Today is the second to last day of January and it was 60 degrees. That is nearly twice what the average temps are. Very odd. But not unwelcome. If we had a ton of snow, I would have been disappointed. But we had just enough snow that the warm temps melted it all and turned… Read more »
Horse Thoughts
Good Rest
After two days off, Bear was happy to see me this morning. He came over to say hi and followed me with more energy than he often does. I was hoping this meant he was feeling better. I let him loose to roll and wander around the indoor, but he wasn’t really interested in doing… Read more »
Quality over Speed
Horsemanship can feel vast sometimes. Whenever I see videos of Buck Brannaman or Ray Hunt working with a green horse, the main thing that floors me time and time again is how fast they are. They ask for one thing after another after another, and their horses stay focused and attentive. These last few rides… Read more »
Early 2012 Fitness
I’m not the New Year’s resolutions type. Not because I don’t think I need to change anything about my life, but because I have never once had any success with the idea. In my experience all major changes come about slowly. One tiny, itty bitty step in the right direction followed by many more tiny,… Read more »
Discretion
It is a difficult thing to have. Today I deadlifted after not doing it for a little while. I was excited to get back to it, as it is one of my favorite lifts. But I had to take it easy to ensure that I could do more in the not too distant future. I… Read more »
Half Thawed
The pasture is in a bit of a state right now: So I always feel like it is a good thing to get the horses inside, get their hooves dried out and get them moving a little. Steen has lost some fitness in his three weeks of convalescence. Today my plan was to trot a lot.… Read more »
Stand and Lope
Those are Bear’s two favorite gaits. It is funny as I tend to forget about the second one when we haven’t been practicing it. Like in the late fall after I had taken a tumble and we weren’t riding is spaces that were great for practicing the lope. And though I have not been riding… Read more »
Mostly Healed
Well, January has not been a great month for riding. Work has been busy, Steen has been healing, and the weather has been uninviting. So the horses have been getting some time off. Beyond making sure Steen’s leg wasn’t getting any worse (mostly thanks to Brian looking in on it for me), I’ve not had… Read more »
Kettlebell Recap
Since my declaration a while ago to use this blog to talk about fitness as well as horses, I haven’t done the greatest job keeping up. But 2011 was pretty big year for me as far as strength goes. After my stint doing 100 swings for 30 days, I tried to up that to 200… Read more »
Borrowing My Husband’s Horse
We went again to the barn on Saturday. Steen’s cut looked good, but the swelling above the ankle was back just a tad. Not enough to be alarming, but enough to convince me not to ride him. I brought him in and groomed him and gave him a snack, then put him back outside. While… Read more »