Busy as always I haven't had many opportunities to sit down and write a blog update. Course I haven't seen my horse in almost 2 weeks either! Between rainy weather, sinus infections, and 50-60 hours of work a week riding has been a bit hit or miss lately.
I finally made it to the barn this weekend though. The plan was to get Rio's spring cogins, vaccinations and annual dental done. And, of course mother nature chose this weekend to freeze out Florida with with ungodly cold temperatures... at least for FL... I know my Colorado friends and others who live up North are laughing at me.
I got up early, got to the barn groomed Rio for his annual cogins photo and then patiently sat waiting for the vet to show... Rocky is almost always late, but about an hour in with no phone call I started to wonder what was up. He never did show or even call so I have a hunch his wife who keeps up all the appointments probably did not get it in the books correctly... frustrating considering my schedule is so full that it could take a few more weeks to get it re-booked on a day I can be present.
On the plus side our friend (we'll call her M for the purposes of this blog) showed up as well and kept me company for 2 hours at which point M & I decided to saddle up and go for a ride despite the cold wind.
I was very happy with our ride. Having not been out in a while we worked for a solid hour with out getting too tired. Rio was really pretty good considering the cold weather and wind are usually an excuse to jump out of his skin. We did mostly trot work. Varying size circles, figure eights, serpentines and bending lines with a focus on bringing his head down and his back & top line round. Once warmed up he went quite nicely keeping a solid rhythm and pace while maintaining his contact with the bit. He has a tendency to lean on me and let his shoulder fall in or become counter bent when I get tired, but a lot of that is lack of conditioning on both our parts.
I'm hoping we get a chance to take a lesson sometime in the next few weeks. Day light savings time will make it much easier for me to get out and ride consistently. Still trying to decide on how much time if any to spend in California this summer. It sure would be nice to know I've got some income for the summer and to spend time with my friend, but man will I miss riding, especially if we make some headway with lessons and riding consistency in the next 2 months.
What would you do?
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