Another Wednesday has come and is mostly gone. Today I got to work an extra day at my riding job, so I was horsing around 🙂 Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun. But its okay, I have a really bad sunburn on my neck and shoulders for it. Maybe puns are my coping technique… People who know me, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know.

So back to today. I got to ride more horses today. I started my day off with Sunny. A nice little horse who wound up being lame today. So I didn’t really ride him for too long, once I realized that he was lame I dismounted. He did get shoes yesterday, so we are hoping that he’s just a bit tender from the shoeing and doesn’t have a hot nail or anything like that. His owner doesn’t deal well when the horses are off, even for little things. So I’m hoping he improves by tomorrow. But here is Sunny.

After taking care of Sunny I moved onto my next horse, Missy. Missy is a nice horse whom I’ve never worked with before. But she has lots of experience and new what she was doing. For me she seemed a bit heavy on the forehand and was a bit stiff. She still moved off my leg really nice and did everything that I asked of her, but again, was just stiff and heavy. She has a good forward trot and a nice canter, but she is reluctant to use her hind end when she canters so you have to do a few exercises to get her to engage it.

Apparently she’s a good jumper, and gets her spots no matter where you place her. Short, long, perfect, she’ll jump it and make it look like it was the perfect take off spot. She doesn’t like jumping with lazy riders. People who expect the horse to do all the work. She wants you right there with her, working with her. So if you’re a lazy rider she won’t do a lot for you and apparently won’t give you her best. Hopefully I didn’t come across as a lazy rider to her.

So here is Missy.

After Missy who was a good girl, I got to ride Shermon. I’ve ridden him once before, he’s the draft cross that I talked about in one of my other blog entries. He’s a big horse with really smooth gaits, but he  doesn’t like you hanging on the right rein. Just a light contact with the right and then normal contact with the left. Once I figured it out he was really easy to bend and to engage his hind end.

But here’s the most exciting part, for me anyway. We got to jump! True, it was over small x’s and flower boxes, nothing bigger than 2’6″, but it was still fun. A few strides out you have to sit up really straight and wrap your leg around him, encouraging him on. Then boing, over the fence you go! I made sure not to pop him in his mouth on the landing side, he doesn’t like that. Like really doesn’t like it. Grab the bit and run doesn’t like it. So I made sure to stay in my 2 point for a stride or two after the fence so I didn’t pop him in the mouth. But I had so much fun with him and he was such a nice ride and such a good boy. I hope I get to ride and jump him again soon.

Here is Shermon.

After Shermon came Cherokee, a little gaited horse. I don’t know what breed. I know that he is timid and runs away from you if you don’t approach him right. Yes, that happened to me even though I was warned. I guess I didn’t talk to him enough or moved a little too fast for his taste. But I just lunged him. Got some bucks and kicks out of him, but otherwise he just trotted and did his funny little gaited… gait.

So here is Cherokee.

While I was letting him walk to cool down my boyfriend showed up and surprised me. It was nice. I introduced him to my boss just continued to work. My next horse was Tally, who I didn’t get a good photo of. Maybe I will get one of her next week. I gave her a bath because she is going to a horse show tomorrow and my boss wanted her to look her best. So with the warm water and shampoo and off I went, giving her a bath. My boyfriend hung out for most of his lunch with me, while I was giving Tally a bath. He left while I was still giving her a bath, only taking a short lunch. But I really appreciated the visit.

After I was done with work I went and saw my boy, Gucci. I have to admit it wasn’t as good of a visit as either of us would have liked. I was exhausted and Gucci still hasn’t gotten his hind feet done yet. So I’m hesitant to take him out. Which reminds me I have to poke him today. The farrier, not Gucci. Although I did poke him to give him attention. He’s still kind of mad at me. Hopefully I’ll be able to give him more and better attention tomorrow.

Today is also Day 2 of working out. So I still have to do my wall sits and my planks, and I’m counting my horse riding as more cardio today too.

But hey, I’ve already made more progress that I did last time. I’m onto day 2! Yay!

I’m still on my Doctor Who kick. I’m now on the second season, the first season of David Tennant. Who is my Doctor next to Sylvester McCoy. But I think I’ve already gone into that numerous times.

Just keep swimming!