FINALLY! After 14 days grounded, I got to ride today! It was a warm, sunny day (66 degrees) so Sam was calm and slightly sleepy. But he was responding well. After a warmup, I jumped the tiny black several times, both uphill and downhill (we have a slight slope) in both trot and canter. No weird, inappropriate swapping of leads, YAY!
And then I decided to canter the red - which afterwards I measured it at 2'3" which is where I left off before winter set in and my lessons were seriously restricted.
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| The black jump and the red 2'3" vertical |
He kept a nice rolling pace throughout and when he was getting fast going downhill, he was responsive to my half-halts. :)
With rain and now sunshine, we have some nice grass growth everywhere so, some hand grazing was in order.
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| nom nom nom |
His spring coat is taking its time (I'm sure it's confused with our weird weather last few months) and he has some guard hairs and has that almost hairless dog look, but with fuzzy legs and head. And the darker, dense hair, baby patchy spots on his flanks. :/
So, I went back to the barn later that evening (yay daylight savings!) and full body clipped him. Now he looks like this:
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| photo from the interwebz |
JUST KIDDING! But how awesome would that be!? Maybe next year...
Glad to hear that you had a good ride and Sam was responsive to you and your half halts. After 14 days, I know quite a few horses who wouldn't have behaved that well. Good boy Sam!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great ride! These past couple of days have been beautiful, maybe spring actually is coming.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good ride! Nothing is better than getting to ride in nice, sunny weather after freezing all winter :)
ReplyDeleteYay for back to riding!
ReplyDeleteThat clip job is awesome and yay back to riding!
ReplyDeleteYay for riding! And also, that clip is awesome and Sam would look fantastic with wings, haha
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo! Awesome to be back in the saddle!
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