It has been a tough few weeks with the horses. Steen’s leg is slow to heal, Laredo has been troubled by a sore shoulder, and we’ve had some less than ideal weather. But today we finally had a day that felt like normal. Laredo is getting better, so Robin was able to ride him. We… Read more »
strip
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 »
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 »
The Mid-Week Rides
This week was warm, dry, and sunny, and I got out to the barn everyday except Thursday. On Monday we spent so much time with Steen we didn’t end up riding, but I got some nice rides on Bear the other days. Tuesday was a fun ride. We played cow again with Robin on Laredo. … Read more »
Hanging In There
Today Steen’s new fly sheet arrived just before Brian got home from work at 2:00. So we pretty much headed straight out to the barn. We found Steen more mobile than I expected, and kinda nervous and restless. He nickered when he saw us. We hosed his burns off, put more thuja-zinc on, and brought… Read more »
Distracted
After work we headed out to the barn to check on Steen and get a short ride in. We are keeping him in a side lot up by the barn so that we can closely monitor his leg and sunburn. When we arrived it was clear he was somewhat depressed. And with good reason, he… Read more »
Do More With Less
I’m not sure who said this first, probably Ray or Tom, but I know I’ve read it from a lot of people, most recently Martin Black. We found some great write ups of some colt starting clinics he put on a few years ago (click on the forward arrows to get through these if you’re… Read more »
Playing Cow
We got to the barn fairly early to meet a friend for a trail ride. It was really cool out, and we were looking forward to a long day of riding. Unfortunately our friend never made it out. We tacked up and started riding on the strip thinking they would show, but no. So we… Read more »
And More Running
Today it was my turn to ride Laredo, and after Robin’s highly successful loping, I figured we would do the same. The ride started out pretty good, with the only problem coming from me and my boots. My good riding boots are at the cobbler’s getting new heels (I knocked the rubber off one doing… Read more »