It’s time for the obligatory end-of-the-year retrospective post (in which I will reflect on the year in general and provide copious numbers of back-links to previous posts). I’m less than an hour away from hitting my “time in the saddle” goal for 2012, and we still have two weeks of the year left. I think… Read more »
the routine
Steen vs the Gate
I have been a bit lame about blogging because our barn trips have really fallen off. I’m trying to wrap up a bunch of work before we escape to Arizona for a couple of weeks, and it’s been cold. Not super duper horrible cold, but just cold enough that it’s easy to talk yourself out… Read more »
Back to Normal
Yesterday was Brian’s birthday. We both took the day off work and made time for a nice long barn trip in the afternoon. I was pleased to find Steen didn’t run to me the moment I appeared at the barn. While I do like that our horses come to us, with Steen you can gauge… Read more »
What Didn’t Happen
Brian and I seem to have developed a not particularly wonderful habit of having riding accidents in the fall. It started the year we got Bear – 2010. I had a horrible crash on Halloween. Then Brian came off hard our very next ride. I suffered a concussion and Brian’s shoulder bothered him for months.… 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 »
A Break in the Heat?
As we are on “vacation,” we have been lazy about getting up and out to the barn. Thankfully our time off has coincided with a nice break in weather. Today was absolutely perfect; blue skies with puffy white clouds, temps in the 70s, and a light north wind. And we took no pictures. We rode… Read more »
Ride Medley
We’ve had a busy start to August and I’ve gotten behind on the blogging. So I’m going to do a quick catch-up post. August 2 – Thursday I rode Laredo. We didn’t have a great ride. It was one of those days where nothing was bad, exactly, but nothing was great either. We did all… Read more »
Wednesday’s Ride
For one solid week Bear got a lot of rest with only a couple of super light rides. I continued to give him lots of back massages and hind end stretches during this time. I was hopeful he would be feeling at least somewhat better when we went out on Wednesday, but I was also… Read more »
Borrowing Lightfoot
When my sister and I lived in the same state, we rode together a lot. And even since I moved to Iowa and got Steen, she’s played a roll in my relationship with him. She visited shortly after I got Steen in 2008 and witnessed the one and only time Steen has ever thrown me. She then… Read more »
Hackamore Heaven
I love it when the horses are out in the big pasture. I love that they get to live in such a great space. I love the view we get as we’re walking out to get them. I love tromping through the grass and seeing what the herd is up to. What I don’t love quite as… Read more »