Today I got to use my new mecate. And I have to say, it looks pretty darn good on Laredo. It felt good too. The mane hair just has so much more life than the nylon I’ve been using on my snaffle. I particularly noticed it during groundwork. There was a lot more energy to… Read more »
strip
And Then There Were Three
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 »
Thirty More Minutes
I enjoyed my solo trip to the barn so much yesterday I decided to do the same thing again today. We takes loads of photos. Only every now and then do we get a good one. It was another beautiful day, and I had another wonderful ride. The herd was scattered and waaay way out… Read more »
What A Year
Sometimes it seems the years go so fast. But at other times you look back on what’s changed in 365 days and it blows your mind. Today is my birthday. (I’m thirtysomething.) Last year on this day Brain gave me a hackamore. It was the first hackamore either of us had ever owned. It took… Read more »
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 »
Back in the Spurs
For some reason, I stopped riding in my spurs this summer. I guess things were just going really well for Bear and I, and I wanted to see how just my legs would work. It turns out they worked quite well. But then I noticed some problems. Lately Bear has not been excited to walk,… Read more »
Ridin’ High
We were out of town Thursday thru Monday. We went to the Chicago area to audit a Martin Black clinic, which was great. The setting was small and intimate, only eight riders and a handful of auditors. Martin gave all the riders a lot of one on one attention, and we learned a whole lot… Read more »
Moving Out
Bear and I have been enjoying the open spaces of fall. We are still riding primarily on the strip, but with the soybean field nearby all mowed, it makes it easy to venture out a short ways or a medium long ways. So I have taken to exploring on Bear a little more. Just the… Read more »
Catch-up: Laredo
One of the downsides of the whole Steen saga is my little sprint to and from the pasture appears to have gotten my old foot injury reaggravated, so I’ve been a bit laid up just like my horse has. Yesterday Brian very kindly went out in the rain to catch Laredo for me, to save me… Read more »