Oh how I have missed my horses

73 minutes - 1.15 miles - Rhulain

Seven days without either of my horses caused seriously withdrawal.  I snuggled Morgie this morning and checked her head wound.  She was eating, but stopped to give me some snuggle time.  Love that girl.

I missed Rhu ... she flattened her ears at me when I fed her ... which means the feeling wasn't mutual.  Ah well.  It was windy when I went out in the afternoon. Rhu was unusually high strung, she spooked and pulled back when a shovel clanged against the tack shed.  

She stopped panicking rather quickly and though she allowed me to touch and rub her, she wouldn't relax.  I let her stand there for a bit to see how she would react to the pressure on her face.  I pulled a broom out of the tack shed and "shooed" her forward a step.  Once the pressure was off, she licked her lips and leaned her head into my torso.

We spent some time doing ground work, then we rode around the yard.  We did a mile, but we were not connected.  I couldn't sit the trot today, at all.  She shied from a plastic bag, and couldn't calm down.

I hopped down, walked beside her for a bit, then got back in the saddle.  I took a deep breath and released the tension in my shoulder blades, and we both seemed to calm a bit.  We walked two more laps around the yard.  She didn't want to approach the hitching post so I hopped off and walked her over.  We spent a few more minutes together, but she was too tense to enjoy the massage. Ah well.

More ground work. Definitely more ground work.

July 15, 2012 - Sundance's Pullback Issue

**  July 14, 2012 - Christopher came home **

Morgan, Dance, and Mochie (Smoke) were in the turn out.  I started to groom Morg, but Mochie kept butting in and cuddling.  I groomed her and tossed on the saddle pad, but she walked to the very last stall and put herself away.  sigh.

I saddled up Morgan (which is what I wanted to do initially).  Since Dance was hanging around I figured I could pony her.  I tied her to the saddle horn and started to lead Morg ... Dance pulled back and untied the lead.  I retied a bit better and tried again ... same result.  The third time I tied it better and started to lead Morg, but Sundance pulled back so hard she pulled Morgan back a step or two, and Dance continued to pull back (enough so her front hooves came off the the ground).  Morga held steady and didn't panic.  I got around to the other side and untied Dance once she stopped pulling.  Morgan is amazing.

I put Dance away and rode Morg around.  The weather was 70 degrees, cloudy, slightly windy and the ground was damp from 2 days of rain ... perfect riding weather to go fast!

I walked Morgie to the end of the driveway and tried to mount while having her stand in sand deeper than the packed stuff she was used to; took us 5 tries before she held still.  To her credit, Bill was feeding everyone else while she was having to work.

We blasted down the driveway, to the front of the house, turned and blasted back tot the turn out gate.  We sauntered over to the feed trailer and Bill gave her a cube before we headed to the open desert by their stalls.  She got a bit nervous and I had to ask twice, but we made it to the bush I had selected before we turned and came back to the feed trailer.  Once more up the driveway (that was a bit of a discussion) before we ran back down the driveway, round to the front, and then stopping at the tack shed.  

Morgan is amazing.  Simply amazing ... I couldn't ask for more!

** note to self: don't ride horses in capri pants. Right leg bruised below kneww. Doh! **