Riding Time

Yesterday was yet another gorgeous day. I decided that given the chance, I would pull someone out of the pens to go for a short ride up and down the driveway. Rain didn't seem all the excited so I pulled King out. He needed a thorough grooming anyway. I do have to admit that I did not put his mane back into braids.

I saddled King up with my western saddle. I had to let everything out since it's set for Rain. I'm thinking I'll leave everything set for King since Chaos will probably fit into those settings. Rain is just so small.

King and I walked around the yard for a bit. He's such an onery bugger. Any time you put a bit in his mouth he starts chewing on it. I can't figure out how to fix it. I tried a hackmore and that went all wrong. I've tried other more solid bits and he gets grumpy. My only other option is to put him into a full cheeck snaffle. I'm not sure if he's playing with the bit out of habit, stress, or what. But it's really getting frustrating. I'd much rather fix that bad habit for this trail riding season. I've let it go simply because I didn't have time to futz with him. But now that I want to actually start getting him in shape I need to do something. Otherwise he's going to drive me batty.

After riding King, I decided to pull Rain out. It was almost an effort in futility to try and catch Rain. He knew what I wanted and tried to run away. I guess I have to be the sneaky one and have him follow Bob into the barn. I think tonight I'll try to catch Rain and just groom him down, not ride him.

I threw the english saddle on Rain since the western saddle was set to King. Rain is so naughty. He must know that I can't climb up into an english saddle. I have to find some gate or fence and every time I get near he turns away so that he's facing me. I have to admit I got a little perturbed after awhile and just jumped. I landed half on his neck and half on the saddle. It wasn't graceful and I'm glad no one was around. I'm not sure if they'd be on the ground laughing or simply roll their eyes and walk away. :-)

We didn't ride for very long. Just a few laps up and down the driveway. I don't want to do anything except walk. I'm not stable enough at anything but a walk yet. There's simply no leather to an english saddle. haha But I'll keep at it.

I'm hoping tonight to pull Chaos out and futz around on him for a little while. I need to pull Brego back out and groom him down. He's actually starting to look respectable. The cowlicks and multiple hair directions are starting to get under control. Brego and Maverick's muddy pen is starting to dry out too. We are supposed to be in the 50s for the next few days so I'm hoping that the pens will dry out. My only other hope is that with Maverick and Brego walking in the mud that they get some muscle tone back. After coming back from starvation I didn't really work with them much on muscle tone. I was more focused on putting weight on them. And then winter hit and that was the end of me doing much with any of the horses. It gets so dark so darn fast. But now the weather is getting nicer and I'm outside much later. I didn't come in last night until almost 9:00pm. It's great! I'm loving all the fresh air.

This morning I got to enjoy yet another "PreDawn" show. I didn't get to see the moon since the clouds were rolling in. But the clouds made the predawn show even more spectacular. The clouds turned from a dreary gray to a magnificent pink. Wish I could have gotten a picture of it so I could share.

Hopefully tonight I can post some pics of Chaos I took last week before the blizzard. He's looking pretty good all shined up and ready to go.