Did you have fun today Dan???

I think that's a big fat YES!!!!!! Can we go again? 

Today was SOOOO much fun! I wanted to do something fun since it actually was supposed to be dry again. But I didn't know what I wanted to do. Danielle had mentioned she and Rusty might go to Hitchcock Woods and I was sort of already considering it. However, last night I was feeling like I was getting the flu or a cold and wasn't sure I wanted to drive 5 hours to trail ride. And even this morning, I woke up at 9 and sat around in bed til about 9:45... got up, fed ponies, came in and ate cereal... and then was like... You know, I think I DO want to go ride at Hitchcock. Unfortunately that meant leaving around 11 and not getting there til 2, which meant a late day coming home. But Mike was okay with it so... off we went. I also got beet pulp while I was there, which I was needing anyways, so win! 

We had an awesome time. Rusty and Danny are well matched! Dan's one of the few that could keep up with Rusty and Rusty is one of the few that can keep up with Dan. :) Seriously, in the beginning Danny was outwalking Rusty but by the end, Rusty was outwalking Dan. They trotted happily together side be side and were good sports. We did about an hour of walking with some trotting, which is harder work in the sand! Then we hit the circle of fences and decided to jump. We debated going one at a time, but I said "I'm betting they'll be fine together". HA! I had actually talked earlier to Danielle about how I thought that Dan wasn't as competitive as Fleck and I was thinking of maybe trying to take him fox hunting. So.. we started off and Dan was off like a jack rabbit! I don't know what I was thinking... other than I was trying to tack up quick cause Danielle was ready before me, but I had only put on his dressage bridle with the nathe, so..... I didn't have any brakes! So... we basically steeplechased all the fences. Sometimes I was able to keep Dan behind Rusty and sometimes I wasn't. Mostly I wasn't. And we had about 3 separate runs... By the third run either Danielle got smart and wrangled Rusty much better or Danny just really was ignoring me but she was behind us and Dan was going. hee hee. I tried to turn Dan to slow him down and almost got run over by them. I didn't realize that they were that close behind us. Ooops. We then managed to jump a jump in almost perfect unison and they were both awesome! So then Danielle wanted to quit on that jump and pulled Rusty up and I was able to get Dan slowed down to a proper BN/Nov canter over one more final jump and then I quit too. Hee hee. I guess with Rusty being a 1 star horse and Dan being... Dan... they made a good match. We laughed and said that it was probably not the best "training" for either horse, and how it was a super good thing we weren't running XC at a show the next weekend.... but it was soooo much fun! And I think both boys enjoyed it. And actually... even though the fences are a bit hard to read, Dan got the hang of them. The first few he sort of tripped over, got too deep, or ran past his distance, but then we got some fairly nice fences. I think because I was trying to hard to half halt with the nathe, and because he was able to go into the bit, I was able to sit deep and get my leg in front of me and get his withers up and we had some pretty nice fences! :) So... we'll just say it was good training after all. :) 

Then we walked the rest of the way home like proper ponies. :) Danny wasn't even that sweaty, though he was breathing heavy some of the times. I think the sand was hard on him but he bounced back super quick and was even jigging home a little bit. Although that might have been because we met up with another rider who hacked the last little bit home with us. :) So much fun!!!

So then when we got home, Dan got iced... and I figured I'd throw the ice boots on his back legs (Although.. those things suck.. they barely got his legs cold in a few spots.... I need to go back to my ice gel cells or something for the hinds)... and he got the Bemer put on and the bemer cuff on both hocks... ha ha.. Spoiled much!!!?? 

SUCH A FUN DAY!!! Now for another two days of non-stop rain supposedly. 

No sun.. but no Rain yet either

Today was supposed to be an inside paperwork catch up day, but... it didn't rain! I have ridden 6 days in a row!!!! YAHOO. Yay for Christmas break. But I put off a bunch of paperwork, and... then it didn't rain. So.. I at least worked on the schedule and got that caught up.. and then I decided that I would go ride and do paperwork later... like this weekend when it's supposed to be raining again the whole weekend. Or when it's dark. :) So we did. We went out and I was torn on whether to trail ride or dressage or jump. I opted to do some dressage because I figured the arena's might be closed for a bit.

