Love & Luck

A friend and former coworker lost her beloved mare yesterday to a trail injury that at first seemed simple and in the end was tragic. I knew the mare as a filly when she and the gal were first bonding and coming along together and they had a great relationship that had budded into a successful endurance career. My heart just breaks for her. Another experienced endurance rider lost his horse and is recovering from a fall from the Tevis trail this week as well. It's such a knife edge that we balance on, riding horses and going out adventuring in the wilds, it's amazing what we get away with, how lucky we generally are--and so tragic when it goes wrong. My best wishes and prayers for all that have been injured, lost, or suffered loss in the last few weeks. 

I wanted to spend time with my own horses this morning, so Blaze and I cruised to the top of the ridge. After a few hot days the temperature dropped significantly again last night; today is easily 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, so I climbed most of the steep ridge on foot, listening to Blaze clop clop in his Renegades behind me.

Cute lil Blaze

 Had a couple good strong uphill trots, though mostly he wanted to canter, and I might have let him once..

 Just about to the top, taking a breather but hey, pricked ears! Get the camera!

 I trimmed Blaze's hooves after I got back and when he was done I left him to snooze in the cross ties and fetched the filly out to do her hooves. She was *really good* today, eyeballing everything suspiciously as ever--her mother's daughter to the core!--but there was no melodramatic spazzing and I timed the few corrections I needed to just right, which doesn't always happen but did today and made for a thoroughly positive experience all around. I totally spaced checking her height while she was out, oops!

We still match :-)

 Snotty filly face, but there is her pretty head and long mane 

 Not bad badonkadonk for a 2 yr old Arabian! She and Blaze sprint the hills in the pasture at least a few times every single day and her muscles are pumping up all of a sudden 

 Good filly getting her trim