04/18-22/2013

18th - Harley and I puttered around.  Walking, resting, relaxing.  NOTHING serious.  At all.

19th - Romeo and I to the vet for his annual dental check and flu shots.  That turned into a long appointment.  Full dental float, flu shots, and , "oh, he's nearly due for everything else, so let's just get it done."  Poor Mo.  I sighed as each needle got poked into his neck.  He got a full panel of all his shots.  Oof!!  When we got home, I cleaned his sheath, too.  Poor guy was ready to be done with me.

20th - Harley fail.  I rode jump saddle, without spurs.  I have learned my lesson.  I squeezed, clucked, kissed, kicked, NOTHING was holding his gas pedal down.  I argued with him quite a bit about forward.  He wasn't holding the canter without a bunch of gait breaks.  Oi vey...

21st - Harley.  Dressage. SPURS.  MUCH different horse.  I had some amazing forward trot, lots of good direction changes.  Spiral in/out at trot,  shoulder-in, leg yields.  I rode the basics of TL #1, mostly to see where our gaps were.  I rode it too early in the ride, so his stretch-downs were not what they could've been.  He did hold canter for the entire portion I asked, and while not consistently collected, at least he stayed in it.

Romeo - I caught him, got him to the trailer, groomed, and had a sense to check my phone just before I saddled him.  Steve the Hay man had sent a message, that he was ready for me to pick up my hay.  Shucks, Mo.  Off you go back to pasture.  By the time I loaded, unloaded, 40 square bales, I didn't have the ommf to ride Mo.  Instead, my stubborn self went to a local garden nursery, loaded up on top soil and plants, and planted my little feet off.  sigh ...

22nd - Romeo.  Trail walk down the road, bareback.  He was dragging all weekend, slow and lazy. Last night wasn't any different.  He is sloughing off a layer of sole right now on almost all four hooves, so he was a little sensitive on the rocks.  Still, I was guiding him down the dirt road with mostly all leg cues.  We walked on by the house, and at the new "neighbor's" pasture, he turned into it.  I let him pick through the grass pasture, and when he aimed to go between their property and his hot fence, I saw about a 3' gap, and pretty much loosened the reins and let him go.  Mo picked through some soft dirt piles, tall grass and a little brush, and came out in my side yard.  He let out a heavy sigh, licking & chewing.  He loves that sort of stuff -- picking his way through a narrow trail, or better yet, making his own path where there isn't one.