In addition to a gorgeous mecate and a few other gifts, Robin also got me a pair of custom chinks for my birthday. It took a few months for them to get made, but the wait was worth it. We got them from LW Leather, and they are extremely well made and comfortable. I was really surprised to learn how good they felt in the saddle. I almost thought the extra material might cause some issues. Not so. If anything, the chinks really enhance the way you connect with the saddle. So that, on top of providing some additional warmth, make them pretty darn amazing.
This weekend we had some fun rides. The weather continues to be less than ideal, but that’s all right. We are still having fun in the indoor, and it is always nice to play around with them before we get down to grooming and tacking.
Today I was running around with Laredo. He’d follow me around and then run off when I stopped to go after him, then he’d get curious again and come follow me. Super funny.
He’s been getting increasingly friendly and comfortable lately. Slipping the hackamore on is getting easier and easier, but he still has his odd things. He doe snot love you being on his right side. So whenever we’re hanging out and grooming we make sure to spend more time on that side of him just rubbing him down and getting him used to it. He’s getting better, but you can see a definite lean away from me in the pic below.
His groundwork also continues to improve. He is really starting to move off the feel of the rope, and I rarely have to encourage him to move off faster or clamp down on the rope with a sharp correction. It is neat to see.
And things keep going well with Bear. Though the weather has not been great, it hasn’t been awful, either. And he seems to be overall moving better than he was in January. Today we did a lot of loping around again and he was very relaxed and attentive. Of course, he is always happy to hangout in his other favorite gait, too.
