Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Horsey weekend.

I had a busy, fun weekend. Well, mostly. I had a deadline to meet for Tuesday, so I worked at home on Saturday. It was okay though because the weather was terrible anyway and it meant I wasn't worried about it for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday I rode Edgar. He was a pain in the ass at first! I wasn't really surprised because I didn't ride him the weekend before due to hard rain most of the weekend. What did surprise me was that as soon as he was under saddle he behaved much better. His balance is getting better but still needs lots of work. He IS listening better and will keep a nice even trot for quite a while now. Still tends to get "anxious" at first and wants to do a crazy jackhammer trot, but he is learning. Now, all I have to do is take a deep breath and sit deep and he calms down. I was probably tensing up before, making it worse, so this exercise works for both of us. Still mostly walk-trot-halt transitions in any multitude of combinations. Also, I think our circles were actually circular!

Here is an old picture, to give you something to look at.


I had some extra time so I also rode Edgar's 17 yr old grandmother. She was...interesting. A little herd bound, a little stubborn. Ok, a lot stubborn. Reminded me of my first few rides on Edgar. Bah! I kept it short and as soon as I had calm forward for a minute or two, I quit for the day.




Sunday, Sasha and I went up to the farm to help with spring planting. I didn't get many photos because we were too busy and dirty! Of course, I mostly went to ride :) Cherokee was moved back a few weeks ago and I was anxious to try him out. He's had regular work all winter but no riding. He was SO much better than last spring when he hadn't been ridden ALL winter. He didn't spook once and he listened and was a real pleasure to ride. I was surprised. I think it also helps that he has a little friend here now. Here are the two of them.


Copper belonged to a neighbour who lost his job but, lucky him, he was offered a home at the farm. It's good for both of them. Plus, they match! The downside is they get upset when one is removed from the pasture. Oh well, they will have to deal with it.


I worked with four horses (well, 3.5) on the weekend so I can't complain. We also did a good thing by helping out around the farm. They needed the help and we love the work and air.

2 comments:

HorseOfCourse said...

Yeah, that sound like a real horsey weekend! Bet you slept soundly Sunday night, lol!

Grey Horse Matters said...

You were busy but it's a good kind of busy. Seems like you had a great time.