One more day closer to Fall:)

I figure every day that goes by is one more day LESS of Summer. Ahhh ... cool breezes, crisp air, temps under 95 degrees:) Glorious!

This week is starting to get back into it ... rode twice. I was shooting for 3 times, but on Friday he was already turned out when I got there because Joyce had kept the horses in Thursday evening because of a threat of thunder storms. So, I left him out and didn't push it. I've been desperately fighting off a head cold; Thursday was the WORST day. My nose was running like a sieve, I was fighting a fever, and I was trying not to cough up a lung. So Friday wasn't such a sad day:)

Monday, I rode in the dressage tack. WOW, what a HUGE canter. He came out pretty well; he felt nice and forward but not explosive. I worked him through the center again over the poles and with a little shoulder-in before turning to go down the long side. He did feel strong in the bridle, but very manageable. I got him to come up into my hand pretty nicely; I was happy about that. The canter was about a 14 foot stride. NOT kidding. I couldn't SIT it, it was so huge. He wasn't fast; just HUGE. I had to arm wrestle him a little bit to get him to shorten his stride to a reasonable level, but he did eventually concede defeat.

Wednesday, was trot set day. We ALMOST wiped out. Scared me to death. We were trotting down a hill by the road, and he tripped hardcore. He went down on his knees; to my horror, I saw the ground rushing up to meet me, and looked straight up at the sky. Can you imagine if I'd fallen off? I would have hit chin first and broken my neck or back. STUPID. I should have tucked my chin and looked DOWN. Luckily, the muffin saved my bacon, and used every ounce of will to get back UP. The picture up top is the resulting boo boo on his nose from where he used his nose to help get him back on his feet. Phew.

I got a little bit on to him after that; he does NOT pay attention when we're doing trot sets. He's too busy rushing around trying to hurry to nowhere, and he ends up tripping like that. He's gone down once before, on a trail ride. He needs to SLOW HIS FEET, and assess where he is. When he tried to crane his head around and be a dummy, I got onto him and made him pay attention. We ended up ok. The canter both ways was a little unusual; he cantered about one of the two minutes each direction, then swapped to the counter lead. I then trotted and asked him to change back, and he wanted to stay on the off lead ... BOTH directions. Weird. So, not a great day, but not a horrible day. Had wanted and planned to ride in the ring Friday, but even before I got to the barn I was actually sore from Wednesday, and feeling sick and ooky. When I saw he was out and playing in the pond, I just cleaned the stalls and went home to take a nap.

Next week I will again shoot to ride 3 days, and hope the temps cool off some:) Rain would be nice:)