Bringing up Baby: It is well.... with my soul....

It's amazing what normalized hormones, sunshine, and a good 2 hour long trail ride can do for your soul. Ahhhhhhh..... I feel better.

I was supposed to have another lesson with Marian... because... boot camp! I'm going to fix this! Or at least give it a fighting chance. But... a client didn't realize her appointment was today so that made me late, which meant I didn't make my lesson, so... change of plans. I ate cheese dip and salsa and then went for a hack. :) It was actually quite lovely! I was able to work on my fitness and Dan and I haven't been on a long hack in quite some time. Not like we used to. And certainly not without the dressage or jump ride before hand. So.. it was awesome!

We started out and happened upon Laura and her kids and chatted briefly! Dan and I both were wearing our green because it's St. Patricks Day. I joked that Laura's horse wasn't and Dan was going to pinch him and then 2 seconds later Tom squealed and struck out with a front leg and Laura's daughter said "I think Dan did pinch Tom!". ha ha... They were on their way to a lesson so we parted ways.

Dan and I hit the woods and the fields and the creeks and did some two point work for me. It's actually not as bad as I thought if I can just get my leg where it belongs, which is apparently ever so slightly in front of me. Then my leg just snuggles in and I'm much more strong and secure than I thought. But it was still a lot of resting in between. We did some trotting and cantering but Dan was being a bit of a slug so... we did lots of walking too. He's getting so grown up though. We were back by the "Hooky" trail and heard a commotion. He stopped and looked for a bit but then when nothing happened and I closed my leg, he trekked off. We came upon two guys working on a downed fence. And Dan sort of shied around their truck but carried on happily. We had a little canter in the Halfshire field... and then did some hills and more hills. Then we had another little happy canter up the wooded path and then went down the creek path. Then we went to the far creek crossing and took that path. We finished up in the XC field and ran into Laura and the girls again, so we hacked back to Halfshire with them. We stopped in the lake and splashed a bit. And.... I don't know how he did it... because I swear he was deep enough that he couldn't have rubbed it off on his face... and I'm almost positive he didn't rub it off on the pony... but suddenly Dan's bonnet was in the lake, along with his entire bridle. He literally just spat it off his head! I pulled on the reins and got his bridle up out of the lake... and Dan started to play with the bonnet and even grabbed it in his mouth, but then he spit it back out. Doh! Luckily Eliza was able to grab it. So.. then I'm just sitting there trying to figure out if I can reach down Dan's long neck to put his bridle back on and he's just sitting there.. half heartedly chewing on Eliza's pony. Ha ha. They got out of the lake and Dan followed so then I jumped off and put his bridle on. He was totally chill and fine. Ha ha... Then I had to carry his soaking wet bonnet though.

We carried on our trail ride and then when we got back to Halfshire Dan and I turned around and headed back home. Ahhhhh..... it was great! 2 whole hours hacking in the gorgeous sunshine... green grass... blue skies... birds... flowering plants... It was glorious!