Ya-Ya Riders: Horses make the Thanksgiving Weekend

We are all thankful for our partners in equine therapy but sometimes I would be more thankful for plain obedience.

The girls were on a riding roll last week and rode every chance they got.

Ivy has been jumping Pico so much lately that Alaina wanted to give it a try (cross bars only). So, we had some horse exchanges but Ivy didn't jump Sunny.

Thanksgiving day promised to be FRIGID so the girls and I joined Mallory and Roxanne in Inola for a lesson at noon on Wednesday. We loaded Pico and Sunny and headed to Cheval Ranch to pick up Sister for the outing. It was humid and unseasonalbly warm (70's) so Sister was a bit sweaty before we started our lounging session.

I am still not getting complete obedience during lounging although I try to keep her moving out and away from the center of the circle. Even so, Sister was calm and mostly good on the lounge line. So, when the gang was ready to ride, I mounted up to join the lesson. Sister went over cavalletti fairly well but tripped over the elevated poles. She did some decent leg yeilds but I did not canter. Roxie and Ivy practiced a little jumping.

Thanksgiving day and the horses were thankful to have the day off and that the cold came in after the rain. We went to Nowata for the annual eating festival. I looked forward to riding my brains out for the rest of the weekend but disaster! My knee gave out on me and I was gimping around in a bad way.

Steve found a brace for me so Friday afternoon the girls and I went to Cheval Valley so I could lounge Sister. We did some good round pen work and C was helping me upgrade my lounging technique. I wasn't up for riding so C got on and had good work until canter. Then, Miss Attitude regressed to a bit of Kick-out.... C worked her through it.

Ivy has been missing TC so we dropped by the Urban Ranch to visit. TC has a new pasture pet named Jack but seemed happy to see us. Ivy rode a little walk/trot and then we got to feed before we headed back to Claremore.

Kale joined us in Inola on Saturday for the Party Lesson with dreams of lunching at Graham's. He rode Splash for me since my knee was still in recovery - I rode a little in the western saddle with my knee brace in place. Splash does not admit any neck reining knowledge.

Graham's was CLOSED for the holiday so we lunched at La Masion in Catoosa. Kale headed back to Stillwater a little late to go to Bedlam - sadly, OSU lost after a good game.

Sunday was extremely windy but my knee was feeling some better, so brace in place, I headed off to Cheval Meadows to lounge and maybe ride Sister. After a good lounging session, I decided to mount and ride a little walking and trotting. Sister was very good and we worked on left bend / right bend as well as sitting and posting trot.