It is officially 2014, which means my saddle hours count has reset. I’ve been trying to decide what my ride time goal for the year should be. It’s a bit tricky, because while I’d like the ride more, there is the reality that I am not a professional horseback rider. I am a web developer… Read more »
Laredo
New Year!
Got my first ride of the year in today. It was super cold and snowy, but we had a pretty good time. I rode Zoey, and she was happy to come in and was very relaxed. But under saddle, she was a little more tense. She had two spooks. I have no idea what caused… Read more »
Finally, 200
[Herd update: Things appear to have equalized. I’m not 100% confident this whole thing is behind us. But I’m like 80% confident. So that is something.] In some ways, this year has had some setbacks. Nothing major, but a glance back over 2013 seems to reveal a number of things that didn’t go quite the… Read more »
A Bad Bale
It has been an odd week with the horses. On Sunday last weekend, Steen seemed much improved. We had a nice ride. I gave him more probiotics. I thought we were in the clear. Year-end work has been nutty for me, plus I am still pretty sore. So again, several days passed before we made… Read more »
A Few Cold Rides
Cold came early this year, and I am still far enough away from hitting my goal of 200 hours in the saddle that I can’t let weather derail me. Nevertheless, the weekends of spending hours at the barn and riding multiple horses is behind us for the season. I can deal with one bitterly cold… Read more »
The One Where I Fall Without Falling
I’m by no means to the point that I’m anywhere near running out of new experiences to have with horses. Nevertheless, it’s not that often now that I encounter a scenario entirely beyond my experience. But today I had one, and I hope it’s the only one of its kind I’ll have for a good… Read more »
Laredo and the Five Horse Arena
As I’ve mentioned before, the indoor arena at our barn is on the small side. I am not complaining about its size. I am grateful to have a place to ride in the winter, even if it’s not ideal. Still, the fact that it is small comes into play to influence our rides sometimes. Today… Read more »
The Birthday Rides (2013 edition)
Somehow it never occurred to me until my birthday last year that I could give myself the day off to celebrate. In theory, a perk of running your own business is you can occasionally decide to do things like this for purely self-indulgent reasons. Of course, I almost never do. But today, I did. I… Read more »
Time with the Kid
Since Brian has mostly taken over riding Zoey lately, I’ve been spending lots of time with Laredo. And it’s been neat in a number of ways. Since we got him a year and a half ago, Brian and I have switched back and forth working with Laredo consistently, usually alternating rides. While this is great… Read more »
Getting to 200
At the end of 2012, when Brian and I talked about our riding goal for the next year, we picked something that would be difficult. We agreed 200 hours would be a stretch. Of course, we’re aware some people ride 200+ hours in a week, but considering we both have full time jobs that don’t… Read more »