Today Steen’s new fly sheet arrived just before Brian got home from work at 2:00. So we pretty much headed straight out to the barn. We found Steen more mobile than I expected, and kinda nervous and restless. He nickered when he saw us. We hosed his burns off, put more thuja-zinc on, and brought… Read more »
Horse Thoughts
Distracted
After work we headed out to the barn to check on Steen and get a short ride in. We are keeping him in a side lot up by the barn so that we can closely monitor his leg and sunburn. When we arrived it was clear he was somewhat depressed. And with good reason, he… Read more »
High Tensile Wire, We Meet Again
I’m afraid this post is going to be long and dramatic. Today was a very bad day for me and Steen. And since I keep this blog to record everything we go through with our horses, I’m going to go ahead and tell the whole story. Just to preface this: we are all ok. Steen… Read more »
A Long Day at the Barn
We went out to the barn excited to spend a long day with the guys. I was hoping to repeat last Sunday and ride two horses. But we were disappointed to find that Steen’s sunburn was significantly worse. We had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning him up and applying various ointments that… Read more »
Sunburns and Light Rides
I’ve never owned a Paint before, and when I was shopping for Steen I had no particular thought of getting a horse with color. In fact, when I went to look at Steen, I did so precisely because I didn’t think I would want him. I didn’t want a horse that was seven years old… Read more »
Taking Laredo Out
Just like our first lope, we probably could have gone exploring with Laredo a little earlier. But waiting a little bit longer certainly helped us get some things down, and I think it helped make the ride really great. Robin was the first one to ride him after we got him, and then she was… Read more »
On the Trail with the Kid
Today we wanted to take Laredo for his first trail ride. Hunting season isn’t all that far off, and we want to make sure we get him out soon enough that we have time to get a good number of rides in before we are limited to closer ground where we feel safe riding. And… Read more »
Duke Day Lite (Solo Edition)
Our barn is currently full to the brim, boasting a record number of horses on the premises. This makes some of our traditions a bit cumbersome. Duke Day, for instance, is when the farrier comes and does all the horses’ feet. Except there are so many horses now this is actually no longer possible. It’s… Read more »
If It Is Important, Do It Every Ride
Today we were short on time. Work was busy and we also had an early evening social engagement. So I was the one to dash out to the barn in the late afternoon. Robin was at the barn yesterday getting all their feet trimmed, and Steen’s shoulder burns were looking a lot worse. I wanted… Read more »
Continuing the Softness
One of the great things about having Laredo is that he has changed the way Robin and I ride, and think about, our main horses. Though I would try very hard to approach every ride from a fresh perspective, I couldn’t always accomplish that, and I would fall back on old excuses for my old… Read more »