While some of us were having epic blogger weekend (SO JEALOUS WANT TO GO), I ended up on a last minute road trip that had us covering 2000 miles in three days.
In case you're wondering, that is a lot of driving.
leaving early Friday
two tack stores because my dad is awesome
that moment when you wish your horse was size 4
70f with a breeze while picking fresh citrus
yeah this was a highlight
why is all the citrus in the hotel?
this is why
a hallmark of western road trips
home again
I don't have anything brilliant to say. I got home in time last night to do housework (some) and ride a little (poorly). My brain is really tired. We have a big week ahead with Courage getting bodywork and us riding in our first ever dressage clinic...
As I've complained about at length, it's been frozen hard here, then there was the melting/snowing/flooding problem.
Then we had epic winds for about 12 hours.
So beautiful
And then?
The arena dried up and my BO was able to work it for the first time this year. It was lovely.
Ears and sun and 50f!!
The little dude had taken advantage of the weather and galloped himself into a lather in the field, so I figured we didn't need a lunge or anything. Plus he is a rockstar.
I hopped on and off we went.
We did some walk/halt/walk stuff to get him listening to my leg. I tried to focus on keeping my heels down and thumbs up. Maybe someday, right?
I asked him to step up to the trot and was completely blown away. Instead of giraffing and tensing up his underline, the little man kept his body relaxed and stepped right up into the tot.
Looking oh so balanced
Hot damn.
I love this horse.
Then I just rode around the arena announcing to everyone that they had to look at how cute he was. I couldn't even believe it. Last year, we struggled a lot with him feeling behind my leg even when my eyes on the ground would tell me he was going forward.
This year?
he's my badass ottb jumper
Yeah. That 12 weeks off was good to him. Whatever lingering body soreness he had to work though must be gone, because he felt AMAZING. Forward, fluid, responsive. LOVE.
We kept is short, but he gave me some really quality work at the trot and canter. He was stretching down, stepping underneath himself, and trying hard to remember how to move off my leg.
We actually trotted a lot, but I like the canter shots
We had a lovely, wonderful canter on both leads. We stood in the middle and took pictures of the other horse going around. I tightened my girth from the saddle.
I've been dealing with a lot of stress lately, and this was just the perfect antidote. My little man did me proud and I'm still smiling about it.
It's been a long, rough winter, but this is why I dump all the blood, sweat, tears, and dollars into a horse--moments like this when the troubles of the world just fade away from a few glowing moments in the saddle. I'm so glad to be riding again.
Don't believe me? Here's a quick video of how cute he was!
It's a local sale that I've heard has really ridiculously good deals on tack. I've never been before, and I hate going new places, especially by myself, so I'm dragging Michelle along. I've got a list of things to look for, and I'm hoping for a couple steals.
It does figure that today was the first actually nice day in like two weeks, and I didn't go riding. I had other obligations this morning. Izzy will enjoy her day off, though, and I'll ride her first thing tomorrow morning. The great thing about a tack sale is that they can't possibly care if you smell like horse. It probably gives you paddock cred. (Can the words "paddock" and "cred" go in the same sentence? It seems like I'm incorrectly mixing two distinct subcultures.)
Specifically, I'm looking for a couple of saddle pads so that I can rotate them and keep at least one clean for showing only, a dressage whip, a pair of stirrup leathers, and maybe another pair of riding tights. I'll let you know if I actually find any of those things.