We had a nice ride. We did a loop around the XC field to warm up and got to chat with some friends for a bit. Then we headed to the arena. We had some nice work. We got some nice lateral work and some super nice (at least they felt like they were super nice) shoulder in and travers. We got an awesome trot lengthen too!! (Probably not a true medium yet, but... ) I think anyways. I felt like I was able to sit it and still lift my core and life his withers and shoulders and encourage reach through the shoulders without getting flung out of balance.  I do think I was wiggling his nose a little bit too much in an effort to keep him from getting too big. BUT... props to me.. I don't think I was pulling his nose down. If anything, he was probably a bit too above the bit, but much better than me pulling his shoulders down. So we'll see what Cindy says. We also worked on the canter transitions. I did do the 3 loop serpentine but focused more on the canter transitions. We got some decent ones. We might be getting the hang of it. Both of us. I just need to stop overthinking it, but not entirely. My inside shoulder has to actively be back and I need to make sure I'm asking on the correct upswing of his limbs. But not more than that.. more than that and I screw it up. ;) We even had some really decent (for where we're at) canter to walk to canter figure 8's. I didn't do the whole 3 loop yet because I didn't want to confuse him. But we got some really nice transitions with very minimal trot steps and one or two without any trot steps. :) Oh, we also worked on the reinback which.. got better, but still needs some help.
 

 This picture is so cool. :) It's at the water complex in the cross country field but it looks like nothingness. :)

We did a quick video to show how squishy it was. And this is BEFORE the rain comes. Sigh...

Enjoying the sun... before 6 days of rain... AGAIN. :(

 SUNSHINE!!!! We enjoyed it while we could. Today was the last day of nice weather. The forecast shows rain for the next 6 days or so. Ugh... But today was gorgeous and Dan and I had a great ride! We did some dressage, because... well, we just did. Nothing spectacular but not too shabby either. Then we went for a nice long hack with some trotting and cantering. We didn't want to leave. BUT... I had to get back to fix the gutters on the barn before the rains.

Merry Christmas!!!

Ahhhh... what a lovely Christmas Day. Despite the fact that Mike and I never got around to getting a tree, plugging in the lights that have been on the barn for the last 2 years, hanging the stockings, or even sending Christmas cards. But it was a lovely day. We slept in. I fed the horses and took morning selfies. :)  Danny was actually more cooperative than Fleck. Then I made scrambled eggs with farm fresh eggs from a client. Then Mike and i opened gifts. I got him and I bibles so after we opened them, we read a little bit of the Bible. We had been reading Luke, a chapter a day since Dec 1st. Which was pretty cool to finish the day before. So this morning we read about his birth again in Matthew. Then we decided to go ride ponies. :) 

 

It was a pretty day and both boys were good. We just walked for about an hour. It was a nice break for Dan and I and Fleck enjoyed himself immensely. 

Mike and I enjoyed the rest of the day together and the boys even got naked time! 

After our ride Mike took a nap so I ended up cleaning out the car and then I gave Dan his Christmas present. It was a dog toy that squeaked. It was long and I thought he'd like twirling it. But... I guess he was all riled up anyways and when I squeaked it, I scared him. So he and Fleck were all snorty about it. I tossed it out there and Dan was sniffing it. And then... he picked it up mid toy, instead of at the end. And when he did, he made it squeak. Ha ha... I almost peed my pants I was laughing at him so hard. This is the look he gave me after... the look of betrayal! Oh Dan... I'm sorry buddy... 

 Christmas Eve! Rode early to get it done before Mom Searl Christmas and it was chilly!! Sunny, but windy and chilly. Did some dressage with Dan and a short quick hack to warm up and cool down. And then.. I rode Flecky too!!!

Riding with Kelli

 Met Kelli before Christmas with the Fergies. Warmed up and jumped...  Dan tripped in the two stride and recovered and jumped out without pulling a rail. Jumped the big fence at the end. Just need to get his shoulders straight and his withers up and him forward but not running. Rock back, sit up tall, and ride the big kid canter. Then went for a hack.