Running with the pack

Summer has been busy with Maizie and her activities. I was able to carve out 3 hours each evening this week of actual horsey time, but I was absent from visiting all my horse friends' blogs. I promise to catch up! Riding this week was productive and I am sore to prove it. I alternated riding Pie and Sovey beginning with Sovey last Sunday evening and then Pie on Monday, Sovey Tuesday, etc. On Sovey's rides I worked on slow trotting, trying to get him to relax his head and neck. I worked in the ring and on the trail. He relaxes nicely on figure-eight turns, but stiffly cranes his neck on the straightaways. I even did some sitting trot which is not his most comfortable gait. I feel, and probably look, like a sack of ...um...potatoes, but we made some progress (translation: I learned that I only want to post on him in the future!). He walked around the field and through the woods quietly and calmly. He had no problem with the apple-barstool-friends inflatable pool or with darkness in the woods. He hurries back a little, but I discovered accidentally that he is NOT hurrying to return to Pie, but to his beloved apple tree. I figured this out when he made a beeline to the tree instead of to the barn!

Pie and I worked on mounting from the ground all week. I want to be able to dismount when I am off our property and not have to walk home. I practiced mounting from the mounting block in the ring and then put my stirrup down the whole way and mounted a few times from the ground. Pie doesn't like it at all - (he turns his head around to look at me and his butt follows, moving away from me) - but he did improve. When I am up I only have one stirrup and he stands perfectly while I adjust it, but I know from experience that he doesn't stand perfectly for me to adjust it when we are out in the wilds. Last evening, Maizie walked on the ground in front of Pie for our ride across the street and into new territory. Pie also discovered a new juicy apple tree over there, so I am certain he will want to visit there frequently in the future.

Mom is still stiff - she fell last Saturday night, but she is making progress. Thank you to everyone for you kind comments and well-wishes. She reads all the blogs - mine and yours - and she appreciates your kind thoughts! She watched Sovey and I riding in the ring one evening this week and she was practically trotting too on the bench she was sitting on! She can't watch anyone ride without "riding" too and urging riders over the fences with her body.