Second Closet

Another Two Bags of Clothes

OK, this was the horse clothes closet. How many pairs of breeches does one person need?

The collection has grown over the last ten years or so. Talk about excess. I sorted and now have it to a reasonable number. Now all I have to do is figure out how to store what's left. I bought a few plastic bins and so far they are working well. So all I have to do is organize things.

As for the horses....I went out to feed this morning and Chance was missing. Again, he had undone the ties holding the corral panel at the end of the shed and escaped. He was out happily grazing covered in dirt from rolling in the paddock.

I fed and put him back in, resecuring the panel with some good ties and knots.

Went out later to lunge him to see how sound he was and all the ties were undone. Mind you, this was not chew through, but untied knots! Someone has really clever lips.

At present, I have given up. I lunged him just a little and he still is not quite even, but he is not really lame either. I am going to monitor him over the next few days and if he shows more unsoundness, I am going to have to drag one of the larger corral panels over there and fasten it with chains--and padlocks if necessary. *lol* The gate panel I am using is a little shorter than the other panels and just fills the gap. The larger panel will fill it with panel to spare. I must admit it is kind of funny thinking of Chance untying those little knots. Well, at least he wasn't bored.

I rode Toby for a good session, with lots of trot to start getting him more fit. Gabriel will be coming to teach on the 6th of July and he has expressed interest in having one of his students ride Toby to learn dressage basics. She has an unschooled mare and is looking for a good dressage horse of her own. In the meantime, if she can learn some concepts on a schooled horse, it will really help her learn to ride her own horses. I've been working Toby, as you readers know, and he is probably fit enough for an easy lesson, but I want him to have some good muscle and stamina so he can really be a good teacher.

I had a nice school with Tucker as well. Beats me as to whether he goes on the forehand or not. I certainly don't feel it. He does put pressure on the rein in a downward way, something contrary to what Patrice wanted, but frankly, if that's wrong, I have no clue as to how to fix it. He does all the basic exercises with ease, so there's no way to use that as a gauge.

So, I guess I just have to keep riding him from behind, encouraging him to go forward, and wait until one trainer or another shows me the light. Once I know just exactly how he needs to feel to be correct, I'll be fine. Right now, I just don't know what "correct" is for him.

Sometimes a horse with natural balance and ability is a puzzle.

After I rode, I went to hang up two coolers I'd taken off the ladder the other day so I could put a baby barn swallow back in the nest. (Think it fell out again with fatal consequences as did another one I found in the run-in shed. Poor parents must be really upset.) As I picked up the second one, I was attacked by bees of some sort. Apparently they had built a nest in the rug. I now have one sting on each thigh. I managed to get the nest out of the cooler and I sprayed the bees with Raid. I don't normally like to kill bees--or little yellow jackets, whatever they were, but it was bad scene as it is right next to where I groom the horses. Thank goodness I didn't need to put a cooler on anyone after riding. What a disaster that would have been!!

I'll bear the stings myself anytime rather than having one of my horses stung!!