Zoey has been in need of a trim since we got her, but it took us until today to coordinate with the farrier. I had a meeting in Cedar Rapids in the afternoon, but my morning was quiet so I went out early to sneak in a ride before he arrived at 11:00. I rode… Read more »
fast trot
The One Where I Don’t Fall Off
Today was Steen’s birthday. He turned 13. My gift to him was a day off, which translated into some quality alone time with the bale. I rode Zoey today. We started off trying to saddle at the hitching post. In my efforts to be graceful with this, I tied my offside stirrup up with my… Read more »
Hot and Bothered
With the lull we’ve had in our riding, I’m trying to maintain a pretty relaxed attitude as both Steen and I get back into the swing of things. Today it was in the 70’s, and the ground was mushy and the wind was blowing. I wanted to ride my horse but I didn’t want to… 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 »
Easily Swayed
Cathi (who owns our barn) has mentioned a few times this particular type of pad that she got and loooves and highly, highly recommends. But I must admit that I am not the sort of person who has a very easy time lending much weight to other people’s opinions of things they have purchased. I… Read more »
Another Try
Today Brian and I headed to the barn armed with yet another saddle: This is a Cashel trail saddle. It’s build on an axis tree that has a reputation for leaving a horse free at the shoulders and fitting a pretty wide variety of backs. Plus it’s just a pretty saddle. 🙂 It was a… Read more »
Two Indoor Rides
Friday we had family in town, so didn’t make it out to the barn. On Saturday we went out in the morning and rode for about an hour in the indoor arena. I went in the dressage saddle, and again Steen started out a tad nervous. There were a couple spots where he would always… Read more »
Early Summer Changes
We arrived at the barn on Friday afternoon eager to meet the new horse on the premises. Or more accurately, the new foal. “Whisper” arrived some time in the night. Cathi was in the pen with the baby and the momma when we arrived, so we even got to go in and pet the little guy.… Read more »
Relaxing Last Days of Summer
Things have continued to go well in the Bear department. Brian went out and rode him alone on Friday with good results. You can read about that here. We’re going to have to make sure to continue to ride and handle the horses independently of one another, as it would seem and Bear and Steen… Read more »
Events
Today, Brian, Steen and I all had new experiences. For Brian and I, it was a shared experience. We went to Catalpa Corner to watch the eventing. We had never been to a true eventing competition, so we found it very interesting. At first, we just walked around, staring at all the tall, athletic horses… Read more »