cin did have a few spooks and dolphin leaped in our first couple of canter transitions, but I held it together and didn't let her antics bother me. We did end with some nice stretchy canter and trot work, which I was very happy about.