After 15 minutes of just sitting there, I got up and headed to the house. Did a few things inside and then headed back to the barn. I had a hot date with a gorgeous boy planned.
Saddled him up, longed him a bit and climbed aboard, chose not to use the fence tonight so that meant I had to STRETCH that leg up to the stirrup. Hey, I was pretty dang proud that I can still stretch that high :) Whoo hoo, he felt great. Started at a nice walk in the roundpen and built that up to a trot. He was getting reacquainted with his bit..I’ve been riding him with a halter lately. Once we came to terms on that, we trotted and trotted and trotted. I’m starting to get in sync with him, he’s a different ride and feel than Cora is, as I’ve stated so many times. Trotted in circles, trotted in figure 8’s, reversed directions and all of that was with him moving off my leg like he should be doing. He was extremely light and responded fast at every cue that I gave. Princess Cora stood by the barn sunning herself, but I could tell she was still watching. Newt was also out with us watching what was going on. After working in the roundpen, I decided that my boy was going to take me to town, which is only about 1 mile.
Feeling 10 feet tallCora wasn’t too pleased and voiced her displeasure as we headed down the driveway. I saw her a few times racing around in the pen, tail flagged and not a happy camper.
I started out by just hand walking him down the drive. I didn’t know what kind of reaction I’d get from him with Cora screaming in the background. Plus, he hadn’t been rode down the drive in quite some time…playing it safe especially when I am the only one home! Got to the end of the drive, dropped him in the ditch and climbed on. Things were going good until a car was speeding towards us. I stopped him and got off and continued to walk. Thankfully the car slowed as they got closer and AJ was his good steady self as it went by. He got a little more high as we walked towards town but I didn’t mind, I needed the walking exercise too. Once to town, we circled around and headed back. He was still high so I did some big circles and had him going all over the place to get him to come back down. He did and I finally got back on. Rode the next quarter mile to the driveway and decided to hand walk him back to the barn. I was extremely pleased with his attitude tonight.
The Six O’Clock whistle blew, wow, that hour went fast and my dogs were voicing their displeasure of not being fed yet. Headed in for a bit, fed the dogs and then saw that there was a chance of rain tonight. Dang it, I really didn’t want to go back out and scoop the pen but decided that it should be done before the weather comes in.
Spent another 45 minutes out there scooping the stall and spreading poop. Looks like we will be having a Canada goose pair living on the pond next to the pasture. They flew in real low over the horses and landed on the pond. Moji was entranced by them as they honked and flew by.
Hubby finally got home around 7:30 so I went back in for a bit. Made something to eat, wasn’t really hungry but needed something.
At 8:00, I was still having the urge to ride so grabbed Cora’s bridle out of the trailer and pulled her out. Didn't take time to saddle and I wanted her body heat to help keep me warm. She wasn’t too pleased with my idea so we headed to the arena to ‘warm’ up. After that, we headed down the road and over to the alfalfa field. Saw a large herd of deer grazing by the pond, couldn’t see if there were any bucks with the group.
The clouds were really starting to come in and I could feel/smell rain in there. It was time to head back home. Even when I got back I wasn’t ready to call it quits riding, I just wanted to keep savoring my ride time. Took Cora out to the pasture instead. Figured if I did fall off, she was contained and hopefully someone – HUBBY- would come looking for me. Of course I didn’t have my reflective vest on, that would have been smart, but I did have my helmet! **Note to self, bring reflective vest to barn and have it handy! A spotlight could see it a mile a way.
Took her around the perimeter of the field about 5 times. The last time around, I asked for a lope going up the hill to the road, she gave it to me for about 3 strides and then dropped back down to a trot. She's a great babysitter and I normally don't ask her to lope when riding bareback! We trotted the entire length of the west fence and back down the hill. At the bottom, and I knew she’d lope here. Grabbed a handful of mane, held the reins with my other hand and gripped with my thighs. We were off!!! This wasn’t her pretty slow collected lope, it was almost a full gallop up the hill, in the dark and me having 150% trust that she will take care of me. Oh my, I can get addicted to that rush, it was like flying.
By the time I was ready to quit, my fingers were froze. I’ve got my fill in for the time being, just enough to get me through the next few days when the weather turns bad again.
I started out by just hand walking him down the drive. I didn’t know what kind of reaction I’d get from him with Cora screaming in the background. Plus, he hadn’t been rode down the drive in quite some time…playing it safe especially when I am the only one home! Got to the end of the drive, dropped him in the ditch and climbed on. Things were going good until a car was speeding towards us. I stopped him and got off and continued to walk. Thankfully the car slowed as they got closer and AJ was his good steady self as it went by. He got a little more high as we walked towards town but I didn’t mind, I needed the walking exercise too. Once to town, we circled around and headed back. He was still high so I did some big circles and had him going all over the place to get him to come back down. He did and I finally got back on. Rode the next quarter mile to the driveway and decided to hand walk him back to the barn. I was extremely pleased with his attitude tonight.
The Six O’Clock whistle blew, wow, that hour went fast and my dogs were voicing their displeasure of not being fed yet. Headed in for a bit, fed the dogs and then saw that there was a chance of rain tonight. Dang it, I really didn’t want to go back out and scoop the pen but decided that it should be done before the weather comes in.
Spent another 45 minutes out there scooping the stall and spreading poop. Looks like we will be having a Canada goose pair living on the pond next to the pasture. They flew in real low over the horses and landed on the pond. Moji was entranced by them as they honked and flew by.
Hubby finally got home around 7:30 so I went back in for a bit. Made something to eat, wasn’t really hungry but needed something.
At 8:00, I was still having the urge to ride so grabbed Cora’s bridle out of the trailer and pulled her out. Didn't take time to saddle and I wanted her body heat to help keep me warm. She wasn’t too pleased with my idea so we headed to the arena to ‘warm’ up. After that, we headed down the road and over to the alfalfa field. Saw a large herd of deer grazing by the pond, couldn’t see if there were any bucks with the group.
The clouds were really starting to come in and I could feel/smell rain in there. It was time to head back home. Even when I got back I wasn’t ready to call it quits riding, I just wanted to keep savoring my ride time. Took Cora out to the pasture instead. Figured if I did fall off, she was contained and hopefully someone – HUBBY- would come looking for me. Of course I didn’t have my reflective vest on, that would have been smart, but I did have my helmet! **Note to self, bring reflective vest to barn and have it handy! A spotlight could see it a mile a way.
Took her around the perimeter of the field about 5 times. The last time around, I asked for a lope going up the hill to the road, she gave it to me for about 3 strides and then dropped back down to a trot. She's a great babysitter and I normally don't ask her to lope when riding bareback! We trotted the entire length of the west fence and back down the hill. At the bottom, and I knew she’d lope here. Grabbed a handful of mane, held the reins with my other hand and gripped with my thighs. We were off!!! This wasn’t her pretty slow collected lope, it was almost a full gallop up the hill, in the dark and me having 150% trust that she will take care of me. Oh my, I can get addicted to that rush, it was like flying.
By the time I was ready to quit, my fingers were froze. I’ve got my fill in for the time being, just enough to get me through the next few days when the weather turns bad again.
I'm turning into an Adrenalin Junkie!!
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