Busy Night Riding

I finally had the chance to ride last night. Part of the herd was up when I went to let Joe and Thor out on the lawn pasture. So I decided I'd see who exactly had come up. Maverick was hanging out so I opened the barn door and he gladly walked in. Then I decided I'd be brave and snag Maverick's best friend Jim.

I've had Jim now for seven months and have not yet ridden him. When we first brought Jim home the weather was terrible. December is not the time to buy a horse. We had all that snow and then he started dropping weight. It wasn't until this spring that he started gaining weight. By that time I was wrapped up with wedding stuff. So it's taken me until last night to actually ride him.

I decided I'd start out with Maverick since I know what to expect with him (in the drylot). We puttered around for a short time. But I was really itching to try Jim out. I was a little worried that he'd be too much. I remember trying him out and there wasn't much control. I was more of a passenger. So knowing how I felt when I rode him to try him out I figured there might be some issues. So I round penned him and then hopped on. He's a cadillac... and a trained one at that!

All this time I've been putting off riding him. He's going to be one I'll grab more often. His slow walk is a bit uncomfortable but put him into a fast walk/amble and it's smooth as silk. I'm not sure why I didn't have any control when I tried him out. When I hopped on last night I could tell he was really well trained. Voice commands are superb on him. "Whoa" and he stops immediately. Cluck to him and he moves into a faster pace. I didn't want to go any faster than his amble but I could ride him all day. I'm sure I didn't have much control before because his previous rider was a teenage girl who liked to ride hard. I'm now to the point where slow is good!

I did decided to ride Maverick one more time. So I pulled Jim out (we didn't ride that much), and I round penned Maverick again. I got him into a lope this time... darn horse is so lazy. But when I swung up on him, he acted even slower! I got him into a slow trot for a few paces and then he stumbled and went to his knees for a good half dozen steps. Of course, me not reacting very well, just rode it out. Maverick wasn't upset and didn't get startled. I did swing off afterwards to check his legs... nothing wrong! Dang lazy horse.

So now I'm debating on if I'll ride him on this weekend's Poker Ride. After yesterday's ride I was thinking maybe not. But the weatherman said it was going to be 92 on Saturday. If there is any pee and vinegar in him, the heat will suck it out of him. So now I don't know what to do.

I can't take Rain because of his heat exhaustion/heat stroke issues. I don't want to take Zeke because he lugged me around all last weekend. I could easily take him but there's others that need to be ridden. King's sore muscles are back and I don't have shoes on him. Jim doesn't cross water and I know we have at least one water crossing (and he's out of shape for a long ride). Sam is out of shape and it will be too hot for him. That leaves me with Chaos and Maverick. We'll see which one I finally decide to ride. I guess it depends on if Dad comes along.

I was brave and left Joe and Thor out on the lawn pasture last night. The grass is much more lush there than in their pasture. Their pasture is pretty well dried up. Normally I would pull them but there isn't any other place for me to put them except on the lawn. The lawn is just two strands of electric and I prefer something a bit more stable.

But I guess it will have to do. The lawn grass is pretty thick and they can get out of the wind/rain if they so choose. So all in all, it's not a bad spot to keep them for the next few days. I don't know if they'll polish off the grass fast or not. But I'm planning on leaving them in the "lawn pasture" for at least a week before I put them back into their old pasture. I hope that by doing it this way, the old pasture will come back. It had old grass that wasn't very thick. So my hope is that the grass will come back thicker if I pull the horses off for a week.

I'm really excited for this weekend's trail ride, if not a little nervous and undecided on who to take. It will be so nice to ride. I'm going to get spoiled having three weekends in a row riding. Last weekend was camping and trail ride. This weekend is a trail ride. And next weekend is the Colton Trail Ride and parade. I'll pass on the parade but would like to attend the trail ride. I've not been on it before. If it's in the morning I'm not sure if I'll take Rain. Zeke seems to be my "Go To Guy" for all new trail rides not associated with the Lake County Saddle Club.

I am starting to see a lot of cheap horses listed on Craigs List and on Kelo. It makes me wonder what this fall/winter will be like. I'm kicking myself for not ordering more hay. I may have to see if I can't get more. I'd rather have too much than not enough. More hay means more horses that can be saved. Of course I've run out of stalls so I'll have to come up with some type of plan. Seems I'm always coming up with some type of plan these days! :-)