Yesterday we drove back from Chicago in the morning, and 1:00 found me at the barn waiting for Bear’s turn while the chiropractor adjusted a couple other horses. To pass the time I brought Steen indoors and hopped on. He was good for our very brief ride, but soon it was time to transfer my attention to Bear. The chiro again commented on his tight hips, but otherwise thought he looked good. Brian arrived shortly after the treatment started, and Bear was pretty good throughout the whole thing, though he made loads of funny faces.
I also took the opportunity to expand my horse portraits portfolio. This is Doc, Gay’s horse:
Today I went out for a solo ride. It was windy, and since Steen seems to be most often bothered by unidentified noises outside the indoor arena, I decided to hook up my iPod to the boom box in the barn to help combat the noise of the wind. His ears did some major swiveling when I led him into the barn and he heard The National playing, but after a moment he decided it was no big deal.
During our ride he was mostly relaxed, though inclined to speed up incrementally at the trot and get agitated when I tried to slow him down. So I just surrendered and let him cruise for a while, which I hadn’t done in long time. It is always a challenge to ride gracefully (bareback) when he’s trotting fast and changing direction frequently, but it is a good exercise in balance and confidence for me. As usual, he cooled it after about 10 minutes and was then content to trot more slowly.
But while Steen was trotting enthusiastically, I discovered that his least favorite musical instrument is the snare drum, but he is surprisingly just fine with loud saxophone solos. Also my current favorite song seemed to be his least favorite.
Horseback Hours YTD: 2:15