Friday - I had a doctor appointment with a ENT trying to solve my 10-12+ week long ear infection. He thinks he has an idea of what it is and I go back in three weeks after trying some more medications. I got to the barn around 3:30 and started cleaning my stalls. A friend that works at the community college and I graduated high school with her son, came out to meet Dakota and Echo. She has a friesian gelding and an APHA mare and rides dressage so we have a lot in common despite the obvious age difference. I lunged Echo so she could see her move. We had a ground pole in the arena and Echo no longer has a fear of ground poles! She walked, trotted and cantered over it like it didn't even exist. After my friend left, I took Echo back in the arena and set up a 9" rail to see how she would go over it. She loved it and pulled a Dakota and turned around quickly after the rail and went back over it. I plan on setting up a cross rail jump at less than 12" once every 10ish days now to give her some variety in lunging. I don't want to take the free jump too fast and figure a 12" cross rail won't do much harm.
Saturday - Absolutely gorgeous day here. In the low 60's and sunny! I wish I hadn't slept so much of the day away and had gotten a chance to ride. The week finally caught up with me I think and I slept a ton. Did a few things around the barn, fed the horses and turned them out for the night since it was going to be so nice.
Sunday - Another gorgeous day in The Mitten. Once again though, I didn't go to the farm soon enough to enjoy all of the day. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say it was last day of the year we'll have temperatures above 60 and probably 50. I did manage to get there early enough to tack up Dakota and go for a ride. K was out riding her Mustang on the trails when I got there and I just thought what the heck and got Dakota ready in record time. K came back to the barn and switched out horses.
I finally got the stirrups back on my Courbette so I decided to use that since I <3 that saddle. We started in the arena to warm up both Dakota and Glitch. Dakota was great, I'm glad we're past part of his brat moments. We worked on walk / trot transitions and trot to halt transitions. I also managed to keep him in good form through a few circles at the walk and beginning at the trot. Circles are by far our biggest weakness.
We then made our way out of the barn and having two 'spooky' horses that hate riding past the dog kennel proved to be interesting. Dakota is fine with a horse that doesn't think twice about the dogs, but on this ride, he was the more 'solid' of the two. He hates to lead and K ended up getting off and walking Glitch past the dogs and Dakota followed. After that both were rocks on the trail! We walked and trotted the paths for a little bit and then K jumped glitch over the log we have for a cross country jump while I filmed her. It was a big accomplishment for them since he has had cross country trouble in the past.
By the time I was done riding, I was pretty tired and decided to pass on working Echo. She was happy to stay in her stall and fill her face with hay I think.
I finally got the stirrups back on my Courbette so I decided to use that since I <3 that saddle. We started in the arena to warm up both Dakota and Glitch. Dakota was great, I'm glad we're past part of his brat moments. We worked on walk / trot transitions and trot to halt transitions. I also managed to keep him in good form through a few circles at the walk and beginning at the trot. Circles are by far our biggest weakness.
We then made our way out of the barn and having two 'spooky' horses that hate riding past the dog kennel proved to be interesting. Dakota is fine with a horse that doesn't think twice about the dogs, but on this ride, he was the more 'solid' of the two. He hates to lead and K ended up getting off and walking Glitch past the dogs and Dakota followed. After that both were rocks on the trail! We walked and trotted the paths for a little bit and then K jumped glitch over the log we have for a cross country jump while I filmed her. It was a big accomplishment for them since he has had cross country trouble in the past.
By the time I was done riding, I was pretty tired and decided to pass on working Echo. She was happy to stay in her stall and fill her face with hay I think.
Tonight's Plans - Get off work at 5 - do homework that has to be done on campus computer as fast as possible, get to barn and clean stalls / prep them, attempt to have time to work Echo, get home to watch How I Met Your Mother and more importantly, Kentucky Basketball at 9! Yes priorities... I <3 my UK Basketball and its that time of year I start planning my life around games.
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