AND ... We have FOOTING!!!!!

I am psyched beyond words! Went to the barn today to ride 3 ponies and clean stalls; when I was starting on my 2nd one, Mark came home. He was coming home to supervise the truckloads of FOOTING going into the ring, woo hoo!!! I am just beyond happy, lol. The addition of the footing will really make me feeling the need to trailer my boy all over heck and creation just go away, for the most part. He had done the footing ( they'd done about 12 truckloads when I left, so not sure if the remaining 9 were done today, but I bet they were) before the fencing, which I am super happy about. You can ride without a fence, but it's a lot harder without the footing. Now it's time to set/build a jump course, and we are SET:):)

Rode my boy. He was quite good. Switched the bit to an Herm Sprenger D-ring with a german silver mouth and a little bean. Seemed about as good in this one as he was in the loose ring, but this one has no bit guards to rub a sore on the side of his lip. He just has that SENSITIVE chestnut skin. Worked on the half turn in reverse, bend, bend, bend, and not leaning in the corners. He made me work. He worked. It was hot today; this summer is going to be brutal, I fear. We rode down in the small arena, because that's where I worked the other ponies so I could "free longe" them first. Not necessary with Tiki; in fact, we've been working with the spurs on for several weeks now. Cantered today, but only one lap each direction. Missed the right lead twice, got it on the 3rd try. It's just hard for him. He'll get there. He'll get there even faster now that there's a lovely level ring with good footing.:)