November 11, 2008

God, what a crummy night. Thankfully I'm only referring to the current weather (butt effing cold and raining) and not to my time with Blaze tonight. Sometimes I feel like if I skip some rides/outings then I need to play catch up, but that's boring and I might hurt my brain trying to do all that recollecting. Tonight was a blast. I got off of work early in hopes of catching a little daylight, which I did. I now have him on a Weight Builder supplement, because he was looking a little ribby and I don't want there to be any chance he'll be cold and uncomfortable this winter. I would put him on beet pulp, but that has to be soaked and I don't have time to do that before getting out to the barn, at any point but weekends. I'd love to get him on some chaff, but the feed store I go to didn't have any. When Darlene makes her next feed run I'm going to see if she can look for some for me. I also need to find out if the geldings have a salt lick in their pasture-my boy needs his sodium!

He was a little bit of a butthead last time I rode: trying to pop his mouth forward and drop out of a gait (usually the trot) and he really wanted to turn back toward the gate and stop. It was frustrating. Tonight was much better. Amber and Jet were riding in the arena with us. He did try a few of those little tricks but I kept driving him forward with my legs and that helped for the most part. I am being really conscious of my hands and making sure that I'm not jerking his mouth at the trot or doing anything to provoke his actions, and I don't think that I am...hopefully the lesson I'm taking this Saturday will aid me in figuring it out. We did some nice little canter work both ways, but I'm catching myself standing a little in the stirrups so I don't come down and bang on his back. I really need someone to lunge him for me at the canter so I can work on sitting it well. He was a good boy though, and time really flies when you're having fun. I checked my watch to make sure we warmed up sufficiently, and the next time I checked we'd been riding for 45 minutes! Not bad for a Tuesday night in a dark arena with only 1 overhead light. I'm happy to know that we can easily ride in the arena after dark. He did stumble over a couple of rocks but nothing bad.

I ordered some all-natural hoof dressing and am pretty stoked for that to arrive. He is never thrilled to have his back feet picked (and I think tries to make up for that by immediately lifting his front feet the minute I touch his leg), and I want to make sure that his hooves are well protected come regular snow. Speaking of snow, we rode in snow last weekend! Nothing on the ground, just little flurries in the air. It was beautiful.

I have a gratin to pull out of the oven, but I probably won't be able to ride again until Thursday because of this shitty weather. boooooo...