Darkness

We are getting to the sad point of the year where riding outside after work becomes difficult because it gets dark so fast. It’s always sad because it’s also the best riding weather in my opinion.

View of the main grass ring while Stampy grazed by the barn

Tuesday we managed to squeeze in the flat part of the lesson outside. Stampede was a little spooky here and there, doing what I call squirting forward, but then settled into work. He did some of the best extended trot we’ve had in a long time, which made me really happy. We went inside to jump since it was already almost dark by 7:30. The transition to jumping indoors is always rough with the tight turns and the jumps suddenly looking bigger. Stampede seemed completely unfazed other than taking the time to snark at a horse on the rail as we went down a line. It was honestly the easiest first indoor jumping round I’ve ever had, probably beats where we usually are after a couple of weeks.

Wednesday Mr P and I hurried out into the field, which is where my Wordless Wednesday pictures came from. Nice quick flat while we watched the young deer play in the hay-field.

Thursday Jessica came out and rode P with me and Stampy. We ended up riding in the ring since I knew with how dark it was getting already Stampy was going to be difficult. Even in the ring Stampy wanted to be spooky at the field end of the ring. I kept pushing him forward and making him bend around my leg, changing direction and circling a lot. He felt better once we cantered then settled into a nice relaxed trot to finish things off.

Mr P in stuffed animal form

Had to go to my parents’ tonight for a birthday dinner for my grandpa, so I didn’t ride the boys. Did some stretches with each pony, picked their hooves, and took them out for some grass time. Tomorrow I will ride both ponies. Lesson on Stampy and a quick flat on Mr. P.