As Darkness Falls

I Ride!!

I went for my swim late today. Hadn't done much else all day except watch the Tour de France and then go get feed. The feed store is about 10 miles away and I took the truck. I still have 11 bags to unload, but there's no rush on that.

I bought Chinese food on the way home, ate some and headed for the pool. Did my 10 laps, came back home.

I finally went out to ride around 8 PM. It had cooled off considerably and there was a nice breeze. Thunderstorms are predicted for early morning, so another weather front may be coming in.

I rode Chance first. He was really good. He kept his head down the whole time and was not quite as stiff on the right rein. I did not canter but did quite a bit of trot work, with two fairly long sessions of sitting trot. He is quite comfortable to ride now that his back is up under my seat. I'll say it again. He is one nice little horse.

I rode Tucker next and he started off with a good forward trot that he kept the whole ride. He is, though, setting his jaw more often than I 'd like. While I can make him soft, he will sometimes actually lock his jaw and stick his nose out against the bit, especially in a halt. Next time I ride I am going to try the flash noseband to see if it makes any difference. I am not too keen on strapping a horse's mouth closed, but this might just make it harder for him to work against me.
With him, I always get the feeling such evasions are really deliberate shows of defiance.

At the canter, though, some of the issue is his inconsistent impulsion. He can keep the canter going up and down without enough forward, using his natural ability to keep the gait without really doing too much work. When he is forward and using his hind end, he is fine to the rein, but then he cheats a little and gets stiff.

I probably should do some more longlining as I have not done any for about a month. Again, though, when it's so darn hot, I just can't drag myself out there to put on a bunch of training gear to work a horse.

As I grow older, I grow weather whimpier.

I gave Toby the night off. I'm not sure if he cared. He was out watching me work Tucker, so he may have thought he could have done it all better. I didn't even ask him if he wanted to show me, but just gave him his carrot.

I was done and back in the house by about 10:15.