Last Saturday, Brian and I drove to Texas. His parents have moved to the Dallas area, and it was high time we got down there to visit. While this did mean we were away from our horses for a while, happily Buck was nearby. On Monday, we kidnapped Brian’s mother and all of us audited… Read more »
transitions
Being Firm to Be Soft
The last month or so, Brian has been using Steen as a lesson horse. This is a little odd for me, because mostly I have not been around during his lessons. There is something distinctly strange about staying home while Brian heads off to the barn to hang out with someone else while that someone… Read more »
Doing What It Takes
We stopped at the barn on the way to Chicago today. It was still soggy, still overgrown. So we rode inside. But we had the place to ourselves. That makes a big difference. I rode Laredo. I started off with some groundwork with the flag. Brian and I have both been trying very hard lately… Read more »
Steady Laredo
Robin and I were both tired heading out to the barn. It was a cool and cloudy day; I’m sure that wasn’t helping. We did feel better once we got out there and grabbed our horses. It is funny how steady and even Laredo feels after working with Zoey. Not only have we known him… Read more »
A Ride on a Different Girl
Bear seems to be over his bug. So although he’s probably still struggling with the anemia, the vet suggested getting him back into some light riding would be good. So today we set out to ride all our horses, two each. I started on Laredo in the outdoor arena. We rode him there a lot… Read more »
Hard to Title with Two Very Different Rides
We got out to the barn early on Saturday knowing we would work with a lot of horses. We were each going to ride two, and on top of that Robin would be working with a 2 year old. It was my day to work with Zoey, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that… Read more »
A Smooth Ride
We found the herd all wound up today. Laredo came walking right up to us initially but then got swept off with a group of passing horses, after which he decided not to come back. We haven’t had to reinforce the idea that Laredo should come to us when we look at him for close… Read more »
Softness and Life
These strike me as two of the most important elements in horsemanship. Over the past couple of years I have been working hard on coming to understand softness. I know I can keep getting softer (probably a LOT softer), but Bear and I have come so far in this area. What I often lack is… Read more »
The Mid-Week Rides
The weather is slowly improving and so is our motivation. So this week we got out to the barn on two afternoons. On Wednesday I rode Bear. He continues to come in feeling good and loose. The blanket has definitely been a smart choice with all the cold and damp weather we’ve had lately. I… Read more »
Refining Laredo
We managed a mid week barn trip for the first time in ages today. It was cold but sunny, and it felt great to leave town in the afternoon. I rode Laredo. Before the ride, I worked quite a bit on his head/ear issue. It’s basically reduced at this point to more of a grouchy… Read more »