Saddle time

My saddle got it's annual winter clean and condition. I use Lexol leather conditioner- it's all I've ever used on this saddle and on my Wade.

All cleaned up and ready to go back to work! So today I started with Josie. She hasn't been worked since November 4th, other than me just giving her a few minutes in hand work in her pen a couple of times. I took her out to the hitching rail, threw the saddle on her like an ole broke horse, and took her to the round pen. The footing there is pretty good, with loose snow and no ice. We spent a few minutes working on moving her feet- hip over, shoulder over and change direction, back up, come forward etc. Then some stick and string work, flipping it around her and whirling it overhead- all good. After that, some sacking out. I happened to have the jugs and bag set up at the round pen, so that's what I used.

 They are frozen so they are nice and noisy. As I was shaking them, standing on her left side, she turned her head so that she could see them out of her right eye (more on that in a bit) and got bonked by a jug so blew back a bit; I upped the ante by shaking them more vigorously until her feet stopped moving- and kept working her with them. As you will see in the video below, she likes to keep worrisome things in her right eye; every time I'm on her right side she is relaxed, and when I move to the left side, she tips her head so she can see the jugs out of her right eye, which drops her shoulder in towards me.
After videoing I did some more work because it was a bit  much trying to handle the leadrope and the camera and get her correct in her movement. We stopped on a really good note, when she was nice and relaxed on both sides. Not a bad session considering she hasn't worked for over 2 months.  I was hoping to pony her from Clancy today, but decided that wasn't a good idea; the driveway and road are slick with compact snow; I fell in the driveway leading Clancy so I just took Clancy and headed out to the field.

Other than putting the kids on her a couple of weeks ago, it's been a while since I've ridden her, so I wasn't asking too much of her- just wanted her to take it easy because of the conditions. She walked out nice for me, and on he way back I did ask her for some lateral moves when we were still in the field where the footing was good. She had her little "I don't wanna work" moment, which is  left turn, up with the head, and a sideways step- so silly! Of course that meant she had to work more than I was planning on......
Overall it was a really nice way to spend the afternoon. I really really need to get these girls to an indoor arena but just can't make it happen for a while. Oh well, just have to make do for the time being.