Busy Times

As you can guess, caring for and riding three horses has reduced my available time outside of the barn on the weekend, which reduces blogging time. I’m having a great time with all of the ponies, so here are some pictures from the last week and a few notes on my rides!

Putting on her pretty girl face

Tuesday night I did a lesson on Willow. She has really gotten into good shape and we breezed right through all of our flatwork regardless of the fact that we flatted for a long time. Jumping we warmed up well besides a hiccup where Willow was concerned about a horse too close to the line (she can be a bit nervous about other horses in her space) and it caught me off guard. When we moved on to a course I was struggling a bit because I was trying to add a stride in the lines but still move up to distances at the in. Willow is much more reactive to leg pressure than Stampede when it comes to jumping so I’d find I was almost gunning her forward then struggling to try to collect her back to get the add. Finished up by redoing a single to a line where we got things right to end on a good note. It is so much fun to be jumping again and I look forward to getting more used to how Willow jumps in the next few weeks.

This picture is just so silly and cute – I laugh every time I look at it.

Willow got a ride from my trainer on Thursday, then we did a flat lesson on Saturday while Willow’s mom was out to watch. It was mid 80’s out and humid and sunny so all of the horses were feeling a bit slower. We did a shorter flat in the heat but Willow was great – on the bit, soft, and forward when I asked. Today I had planned to ride Willow again but it was so hot and humid yet again that I opted to give her a spa day instead.

Feet and the results of our mane pulling session

I rode P Monday, but sadly we had to ride in a ring since it had just recently rained and the grass in the field was too wet. I rode bareback and he was kind of blah about the whole experience but good.

Grass eating beast

Wednesday Jessica came out so she rode P while I rode Stampede. The boys were both good although fairly lazy overall. I had gotten a call Wednesday that the replacement panels for Stampede’s CWD were in, so after our ride I brought the saddle home and cleaned and boxed it up to head to California. I swear this saddle is better traveled than me! Cross your fingers it will come back fitting like a glove!

Brothers <3

Thursday Stampede got a lunging session. I haven’t lunged him much lately since frankly he sucks doing it outside. Indoors he’s a focused machine who relaxes and stretches his topline but outside he inverts and gawks and ignores my insistence that he go forward. With his saddle gone I told myself I needed start working to fix the issue. So basically he mostly walked while I continued to attempt to remind him to pay attention. We ended on a good note after he recovered from the trauma of being chased by a horse fly, lol.

My favorite

Friday was my birthday and I knew what I wanted to do with my evening. It involved Mr. P and the grass field. Mr. P didn’t disappoint.

Mr. P keeping tracking of how long everyone else gets grass

I already told you about my flat lesson with Willow on Saturday. After that I lunged Stampede again. He proved that he had indeed learned something and maintained pretty decent focus for our walk/trot lunge. Certainly not up to what he can do but over 100% improved.

Today I rode Mr. P in the field again. I got out to the barn a bit early and got on him quickly to avoid the full heat of the day. During walk breaks we hid in the shade of the trees. It was really an awesome ride, the kind where you can’t keep a smile off your face as you cool out afterwards. We didn’t do anything earth shattering, just hacked around and enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards I took care of the other two ponies, cleaned one of my saddles as well as three bridles before heading home.