After our ride this morning I hosed off Nova and put her back in her pen with Highboy. They hang out there and eat from hay bags during the day, and are out at night in the pasture with Miss Pea and Note.
Highboy has definitely been jealous of Nova. She's getting so much attention and gets to go riding, and he sure wishes he could go too. She's still squirrelly enough that I'm riding her here with just the dogs, but once I'm able to take her for trail rides with friends I think she's going to love it.
This morning she was particularly wound up. It's been much colder at night and the crisp fall air always makes the horses excited. I also hadn't ridden her for several days so she had accumulated some unspent energy! She doesn't do anything real dramatic when she's like this, just has more opinions than usual about where she wants to go, how close the dogs can be to her, how fast we ride. I tell her that her opinions matter, but they don't necessarily change what we're doing!
We walked out around the neighbors to start, and she was still extra wiggly after that lap of fields. I took her back to the fenced in ring and we did a little walking and trotting in circles once we were in the more controlled area. The ground poles help immensely with this by giving her something to think about instead of how to entertain herself. They also are physically more difficult to navigate so encourage her to use her core when walking and trotting. This makes her more balanced and stay more clearly in the gaits I want.
When she's unbalanced, rushing, or distracted she starts creeping into the pace. As she's still getting acclimated to these newly longer legs and large body from her current growth spurt, she's kind of uncoordinated right now. Pole work helps with proprioception and knowing where her body is in space, as well as strengthening her body.
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