Happy Trails To Me

Took Three Out

Spent the morning trying to straighten out some bills. Drove over to see if I could see the horse at the farm for Stacie but failed. I must have been too late as the field was empty. Then headed to the feed store to pick up my horse pellets.

Came home, had lunch, and eventually headed outside to the barn. I cleaned the stalls and then let the Boys into the paddocks.

Tucker was quite willing and ready to be caught and worked. Taking a line from Caroline, I decided to use the new Ansur today. Hard to say, because I only worked Tucker for a short time in the arena, but he may have been straighter. I still need to work on "forward" with him at all costs as he gets very lazy, but I had a nice little school. Then I headed out to the "Tucker Trail" for a hack. Aside from one little spook at the fox that leapt up just as we were going out into the edge of the field, we had a nice quiet, pleasant ride. It was a bit over 40F, so it was quite comfortable and the wind from earlier in the day had died down.

I snagged Toby next and took him on the same ride. What can I say about Toby? With nothing to spook him, he is a delight.

Back at the barn, I saddled up Chance who was more than eager to go OUT!! Out into the woods and well beyond if I'd let him. He loves hacks. He trotted off a couple times which would be fine if I were sure the footing wasn't slippery in some places. Then when I got him back home in the area, I did just a little bit of schooling. Stacie's ride had encouraged him to go forward on his own, a big plus. But the biggest plus of all was the canter. On both leads, with no effort at all on my part, he dropped his head right down into the bit into a nice low frame, the start of really going correctly through his back. He made no move to throw his head up at all!! I was thrilled.

Usually I find that when a horse discovers how comfortable it is to drop his head and round his back under the rider, he starts to prefer to go that way on his own. Signs are Chance it starting to think that way. I love it.

Carrots all around as well as a nice fat serving of hay. Tucker is still spending the nights in as there is mud around the barn. But from the looks of everyone as I headed back to the house, I have a happy little herd out there.