Finally, a Nice Weekend

Sunny Saturday with the pup

Finally - the 50's! The temperature has been a little bit more consistent, but the nights still feel like winter at times. It's just so damp which makes things so much worse (and soggy). Saturday and Sunday were busy for me with running around and making plans so I didn't get in much riding time. The dryer decided to break right when I was going to leave so I had to hang everything which took up more of the time I had to ride. It's always something, right? For whatever reason, I found the motivation, and I'll say it was the sun. The goal was just to have Spyder cooperate and not give in to his fussiness. I'm not sure why he's been so sour, but I have been, too. It seems when you put in more riding time, that mood always turns around.

GREEN!

Both days, I worked on the track since I wanted to remind Spyder of our exercises. I started Saturday with a dressage whip, and he was already a better listener just holding it. Another boarder that hasn't been out in a while was riding her trail horse on the track, and she was having some listening and "up" issues. I wished I had time to ride with her, but I had to get home to get ready for beer fest - priorities. We did a lot of walk, halt, trot, halt, back, and I felt like I had to really lay into his mouth to get him going backwards. I feel bad having to go back to these basic commands, but it's best to "start over" until the baby horse's mind can catch up to his adolescent self once again. We also did a lot of open rein turns in both directions and some were even in a tight canter. He certainly kept his feet moving with the whip in hand! I find it funny because he acted like he couldn't do it in our lesson earlier in the week. He knew I meant business that ride. I had about 30 minutes of really testing him before I had to cool out and head back.

Smoke over blueberry fields

Sunday, I had a very short ride because I had breakfast with my parents, sister, and her boyfriend and was heading into Philly for lunch. The sun was shining, but like the day before, the wind made it feel cooler. Spyder wanted to buck SO bad, and so we turned and turned until he decided to chill out. I had 20 minutes in total so we worked on transitions again. I did get in some cantering with angry ears, but no buck! I wasn't feeling my finest since I was running off little sleep and even less hydration so I took it easy and ended it when he was nice and calm. We cooled out, and I snapped a photo of the green grass. It's finally starting to grow and makes life feel so much happier. On the way home from Philly, there was a HUGE fire which I found out burned what they think was 1,500 acres. They were working on controlling it through Monday. It was in a remote part of the forest which took 35 minutes for fire crews to get to, and they still don't know what caused the fire. It was back behind Batsto where there are no homes, but it is still devastating to the area.

In total, Saturday was just .75 miles because of all of the stopping and standing that was nearly 40 minutes of boring! Sunday was a bit more exciting with 1.5 miles in 20 minutes. I really want to surpass my March count for miles, but I feel like this month has so much going on that I won't be able to do as many long rides. I do need to keep conditioning for our hunter pace the first weekend in May but not nearly what I thought I had to do for the 30 that didn't happen. Hopefully in the fall, I can get back in gear and do a 15 or 25, but horse life will depend on the trailer status for the time being. The picture for miles is for both riding and a few shorter dog walks. We've been taking the dog to the lake by our house and to Bass River State Park so he can get some off-leash running time. It wears him out fast!

He watches TV

Few weeks ago at the lake by our house

Older shot of Kaiden being "free" in Bass River.