Ouch!!!

Even though I haven't been posting this week I have been riding. I have to tell ya that my ride on Saturday was so wonderful! It felt so good to be back in the saddle...

Now I know from past experience, when I haven't been riding I get a bit sore once I start back. I figured I'd take it easy on Saturday and do mostly walk/trot for about half an hour. I thought that would work for my body and for Boo too. Unfortunately, all that caution flew out the window once I was in the saddle. I rode for an hour and I rode hard (for me). Boo seemed none the worse for wear and neither did I until Sunday evening. That is when it started. The soreness in my inner thighs was crippling. I am NOT exaggerating. I could barely walk. Monday I stayed home and whined. Tuesday I forced myself to go ride again even though the soreness had not gone away. Tuesday's ride was another decent one. I rode about 45 minutes. I still have some soreness but it's getting better. It doesn't appear that Boo got very sore at all, and that is a good thing. I would have felt pretty guilty if I'd caused him that much pain. So, the moral of the story is no matter what is going on around you...ride cowgirl ride! Failing that, take an exercise ball and stretch the @@#$% out of your inner thighs :)

Finally riding again.

This has been my first week with no company in quite awhile. I spent a lot of it trying to get caught up with things before I realized one can never really be caught up with things. Then I headed to the barn. I had a longeing day, and a bathing day, and a photo shoot day. Today I finally had a riding day, and it was wonderful! I wondered a bit how I would do. I've been feeling a bit stiff lately. Boo came through for me with flying colors. No monkey business. We rode the indoor, and when we finished with that we went out to try the new outdoor sand arena. I had yet to ride there. We did our walk, trot, and canter there and then went for a walk out to the back pasture to cool out. Needless to say I am in a verrrry goood mooood ;)

Horses and Grandsons

I managed to spend most of today out at the barn. Enjoyed calling a test for one of the other boarders. Then I got Boo out of the pasture and had him do a longeing session with side reins. He was such a good boy that we didn't have to go for very long. Gave him a bath afterwards and clipped his bridle path. Going out again to clip his feet and ears. It's been to hot for a flysheet a good part of this summer, so Boo is a bit bleached out from his normal almost black color. He has a bite mark on his hip that I put some neosporin on and circled with Swat to keep the flies away. Sounds like he may be challenging the pasture boss a bit. Seeing if he can usurp his power. We'll see how that goes. I had planned on taking my camera out today because it is so much fun to post pictures with my blog, but of course I forgot it AGAIN. Will try again tomorrow.

I am off now to take my grandson to his cast photo shoot. He is playing the part of Oliver in Lakewood Theater's production this September/October. If you live in the Portland metro area you should get tickets and come see him. He's a very talented young man.

Much needed pony time

I have had quite the summer. Lots and lots of houseguests. The last of the company went home yesterday about noon. I managed to make it out to the barn later in the afternoon. I really needed to see Boo. He stood watching me come down the road towards his pasture. When I called out to him his head went even higher and his ears came forward. It was obvious he recognized the voice. He made his way towards me and we had a lovely reunion with lots of scratching and petting. Didn't have much in the way of time, so I brought him in for a grooming session and a once over to see that he was in as good a shape as I left him. All was well. Worked out a few tangles in the mane and tail. Gave him a once over with the brush. Put on some flyspray, picked some feet and sent him back out to the pasture with some carrot treats. I could feel the tension in my body and mind releasing just from that little bit of pony time. Today was a stay at home day, but tomorrow is longeing, bath, and clipping day. We are getting ready for a full-on photo shoot by my friend Joanne. She is taking a people and equine photography class and we are her assignment. She's gotten very good. I am looking forward to getting some wonderful shots of Boo and myself.

Sunday Stills

Clouds and Sunset

Dark clouds

Thunderheads

gathering storm

into the blue

Updates

I am promising myself that I will get back to posting regularly, but I know it probably won't happen before mid August when all the summer company has come and gone. Still, I do have a week here on my own and thought I'd try to catch up some.

I haven't been able to ride nearly as much as I had planned to. That being said I am going out to the barn this morning. I plan to longe in side reins this morning and ride tomorrow morning. The farrier is coming out late morning and I will be holding both ponies for him.

I spent some time at Dressage at Devonwood last weekend. I got to see the trainer at our barn ride an I1 test. That was a lot of fun to watch. I found the Riding Couture booth and bought myself one of her bling bling hats and t-shirts. Very very friendly people in that booth.

The young lady who rides and shows Baythoven went to a schooling show this past weekend. She rode Training test 3 and 4 and did very well in both tests. She came home with a 3rd place ribbon and score of 67.6 for test 3 and a 2nd place ribbon and score of 66 for test 4. This was her first time showing Bay at dressage except for the test she rode for 4H. We are very proud of her and will enjoy watching her climb the levels. This schooling show was at Summerfield farms in Ridgefield WA. and I thought was very well run. We would go there again. The weather cooperated too! If was cloudy for a large part of the afternoon which kept the heat down. Later in the day the clouds went away, but the breeze kept things from being unbearable.

This coming weekend there is a dressage show at the Lake Oswego Hunt Club. The young lady who use to show Boo for me will be there riding a 3rd level freestyle. I am going to go watch her, and I am very excited. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her! I hope you will too!

So, even though I haven't been able to ride much lately I've been to or will be going to a lot of horsey happenings!

Today was all about me and my horse

What beautiful weather we had for riding here in the PNW today. Cool where I am, but no rain. The horses were happy and so was I. I haven't been able to ride nearly as much as I had wanted to this summer. As a matter of fact, it feels like summer has gotten away from me. Everyone elses plans take priority. Not today though. Today I was able to spend most of the late morning and early afternoon out at the barn, brushing and spraying and braiding to my hearts content. We were able to ride in the arena without incident. Lots of bending and schooling cuz it's been awhile. I got a nice collected canter both directions. We went out and about on the place without a spook. All is well in horsey land.