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November 10, 2017: The Best Part of the Day

Every day has its best part. Today it was the morning. Prior to going to work, Pete and I took Tinni and Hrimmi for a walk around the loop. I took the opportunity of Hrimmi’s being out to work with her. We are really fortunate in that we have 1) A loop road that is not heavily travelled, for short walks. 2) A trail system adjacent to our place for slightly longer jaunts. 3) An arena/playground in our backyard for doing ground work. 4) A fenced yard with enough space so that the horses can run around if they choose.

We lack a pasture area, but having the above-mentioned areas makes up for this. I mean, I would not want to have a pasture adjoining a busy road and have to



trailer my horses elsewhere any time that I wanted to go for a ride. It would of course be nice to have the best of all worlds and live someplace where I could have all of the above plus pasture. But this is not going to be. I sometimes have to be thankful for what I have.

A great walk with Hrimmi – I paid close attention to, and worked with her. When she stopped, I did wither and pelvic rocks. I also paid attention to my footfalls and attempted to synchronize the movement of my front feet with hers. And I kept my hand on her withers, so as to maintain connection with her when walking. Far better to do this than to be trudging along ahead of her, yanking her forward when she stopped.

Doing the Panther Walk in the arena has helped her considerably – Hrimmi now has more lift in her withers area when she walks and trots. And she is now trotting more. And what a great disposition – quiet, calm, friendly, willing to do most anything but move fast.

I was telling Pete that it’s good that I am doing these sorts of things with Hrimmi because she’s now ratcheting. Ratcheting is when a horses’ front or rear end is higher than the other end. Right now Hrimmi’s physique resembles that of a muscle car – her rear is higher than her front. This means that she’s going to grow another inch or two. I would not think this possible because she’s already close to if not over 14 hands, already big for an Icelandic.

It’s because of her size that Hrimmi has been slow to come around in terms of her overall movement. She moves slow and stops a great deal. Or should I say that she used to move slowly and stop a great deal.

Hrimmi has really picked up the pace in the past few months, so I am very confident about her future. The basis for comparison is Tyra, who is small and evenly proportioned – no growth issues there. What I must keep reminding myself is that Icelandic horses are not physically mature until they’re six years old. And, right now, Hrimmi is only five. If she was 10 we would have good reason to throw up our hands and say that working with her is to no avail.

Next: 311. 11/10/17: Gang of Four

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