Dawson Butte

Z and I met friends at Dawson Butte today. Rode 10 really fast miles! Z is such an awesome horse and she's just built for endurance. We did 10 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes, with walking and stopping on occasion. I had a great time with my girl. She loaded in the trailer with zero anxiety and unloaded the same way at the trail head. Her trailer nervousness seems to be settling. The practice we've done at home must be helping, as well.

I also brought home the first training horse I've had in a while. I decided to focus on my horses this summer and an opportunity came along for a 30 day training commitment. Kholo is a very nice Arab gelding that just needs some softness and bridle time. His owner will be riding with me once a week while her horse is here so they can develop some new skills together. This will be a very fun project and this is a really great partnership (Kholo and Melissa).

Melissa and I will be riding 30 miles together at the Happy Jack endurance ride in Wyoming next month. Really, really looking forward to that!

Kris came over and trimmed Rain and Starlet. Rain is shedding frog and had some thrush going on. I will soak her this week. We did not have time to play with Rio, unfortunately.

Focusing on good posture

I played with Z in the arena, then Z and Gem around the south pasture. Zarah and I played with improving her posture in the trot and then trot/canter transitions. She tends to want to get strung out and tip her nose up in the transitions and I believe it's time to help her power from behind and keep her back solid and round. She did make some positive changes and ended up cantering with her head a little lower than I wanted, but I encouraged the change as it will be easier to flex her a little higher. Her canter felt much nicer this way and we'll continue to play with that way of going.

After the arena time, we ponied Gem around the south pasture following the rail. I was asking Z to trot with elevation and be round and flexed vertically. This was more challenging with a pony horse but good to get them both moving.

I really wanted to ride Gem, but the rains came (as they've been doing every... single... day...). The grass is gorgeous and green!! The mosquitos are starting to appear and the track has the largest water crossing I've ever seen. No complaints - it's been neat to see my property this wet.

I also trimmed Z and really focused on the quarters on her hinds. I was a little worried she'd be sore from the change, but she felt fine. Her hinds looked better so we'll see if they function better, as well.

Left Leads and Forward Energy

Rode Gem in the arena and after a few minutes, decided to do our practice in the front pasture. We worked on the free walk, a nice forward trot and then left lead canter. Got some nice lead cantering going! That was a big deal and I could tell he was understanding that left cantering meant left lead over the course of our riding. I was really thrilled with his changes! We got a nice, energetic trot in the front pasture, too.

Fun ride, but short. More tomorrow.