Lunging Sunny

[Amber Collins]

The day was nice, bright, and hot. Amber had a teal tank top on but had rolled it up to a little above her rib cage because of the heat. Her white dressage breeches has smudges of dirt on them, but she didn't care. The bay nearly black mare was having an even harder time due to her being over-weight. At least the hair was starting to grow back on her knees and hocks because the scabs had formed. "Come on girl, we'll be done in a little bit," Amber told the ten year old mare as she led her into the round pen.

The trainer/owner/rider of the horse changed the teal lead rope out for a cream lunge line. Amber slid the chain under the mare's nose and up to the metal ring by her eye. It's not like she needed it, but the chain was permanently attached. "All right, let's go Sunny," she said and let the mare walk out to the rail. Amber adjusted the length of the line accordingly and grabbed a black lunging whip. "Keep it going," she coaxed the mare. Sunny's head was low as she traveled at a tracking walk around the round pen in the hot summer day. Because of her strict feeding and work schedule, she was shedding pounds easily but in a healthy manner. Amber smiled at this thought, and then asked the Trakehner/Thoroughbred cross mare for a trot. At first Sunny resisted the voice command, and when it was said again with a reinforcement of a flick of the whip, she shuffled into a slow trot. "Come on," Amber said and flicked the whip again near the horse's hind quarters. Sunny took off faster, but with a jolt. The young woman sighed, but accepted it.

Soon, the pace ceased to a slow jog, but a flick of the whip told Sunny to push on. The girl lunging her didn't want the horse to become too fatigued, but had to push her a little so that her agressive attitude towards working would return. "Allright, canter," Amber told the horse. Sunny trotted faster, and finally slid into a canter. It was actually quite nicely paced, so the teen let the whip settle on the sand for the time being as they circled each other. She was careful not to pull on the lunge line because of the chain, and she didn't need to anyways. Amber kissed to the mare to keep her going, before slowing her down to a walk and switching directions.

After ten minutes in the opposite direction of trotting and cantering, Amber put the lead rope back on the horse's halter and then tied the end to the ring on the right and swung up onto the her broad back. It had been a while since Sunny was ridden, so they would just walk and maybe do a little trotting. "Hey, that's a good girl," Amber told the once champion mare. The horse responded well to praise, and snorted and even bent her neck into a nice head set. The girl smiled and patted the mare before grabbing the make-shift reins and starting around the pen. They worked on bending and neck reining which was key for good dressage maneuvers, as well as trust things like having Amber stand up on the horse's back and slide off her rump. Then they went back to the rail for a bit of trot work. The rider made sure she didn't bounce around and kept her weight centered as they made a few laps of the arena in both directions. "All right, that's good for today," Amber said and slid off the horse's slightly sweaty back. Sunny nudged Amber affectionately as the girl put the lead rope back into it's correct place on the teal halter before leading her out, hosing her down, and turning her out into a sand paddock.