We managed a mid week barn trip for the first time in ages today. It was cold but sunny, and it felt great to leave town in the afternoon. I rode Laredo. Before the ride, I worked quite a bit on his head/ear issue. It’s basically reduced at this point to more of a grouchy… Read more »
Laredo
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 »
And a Few More
The weather has continued to keep us confined to the indoor arena. While I am very grateful to have access to such a facility, it definitely limits our riding options. This time of year it often seems we start to struggle to come up with things to do and work on. When that happens, it… 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 »
A Few Winter Rides
So far February hasn’t been quite the springboard back into an active barn habit that I was hoping for. Work is just nuts so far this year. We’ve been taking some steps to help get in front of the workload, but a lot of days I would have liked to have gone to the barn… Read more »
Cruisin on Laredo
We had our best ride together since sometime early in the fall. After that I wasn’t riding him a lot due to Steen’s injury. Then we had our couple of run-away moments just before the holidays (apparently I didn’t blog about the second one). They were excellent learning experiences, but they definitely set my Laredo… Read more »
Stronger and Faster
I rode Laredo in the hackamore again today. I swapped out my mecate, though. I rode him in the one I usually leave on my snaffle set-up. The rope just looks so good with Laredo, I can’t resist riding him with it. (Yes, I can be that superficial about tack. :)) We had another great… Read more »
Some Catching Up
Trips to the barn have become more consistent, though the weekly volume is still not high. We have been very consistent at trading off our Laredo rides. This has gone a long way to getting him back into work and feeling good moving around in the indoor arena. I have also been making sure I… Read more »
Finally, a Trim
Today the farrier was out, and our guys had enough toe to warrant a trim for the first time in over three months. We got to the barn early so we could ride first and get the guys settled… a plan which may have backfired in the long run. I started out on Laredo, and… Read more »
Fun With Spurs
I’ve been riding consistently for over 20 years now, and while I do have quite a few experiences under my belt, the thing I love about working with horses is how the learning never stops. You never know when you’re going to have a new “first.” For instance, today I rode in spurs for the… Read more »