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 »
Bear
Um, Spring Break? Hello?
Today we woke up to snow, and it continued to snow throughout the morning. So we just headed out for the barn right away less we lose motivation or get stuck in the afternoon crowds. The guys were all tucked up against the windblock. I grabbed Bear and then got Laredo for Robin while she… Read more »
Spring Break!
I had a work trip to Minneapolis earlier this week, but other than that I’ve taken some days off work because it is spring break. The weather has been nothing like spring break. We’ve had rain and snow and single digit temps and some crazy wind that felt right out of Canada. So when today… Read more »
Softness and Life
These strike me as two of the most important elements in horsemanship. Over the past couple of years I have been working hard on coming to understand softness. I know I can keep getting softer (probably a LOT softer), but Bear and I have come so far in this area. What I often lack is… Read more »
More Energy
Bear has always been an extremely dependable horse. I can count on him to more or less go where I want him to and in the gait I want him to. He rarely spooks or gets frazzled, and he is always friendly. What I do struggle with is getting him to move out with more… Read more »
The Mid-Week Rides
The weather is slowly improving and so is our motivation. So this week we got out to the barn on two afternoons. On Wednesday I rode Bear. He continues to come in feeling good and loose. The blanket has definitely been a smart choice with all the cold and damp weather we’ve had lately. I… Read more »
Warm and Loose
Again we trudged out to the pasture in a steady rain. It continued to rain on and off through the night, and I was happy we put the blanket on yesterday. I found him tucked up to the bale munching on some hay. He seemed happy to see me, as he probably knew I was… Read more »
Some Challenging Groundwork
Whoops. Looks like I missed last weekend’s rides. It is getting a little tough staying on top of the blogging as we still don’t have a great rhythm going for 2013. I do know I rode Laredo and I rode Bear. Again inside. We did a lot of walking, troting, and loping and everything was… Read more »
Birthday Chinks
In addition to a gorgeous mecate and a few other gifts, Robin also got me a pair of custom chinks for my birthday. It took a few months for them to get made, but the wait was worth it. We got them from LW Leather, and they are extremely well made and comfortable. I was… Read more »
Getting Better With Age
I’ve been feeling a bit bad lately that my horse’s injury means I’m putting the lion’s share of time on Laredo, who Brian and I are supposedly sharing. So today we did a swap and I rode Bear. Bear is in great shape lately. The extra hours we’ve been putting on him to compensate for… Read more »