Sunrise Walk

Ground work/walking for 30 minutes

I get some funny faces in the morning ... especially when I'm carrying a halter instead of feed buckets.  Wasabi was afraid the halter was for her, Majesty tried to shove his nose in my jacket (in case there were treats hidden in there), and Morgan, well, she seemed eager for our morning walk.  She looks absolutely lovely in the morning light!

After walking over the boards, we headed down our familiar road and chatted a bit.  She really didn't hold up her end of the conversation, but she did offer to share her "snack" with me.  Thanks Morgan, that looks tasty, but you need the protein more than I.  :)

The nice part of walking beside her is that I get to clean up the road we normally ride on ... this way I can be sure there is no debris or large rocks in our way when we are trotting later on.  Today we  removed a woman's high heel, three bottles, two cans, and a Christmas tree stand.  On our walk we stepped over our favorite log a few times. Always a good time!

I timed our adventure and discovered it takes us exactly 10 minutes to walk 1 mile (the end of the street).  So, we can walk down the street and back in 20 minutes, then I can hop in the saddle for a 5 minute trot to the end of the street, and then walk back to the house in 10 minutes for a cool down.

Sounds like we just set our morning routine for next week!

Morning Work Out

30 minutes 

Ground work 20 minutes & Riding 10 minutes

Since it's so bright at 6:30 am, I decided to switch to a morning work out instead of in the dark.  She looked like she was falling asleep as I tacked her this morning.  I think I may have heard her snore :)

We walked over the boards for 10 minutes, then walked out the front gate and into the desert for 10 minutes before I climbed up in the saddle and had her trot back to the house.  She didn't want to trot ... she really wanted to move out much faster so it was a bit of tussle to keep her at a trot.  Then we rode at a walk through the yard and over the boards for a cool down.

Since she's not a fan of the sand dunes, I think I'll alter our path and head down the street for our next walk.

More exercising

Ground work, 30 minutes

Morg and I put in 20 minutes of brisk walking tonight, followed by 2 minutes of jogging.  To change things up a bit, we wandered through trees and added a walk to the front driveway in addition to stepping over boards.  Then we worked on flexing her neck to both sides while standing still for a bit.  I love hanging out with my Morgie girl and getting in shape!  She's a great partner :)

Topline Exercises

Ground work for 30 minutes

Sticking to the plan!  Morgan and I getting ready to start our 20 minute walking exercise

To add some fun and to work on rebuilding her topline, I set up some planks for us to step over.  I was hoping this would encourage her to stretch out her neck and lift her back.  Plus, it gave us something to do for 20 minutes in the pitch black.

Making shadows and burning calories

This is the best shot I got of Morgan stretching and stepping over the planks ... we'll continue to work on it until we're both back in shape

After 20 minutes of walk/plank work, we spent an additional 10 minutes on flexing her neck on both sides.  Just wanted a refresher course for our upcoming mounting lesson.

Morgan and I hanging out