Between moving this blog from Google’s servers onto my own WordPress install and (somewhat ironically, I suppose) working through the process of backing up thousands of my old photos in my Google account, lately I am inundated with photos of the past. It is weird to see old shots of myself on Steen where both… Read more »
Brian
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 »
Simple Lead Changes
We had such success with our work at the lope yesterday I was keen to get back to that exercise today. Steen was in a good mood from the start. I think he is more comfortable without his blanket on. It has warmed up here and I’ve been able to leave it off the last… Read more »
Chilly Ride
It seems to have been our year for buying saddles. Although Brian has been largely happy with the bear trap, it seems lately to be causing some problems for Bear. Being that Bear is now 16 1/2 years old and we want to keep him healthy and fit as long as possible, we decided to… Read more »
Arizona Horses
We went to AZ for Thanksgiving, and of course spent some time with the horses there. My sister has been riding more lately, and we were hoping to take Jak and Jo out on the trails. Unfortunately Jak seemed off to me the first day I tried to ride, so I rode for about five… Read more »
Two Rides in the Pasture
We had a weekend that was warm, but windy. We decided, nevertheless, to take advantage of the balmy temps and drier footing and head back out into the big pasture for a couple rides. Steen was good both days — better than he has been in our last forays out in this larger space. The… Read more »
19 Tail Hairs
Today we headed to the second strip again, and my plan was to keep things quieter and less demanding. We rode through the hallway of terrors with Bear leading the way. Something about the large stack of hay bales got him a bit concerned and he scooted into a little half bolt, but Brian got… Read more »
A Hard Ride
In the interest of furthering our new goal to broaden our horizons, on Wednesday afternoon Brian and I headed for the second strip. We have high hopes of getting some excellent riding in over there in the next weeks. It is huge, much wider than the strip we normally ride on and has the benefit… Read more »
Three Bay Geldings
This morning our friend Gay was out tacking up Doc at the same time we were getting our boys ready. It was already hot and extremely humid, so Brian and I had decided to ride in the stall horse pasture with all the big shade-creating trees. We invited Gay to ride with us. We led our three… Read more »
Loping on a Loose Rein
We’ve had heat, but today Brian and I managed to get up and to the barn early enough to have a nice ride. Steen was an absolute model citizen all day. I don’t know if he was just happy to see me after a few days off or what, but he was a total doll.… Read more »