Friday we rode inside again. It was another one of those blustery and chilly days that would have been fine to ride outside, but when you’ve got the empty indoor arena right there, why not? And it was a fun ride. Bear was super soft from the beginning. He had these wonderfully collected backs and… Read more »
Horse Thoughts
Warning: Horse Will Make You Ride
I couldn’t think of a title for this post, so I found an online generator to do the job. It was a little damp and chilly today and we were tired. It’s so easy not to go to the barn after a long week at work. But we rallied and headed out. We tromped out… Read more »
What Horse is This?
Today Bear came to me. It is definitely a milestone, but there is still more to work on. He was not very far away, and he wasn’t eating. He was also potentially bothered by the flies. Nevertheless, when I was walking up he saw me, and when I got to the gate he was already… Read more »
A Pasture Ride
It is one of the strangest truths about horses that they need both consistency and variety to really flourish. While both people and horses are reassured by routine, falling into the habit of doing everything the same way for long periods can lead to dullness. Our barn doesn’t have much of an outdoor arena, and… Read more »
Hackamore Confidence
We went to the barn on Sunday hoping for a quiet ride outdoors in the second pasture, but our plans were foiled. There were still some visitors from Saturday mini-show and they were riding when we arrived. It was a super windy, blustery day. We had hoped the rain was done for a while, but… Read more »
A Weekend Indoors
We’ve had a lot of storms these past few days, though I suppose we are lucky that we only had to deal with strong winds and some mild thunderstorms. It was never storming actively when we got out to the barn the past three days, but things were usually cold and damp so we elected… Read more »
Indoors in the Hackamore x2
We’ve had some weather moving through Iowa, so things have been wet and we’ve been confined to riding indoors. On Friday we found the guys out in the summer pasture, happily grazing on 13 acres of new grass. The herd has seen a lot of turnover this winter, so half of its members had never been out… Read more »
Another Day in the Hackamore
I rode in the hackamore again. I wasn’t planning on it. I thought for sure we would ride in the snaffle again and that Robin would be using the hackamore. She has talked about getting back to it a little more regularly. But she also got some new boots for Steen, and she wanted to… Read more »
Good Booties
I had two things on my mind as I started my ride today. One, I wanted to lope enough to see how Steen’s new booties affect his ability to relax at that gait. Two, I wanted to keep my booty in the saddle — no bouncing at the lope. Not even a little. I’ve been… Read more »
And the Wind Blows
It was a pretty, sunny day, but we also had 30+ mile an hour winds out of the northwest. So it was a cold wind. Warm sun and cold wind always make a strange combination. Robin had a lot of work to do this afternoon, so I had a rare solo-outing to the barn. Bear… Read more »