Bear continues to feel a little off. He was not super interested in coming to me, and while he often lacks a little spunk, today he was lacking more than usual. I kept things very slow in the beginning. We went through all our usual things that seem to help loosen him up like walking… Read more »
strip
First Laredo Lope
Last Monday I went out to the barn telling myself I would lope Laredo. We’ve been a bit slow to get there because we usually ride in such irregular, open spaces. For so long he had such a tendency to lock up on the bit and lean into pressure it didn’t seem there was anything… Read more »
Playing Cowboy
When we were grooming the guys, the barn owner’s 9 year old daughter, Sylvia, asked if we wanted to help move the cows to the other treed lot for the winter. We were definitely down with that. We mounted in the treed lot we often ride in and rode off into the big pasture with… Read more »
Remedial Right Turns
Today I was happy to put Steen’s halter on and lead him in. As much as I had a great ride on Laredo yesterday, my comfort level with Steen at this point is like nothing I’ve ever experienced with another horse. All his movements and behaviors are so familiar, being around him feels completely natural. Out on… Read more »
Hot and Sticky
We’ve been waking up to really cloudy days lately. It hasn’t helped us get to the barn early. It might have been better if we did today, because by the time we got riding the sun was out and all the moisture in the ground made for a very sticky day. It wasn’t that bad,… Read more »
Like Magic
After way too long a break to suit my preference, I finally made it back to the barn today. I was in a bit of quandary deciding what horse to ride. Brian was going to ride Bear, so that left me with my pick of the other two. At first I was leaning towards Steen… Read more »
Back to Second Guessing
After a week off due to heat and busy work days, we got back to the barn. I was disappointed to find that Bear was still not feeling the greatest. He was inclined to really park out during grooming and tacking, and when I hopped on he felt stiff and distracted. He also continued to… Read more »
2nd Anniversary
Two years ago today I got Bear. He was a somewhat dumpy and out of shape horse. At 15, he also seemed quite old. He was still a great horse for me, but at the time we didn’t know if we would keep him much more than a year. How wrong we were. Within a… Read more »
The Triple
Robin is visiting her family in Arizona, so having nothing to do with myself in her absence I decided to spend most of the day at the barn riding all three horses. It was a breezy and cloudy day, and all the rides went quite well. Steen I decided to start with Steen. He is… Read more »
More Group Riding
Sunday we hit the trails as a foursome again. There was the possibility of it being a much bigger group, but this size felt nice. One of our friends came with us for the first time. She was on her older, gray Arabian, and they were great. We couldn’t do sections of what has become… Read more »