Coming back into work

So went out for another light hack down the road this weekend and was lucky enough to entice my friend L to come with!  L is a pretty awesome gal, always up for anything and everything, especially if it involves wearing her rubber boots.

We went out for a quick ride, and Koda was being a bit of a turkey.  The moment I swung my leg over, he walked off (which he rarely ever does) and was giving the tractor (aka: the bringer of food) the hairy eye.  This was somewhat the theme of our ride - everything was going to try and eat Koda, and he was SURE of it.  The end of the driveway?  The snowbank?  The grain bins down the road?  GAH!  It was like we'd never   ridden down there before.  To counter-act Koda being a baby, I decided to do some transition and lateral work.  Of course, after a few walk-trot transitions, Koda found something else to investigate.... the grain bins he's walked by since last year!  Oh, the turkey...

Ger OVER it, Koda!  I'm the alpha of this situation

At that point, we turned back around and started doing some lateral work on the way home.  Koda has stopped doing his jigging back to the barn (As Carly would say, small win!) and we put in some baby shoulder-in.  L was asking about how do you ask for all the stuff we were doing, and so did a quick baby lesson on the aids and how to ask for lateral movement.

Some baby steps in shoulder-in (and obedience), good boy!

We did some work again by the snowbank where we had a bit of the rodeo last time, and it went a tad better this time.  I think I was confusing Koda since I was kind of like "ok, jump it if you want..." but I wouldn't keep myself up off his back when he did, so he got pissed when he felt me thump back down on his back (don't blame him!) and he threw a couple small crow hops while cantering away.

Wheeee!

In the yard, I tossed L up on Koda so that she could get a bit of a ride in plus I got to see how Koda would handle a very green/beginner rider.  It was kind of super cute since he would always keep looking at me, seemingly saying "Is this right, mom?  Why are you down there?  I'm not sure about this... but ok...".  Kind of super adorable.

L and Koda looking absolutely adorable

It's funny to think about now, but I almost didn't go ride this weekend.  There has been some very big drama going on up here and I am one of those people who hate dealing with conflict.  Either way, it's gotten to the point where it's starting to affect my riding time and it has to stop.  I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do about it, but something will need to be decided soon enough.  Crack on and carry-on as they say!

Feel free to ignore the crazy duck feet going on...