Therapy

Four weeks passed by in a hot, dusty blink. Work got done, I crewed Ride n Tie Championships for Funder and Mel,  various family members visited, lots of hooves got trimmed, I crewed Tevis--but meanwhile none of my horses got ridden. Can't say that I heard them complaining, but my mind and body craved saddle time so I hooked up with trimming mentor D and her cute new endurance pal Faye for a lake ride today. Faye has been in D's pasture for a while but was on the back burner for one reason or another; life's roller coaster has brought her to to the foreground as D's endurance prospect and they are a great pair that I anticipate seeing out on the AERC trail in the near future! It was so good to see her out enjoying and training for the sport we all love on a horse that can take her there.

Anyhoo, this morning I dragged ole Scrapper out and dusted him off. Or tried to. He's pretty well a pink pinto poopaloosa all summer and today was no exception. We hauled to the lake where D was ready and waiting, threw on 2 Vipers and 2 Rennys, the Skito and Sensation treeless, his full bitted bridle and running martingale, and away we went. The only horse work I have gotten done in the last month aside from general  maintenance for 5 1/2 were some round pen sessions with Scrappy working on giving to the bit. Today was his first day out on the trail since our round pen work, with the very forgiving running martingale there only as a reminder should he feel the need to throw his head up and channel a giraffe, which he did *once* today and not again. He traveled quite nicely and didn't have any back soreness after the ride. But of course our sweat mark wasn't right. @#@#$(&&!@(#$. And more on that later.

pre ride snooze

heading out with D and Faye

Faye shared her mush snacks with Scrappy at the hill summit. It might be <3

Scrappydooo

don't mind if I do

Looking at stuff. Important Stuff.

 D uses Easyboots and I use Renegades, and we both had hind boots we thought potentially iffy before we set off but neither said or did anything about it. We rode off and sure enough both lost said iffy boots on separate steep uphills; mine was after water and the cable broke.  That boot had at least a thousand miles on it so I'm not bothered, and replacing the cables is easy.

Oh, the sweat mark? Same old. Almost perfect *but* his bigger left shoulder gets a pressure spot. D suggested and lent a couple versions of a gel pad to go back behind that spot and give some lift, alleviate the bridging. It's a testament to the soothing magic of a horseback ride long needed that a broken boot and unresolved saddle issues leaves me with nothing but relaxed smiles right now. A good horse will do that.