We have been having a record breaking amount of rain this summer, and yesterday was no different.  It was our 16^th day in a row of rain.  Huge storms barreled through in the afternoon, but stopped just in time for our ride.

My niece came out to ride.  Since Ranger is recovering from a stone bruise, my sister offered me Dante to ride.  (I…

Big News!!!!

My sister sent me an email to tell me she rode Dante across the river this morning—all by herself.  I didn’t even know she was going to try.  So I had to call her.  She said that at first he tried his spinning, but that didn’t work for him.  Then he tried to back up a few times, but that didn’t work for him, either.  Then, he put his head down to look at the water.  At that point, she knew she had him.  She clicked and treated him, so he did it again.  she…

Cruiser and the River

Yes, another river story, but this once starts quite a few years ago.  Back when Cruiser was probably 13-14 years old, he got really weird when he was crossing the river in the spring.  I don’t know exactly what he would do, since I was always on his back and couldn’t see it, but it was terrifying.  All of his legs went all different…

Dante and the River

Life got in the way, and we weren’t able to tackle the river again for weeks.  There was high water one weekend, extreme cold on another and then there was the awful weekend that Ellen had to work.  We really wanted to get past the river, and we were both frustrated.

 …

Friday”s Ride

Catching up on my riding blogs.  I rode by myself on Friday, as Kevin had plans and Starry was due to have a day off.  I took Cole on a fast 5-mile ride.  I always ride faster when I’m by myself.  This was our day to canter.  We cantered in all the good spots.  When we reached the spot that I practice that hard-to-get-right lead,…

Rainy Weekend

It didn’t rain when we rode, but it rained at night so much that we weren’t able to cross the river on either day.  Sigh.  Another roadblock in our way of getting Dante on the trail.

The good news—I rode Cruise.  I just stayed on the little trail on the property, which isn’t very exciting, but it was just nice to be back in the…

Wednesday evening, my older niece, who recently came home from college, came out to ride.  Since I’m not riding Cruiser, yet, she got to ride Ranger.  It has been a couple years since she rode him, and last year, she only rode Cole once or twice.  Life got in the way, last summer.  She did admit to being a little nervous about riding Ranger.  He is a big horse, and he is…

On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I met Ellen at the barn.  After we did our chores, we decided to work with Dante.  Ellen is still a little nervous.  She is used to riding more experienced horses than Dante.  Dante hasn’t given her any…

Saturday

Ellen and I arrived early at the barn.  We got the first 3 stalls cleaned, and then I decided to start Cruiser’s physical therapy walk while she cleaned Dante’s stall.  I led him to the back of the property.  As we turned to head towards the barn, I saw someone riding the Saddlebred burst out of the barn being chased by the trainer with a whip.  (They train very differently in the Saddlebred world.)  The Saddlebred was doing a high-stepping trot straight towards us. …

It was a wonderful weekend.  I thought it would be one of sadness.  It was last year, on Memorial Day weekend that my dad took a turn for the worse and he went into hospice.  I thought the memories would be haunting me, pulling me down.  Well, that wasn’t the case at all.  The weekend was just too perfect, so I enjoyed it—just as Dad would have wanted me to.

Friday evening, Kevin and I went on a ride with Cole and Starry.  It was very cool, and the horses were perky.  We had…

Kevin and I went on an evening ride together on Starry and Cole Train.  It was on the hot side, and since it was Cole’s 4^th consecutive day of trail riding, I thought he might be a little sluggish.  Wrong.  He was just right.  We did a lot of trotting and a little cantering—on the hard lead!  We walked all the way home to cool them off and enjoy each other’s…

Horse-Filled Weekend

Friday evening, I went for a ride by myself on Cole Train.  Since I was alone, I did a lot more cantering than when I am with other horses.  We did get the hard lead once on a sharp corner—that same corner that we were successful before.  He was doing great until we reached a sharp corner the other direction—and he switched.  Well, at least I had it for a little while.  We trotted a lot towards home, too.  The ride was about 5 miles round trip, and the…

Bug Crazy Starry Starry Night

Cole and I went with Kevin and Starry on a ride yesterday evening.  it was a very warm evening.  All went well on the way out.  We rode to the fallen tree—lots of fast trotting and a little cantering.  Kevin wanted to see if he could clear the tree off the trail or find a way around it.  He wouldn’t take my word for it—but as soon as he saw it he agreed.  We needed professional help for this one—chainsaw and glove.  It is covered with poison…

Kevin and I had a really nice ride last night.  it was cool, and there are still no bugs—we are enjoying it while we can.  We assumed that the tree that was blocking the trail was still there, so we turned at the river crossing before it and headed back towards home.  to make it a longer ride, we planned to pass home and go the other way for a while. 

That made it a perfect day to work on trotting towards home.  we have regularly trotted towards home when we are far away, but…

Weekend Update

First off—Dante’s cough has improved quite a bit.  He is still coughing, but not even close to how bad he was when he arrived.

Friday evening found me with Dante.  Since Cole just got shoes the day before, he got the day off.  Whenever they switch from shoeless to shoes or shoes to shoeless, we like to give them some time off to get used to the change.  I spent my extra time walking Dante around.  This was the first time that I had him all to…

Dante is here, and he is lovely. More important than lovely—he is a real sweetheart. I got to the barn a couple hours after he did. Of course, Ellen was there when he arrived. The horse trailer wasn’t able to pull into the driveway due to its size and the fact that the street is all torn up and only one lane right now. He was unloaded right on the road, and she had to…

Kevin and I took Cole and Starry out for a ride last night. It was in the 70s, so we figured they would be on the quiet side, but we were wrong. Both were feeling good. We started out with some fine trotting. They were energetic, but behaving, so I was able to talk Kevin into doing some cantering—with me in the lead. That meant I could go fast!

We have a favorite stretch for cantering that is so good that we even call it “the canter stretch.” Cole really felt like cantering, so it…

The Beginning

My sister decided that she wanted to buy another horse last fall because Ranger is getting older, and she can’t ride as fast or as far as she would like. Don’t worry, she is going to keep Ranger—and ride him as much as she can. She just wanted to ride more than he was able. I wanted her to, too. I would love to go on long rides with her and Cole.…