As much as I loved the photo of Steen’s rump that was featured on this website for a good long while, it was time for a redesign. And this time it came with a larger project. I’ve redesigned my blog, Brian’s blog, and built a little website to attach them together. The website is amatuervaquero.com.… Read more »
Zoey
A Few Cold Rides
Cold came early this year, and I am still far enough away from hitting my goal of 200 hours in the saddle that I can’t let weather derail me. Nevertheless, the weekends of spending hours at the barn and riding multiple horses is behind us for the season. I can deal with one bitterly cold… Read more »
Laredo and the Five Horse Arena
As I’ve mentioned before, the indoor arena at our barn is on the small side. I am not complaining about its size. I am grateful to have a place to ride in the winter, even if it’s not ideal. Still, the fact that it is small comes into play to influence our rides sometimes. Today… Read more »
Muffled
Winter has arrived in earnest, and a good deal earlier than usual, too. The good news is I don’t find cold nearly as off-putting as I used to. My windproof insulated breeches plus my leather chinks provide a pretty impenetrable suit of armor for my lower body, and I have insulated boots and insulated gloves… Read more »
Getting to 200
At the end of 2012, when Brian and I talked about our riding goal for the next year, we picked something that would be difficult. We agreed 200 hours would be a stretch. Of course, we’re aware some people ride 200+ hours in a week, but considering we both have full time jobs that don’t… Read more »
Two Interrupted Rides
We got a fair bit of rain last week, and there were some storms forecast the weekend as well. The farrier was out on Thursday, and all four of our horses got their feet trimmed. Zoey is healing slowly. Brian rode her briefly last Sunday, but she was favoring her injured leg a tad at… Read more »
Zoey Update
In some ways, our summer with Zoey hasn’t gone at all as planned. After a trim a few weeks ago, she was a bit footsore. We gave her some time off. When she got over that, she had a strained stifle or hock. We gave her some more time off. As soon as that cleared… Read more »
Summer Riding
Robin posted a while ago about how amazing our July weather was. It didn’t last. The second half of the month was very hot, and we didn’t get quite as much riding in. But now August is back to great temps. We spent some really long days at the barn this weekend. Saturday’s ride ended… Read more »
The One Where I Almost Get Bucked Off
There we were, loping up a beautiful grassy hill; Robin was on an energetic but attentive Steen, and I was riding a happy to be out but somewhat lethargic Laredo. The temps were in the 60’s and a strong wind was blowing out of the north. It felt like late September. And then Laredo threw… Read more »
And the Heat Hits
It’s been a hot week, with heat index readings into the range where they recommend you be careful with your horses. The nights haven’t been cooling off, which means they don’t have a chance to recover from the brutal days. We’ve been taking it easy. Saturday It was Duke Day, and all our horses were… Read more »