Three Outs

Lovely Day For A Hack or Three

Yesterday, Sunday, was booked up with singing and lunch. I only went out with the choir crowd because an old friend was dropping by. That took up enough of the afternoon after church that I had to get home in time to check my dress out for the evening.

I was singing, dressed in a colonial gown, at a speech on slavery in New Jersey presented by my good partner in preservation, James. His daughter was singing one song, and I two to accompany his talk. James and I have done this before, so despite its being a last minute request, it was easy to do. It was a great evening.

Today, the weather was warm again, and dry. I put the Boys out in the morning, let them enjoy the sunshine and went out later in the afternoon to ride.

Tcuker was up first, and I worked him just for a short time in the arena. He may be a little "off" on his left front, but if so, it is so slight, I hardly notice it. It may be my paranoia, but until I am sure, I don't want to work him too hard. The better part of it was that he was just fine to canter on both leads. Whatever was bothering him in the hind end doesn't seem to be a problem now.

Then, I took him out on a hack in the woods. The leaves were crunchy underfoot and the air was delightfully warm in the fading sun. It was a perfect ride.

Chance and I worked next with a solid little session in the arena. My goal was first to work him until he stopped trying to bend his way to the gate going out to the woods. He will either try to go to the gate or slow down almost to a stop when we get there, making it really obvious that he wants to go out on a hack. The second part of the goal was to start getting him more reliably soft on the rein. He tends to lean on his right rein and shoulder, so I did some suppling to work that out a bit. Once I had made some headway on both goals, I headed out for a nice ride through the woods.

When I got back to the barn, Toby was making it clear that he too wanted some attention by coming into the aisle of the barn every time I left a stall gate open. On the second entry, I put a halter on him, finished up with Chance and then saddled up. Truth be told, Toby seemed quite pleased to be a part of the action.

Out on the trails, Toby was the perfect gentleman, quite unlike the other day when I had to take him home on foot. He was settled down before we left as the other two Boys were hanging around close by, and when we left, Tucker was in the arena, supervising as we went out the gate.

Beautiful weather and three good horses to ride. It was definitely a worthwhile day.

I've left Tucker out for the evening. The mud is drying up, although it's not all gone, but I am hoping he will keep his shoe on in the meantime.