Steen is very much on the mend, so today was the first day Robin and I did a double ride since sometime in September. It was a beautiful, sunny, fall day and just perfect to be out at the barn. I rode Bear first. He was good from the get go. I’m not sure what… Read more »
lope
Early Winter Riding
After the cold storm, we got a hard freeze, but the last few days have been nice: sunny and in the 50s. Laredo has put on a bit of a hay gut with his winter coat, which isn’t helping with his energy level. Yesterday I worked on trotting. We would trot for a few minutes… 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 »
Looking for Life
Laredo’s shoulder appears to be healed, so I’ve had two long rides on him. Although at first it seemed like the weeks off didn’t have much of an impact on his training, after a few rides we’ve seen some backsliding. Our biggest challenge with Laredo is lack of energy. I don’t think it’s physical energy. It’s… Read more »
Catch-up: Bear
During Steen’s convalescence, I’ve been riding Bear a bit more. And this is good because I do think Bear and I are getting to know each other better. He’s more and more Brian’s horse as time goes on, but it’s nice to feel our last few rides that he’s capable of leaving Brian for a while… Read more »
Back in the Side Pen
On Sunday when we put Bear back in the pasture, I noticed Steen was favoring his wounded leg for the first time since the day of the injury. This didn’t make me happy, but I told myself he could have just tweaked the scab or something. In the last two days, however, things have gone… Read more »
Hearing Buck In My Head
We continue to watch the 7 Clinics DVDs, and they continue to be wonderful. It is great that we can latch onto an exercise, see multiple different moments of Buck talking about it along with many people working on it, and then go out and try it ourselves. Today I spent a while warming Bear… Read more »
Loping Circles on Laredo
Between Laredo’s fatigue and Bear’s tight back (and Steen’s ripped up leg), we thought it would be best to give everyone a couple days off. Monday I went out on my own to clean Steen’s leg. All three of our horses came to me as soon as they saw me at the gate, leaving the… Read more »
Bear Time
Steen Update: The sunburn is much better. The leg is making progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Today, I rode Bear. I don’t ride Bear very often. When we first got him, I only rode him when Brian was having some kind of trouble with him. Since that has stopped happening, I’ve more less stopped… Read more »
Making It Happen, And Staying Soft
When I first saw Buck in Decorah last September, there were a number of things that stood out to me, but one of the big ones was the idea that you always give the horse a good deal (with less pressure than you think it will take), and if that doesn’t work, you make it… Read more »