It was another gorgeous day, and we decided to just head straight outside for the strip. Since I have been doing a lot of work on Bear with the flag, I decided to take the rope back out and see how we could do with that. When we used it a little last summer, he… Read more »
Horse Thoughts
Sunny Strip Ride
Today we rode on the strip. It was great to tack up outside and ride outside and feel warm the whole time. We’re still way below average temps for this time of year, but at least we’re getting some days that it feels nice to be outside. I rode Laredo. I continued with my focus… Read more »
Keeping Going
The sun is getting stronger and the grasses are slowly coming up. It is definitely making it a lot easier to get to the barn. I found Laredo snoozing in the sun. It took a few smacks of the lead rope on my chinks to get him to wake up, but as soon as he… Read more »
A Ride in Thirds
I forgot to mention last post that Steen kicked himself during our unplanned gallop and split open his heel. It was bleeding a lot when we got back to the barn, and I hosed it off and packed it with Neosporin. The bleeding stopped quickly after that and I wasn’t too worried about. Still, I… Read more »
Easter Surprise
We spent the weekend in the Chicago area visiting my family and meeting our new niece. We also got to spend a lot of quality time with our 2 year old nephew. It was my first time playing Easter Bunny, too. When we got back into town Sunday afternoon we were tired and hungry, but… Read more »
Spring Fever?
Today we got back to town from a trip to Chicago. We were exhausted, as the trip involved the arrival of our new niece and a lot of quality time with our 2-year-old nephew. But we rallied and got to the barn, and decided to ride Steen and Bear to keep things easy. We started… Read more »
New Lessons
Lately I’ve been in one of those places with Bear where things feel like they’ve drastically improved. I am still surprised by these feelings, but I love that they keep coming every couple of months. The big changes I’ve noticed are in how he listens to my seat. The hopping into the lope problem has… Read more »
Squishy Ground
I was curious to see how Laredo would be for me today after his long, somewhat difficult ride with Brian yesterday. I expected him to be tired, so was pleasantly surprised when I got on and that was not the case. He was soft to the hackamore and moving out nicely from the start. My… Read more »
Turning Things Around
As I’ve mentioned the last couple of weeks, I’ve been struggling with Laredo. Getting him soft and lively and just having a good time have all been a little tough. We normally start out doing fairly well, but then the ride goes downhill after 15 or 20 minutes. Today was a little like that, but… Read more »
Searching for Center
Steen’s basics have been so solid lately I’ve been having to push myself a bit to be equal to the task of teaching him more. It’s one thing to have a good seat and to guide a horse through the basic maneuvers most people expect a horse to do. It’s something else to keep yourself… Read more »