Mare mood

Got on last night for Clover's first ever ride under the lights. I was mighty proud of myself for getting my act together, I have a motivation problem now that the days are shorter. Everything was going along just fine, 'til I started doing up the girth—Clover blew herself up like a puffer fish. Between that and her heavy winter coat, I had to get a longer girth.

Walked down to the ring, opened the gate, flicked the lights on and mounted uneventfully. Everything seemed normal until I picked up the contact—I got the devil child, chewing, rooting, head tossing, bracing, resisting, you name it, it was evasion time. I concentrated on just riding her through it, ignoring the misbehavior and working with what I had under me. We only worked for 20 minutes, just walking and trotting, up and down transitions, shoulder-fores and haunches in and out, and finally finished up with some halts. I quit when Clover stopped coming up against my hand when halting.

I figure either:

• Clover was in a bad mood. A mare mood.
• She was cranky about being ridden after evening feed.
• The footing was too hard (another reason why I didn't ride for too long).
• She's having teeth issues—caps coming off, teeth need floating.
• I had two pads instread of the usual one under the saddle.
• I dunno.