Appy Rump

Sunday, July 6th  Left house at 7:10 pm Arrived home at 8:43 pm  95°
1) Rode with T & Red, H & Beauty, V & Repo
2) Rode with Neighbor & QH
*Note: Morg is really uncomfortable on even small rocks.  Had to keep her in the sand the whole ride

This is an odd view ... we're not used to looking at spotts

T called and asked if I wanted to go riding.  I saddled up and we met her friend "H" and H's mother "V" at the crossroads near the hourse.  I'd never ridden with T's friends before, but I knew her appy, Beauty, was a solid minded horse.  They compete in the local gymkhanas and ride all over the valley bareback.  V was riding a green Arabian/TB cross named Repo. We kept our pace at a sedate walk.

Morgan placed herself between the appy and Red for this ride, and Repo brought up the rear.  We ventured through the sand dunes, over to the "salt flats," and around some of our favorite trails.  We were trying to give Repo a chance to work on going up and down small hills and crossing river beds.  He seemed to be doing fine.  As the sun started to set, we said goodbye to H and V and headed towards T & Red's home.

Very blurry shot of our neighbor with his quarter horse on the left and T and Red on the right

As we were approaching my house, I received a call from Bill.  He said the neighbor wanted to take a short ride, could we swing by and pick him up?  Fortunately, we were only about 5 minutes from his house.  His quarter horse hadn't been ridden in about a year, so we kept it at a walk.  We dropped T off at home and then turned back towards our house.

Our neighbor asked if he could stretch his horse out, and I said Morgan would keep whatever pace they set.  We trotted the rest of the way home in the increasing darkness.  I dropped the neighbor off at his house and went across the street to our house.  The quarter horse must have had a good time with us, because as I was untacking Morgan I saw a familiar sorrel face peek around the tack shed.  Our neighbor came jogging over a few minutes later to collect his horse.  *grins*

One adorable Morgan!  If she was any more super, she would need a cape

I'm so impressed with my Morgan!  She is quiet, polite, and rock steady when around other horses - even ones she has never met before.  She just handles whatever situation we are in.  This is the most we have ever ridden, and the results are really showing ... she settles down quicker, doesn't need to be in the lead, and responds to my softest ques.  She is just amazing!

Hoof Trim - Tender

Saturday, July 5th  Left at 8:26 pm  Arrived home at 8:53 pm  80°
Rode with Bill & Majesty
To the end of the East street and back

Morgan had her hooves trimmed early this morning.  Farrier said her heel was long on the left front, so he trimmed them back to where they should be but she may be tender for about a week.  Said her hooves were very hard and that we should soak them before he comes out to trim next time.

Pretty little hooves!

Left my cell phone in the tack shed this evening, so only two pictures.  Silly me.

Morgan was very tender-footed, so she and I paralleled Bill and Majesty rather than stay in the street.  Her head was in a nice, low position rather than held up high, which was nice to see.  Of course, she could have been looking for rocks to avoid!

Quiet ride to the end of the street.  Bill pointed out a small coyote that was ahead and to the left of our position.  The coyote took of running once it had been spotted.  Figuring one that small had a mother around, we kept a sharp eye out, but we didn't see any others.

Traveled home in the fading light.  Our neighbor was out and asked if he could tag along for a ride sometime.  We invited him to join us anytime!

Morgan waiting patiently to be untacked and turned out

No Rides

Thursday, July 3rd ... Mom & Dad came in to town this evening, so we had dinner with them rather than ride

Friday, July 4th ... thought about riding in the parade with T & Red, but I didn't do it.  Blamed it on the heat, but I was just nervous.  Kind of glad I didn't, but it's still on my bucket list of things to do.  Helped sell drinks at the booth and hung out with Bill most of the day.  Watched the fireworks with T and Katie ... Bill couldn't find us in the dark until after the fireworks were over :)

Morg's hooves need trimmed.

April 6, 2014

The last day I used the Merlot-colored saddle pad before it was "requisitioned" by Majesty

Personal Record - 11 days in a row!

Wednesday, July 2nd  Approximately 7:30 pm and hot. Very hot.  15-20 minutes
Solo ride
Sand dunes North East of the house

Decided to take the same path as yesterday.  Once we left the driveway, she started nervous trotting going away from the house.  I let her pick the pace and started singing a mellow song as we moved out.  Once we got to the intersection, she voluntarily selected the right hand path through the wash ... I swear that horse can read my mind sometimes.

Only deviation from the day before was that I turned her east sooner than the day before.  The road curved and met up with the path she was familiar with after a minute.  Once she was on "familiar" ground, she really started to turn on the speed.  We paralleled the house for about 10 minutes before turning south and heading home.  Asked her to drop in to a trot on the way home because we weren't following a path as much as we were just riding through the open desert.  Smooth ride, no problems, joyful time was had!

Knew I wouldn't be able to ride tomorrow ... glad to end our riding streak on a positive note

Love, love, love that face!

Pushing the Comfort Boundaries

Tuesday, July 1st  7:42 to 8:08 pm  101°
Solo ride - Morgan
Sand dunes, N of house

Was told I had 30 minutes before dinner, so I decided to spend that precious time with Morgan.  Tacked up quickly snapped a quick (and poorly framed) picture before heading out the same road as the day before.

Sorry you have no face Morgan 

Decided rather than turn right and follow the road we were familiar with, we should traverse a path parallel to it and expand her boundaries a bit.  This path is more of a wash out that curves around by the sand dunes then arcs back to meet the road that takes us home.  It is soft on the horses' hooves and has no rabbit holes/dens to worry about, and enough of a gentle upward slope to make it fun.

Her mane looks red in this light ... she looks way better with a black mane

Usually the embankments make Morgan snort in challenge to whatever may lay ahead, but she was quieter than normal.  Her head and ears kept swiveling as we continued through the wash and resulted in several odd pictures such as this:

Yep, most of the pictures turned out to have at least one ear in them

 She moved out at a nice trot through the wash and continued holding pace once we rejoined the road.  I had her slow down to a walk before making the turn and heading home, then let her move out at any pace she desired.  Got wonderful steady movement out of her until the footing changed to hard packed sand, then we slowed down again and walked the rest of the way home.

Great horse + Stolen moments in the saddle = Wonderful way to end the day!

Quick Ones

Sunday, June 29th  approx. 20 minutes
Monday, June 30th  approx. 15 minutes
2 Block radius from the house

My son was home from the Army this week, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time away from the house.  I managed to squeak in two quick rides "around the block" before we ate dinner both nights.

The small dogs near the neighbor's house slipped under the fence and came yapping at us and Morgan froze. I started talking softly to her and rubbing her neck, while letting her stand as long as needed to work the situation out.  With minimal encouragement, she moved forward and made it safely beyond the yard on Sunday.  She hustled by the property on Monday without any hesitation.  Another neighbor mentioned that a load of nails had been spilled in the street, so we should be careful.  I checked Morgan's hooves, but didn't see anything.  We'll find a new street to go down until that one gets cleaned up.

March 30, 2014

Trying out the new George Lawrence saddle that arrived that day

Was so excited, I didn't even change into riding jeans/boots

* Zoltar passed away June 30, 2014.  Miss that greyhound like crazy.

Dunes & Fire

Saturday, June 28th  about 90°  Left @ 8:05 pm, Arrived home 9:08 pm
Rode with T & Red, T's Mom and Neighbor
Some dunes, mostly middle of the street

Nice and sunny at 8:00 pm

Was headed out by myself, but as I was in the tack shed getting a headstall, I heard T & Red coming down the driveway.  What a pleasant surprise and fortuitous timing!  She was headed to the dunes with her mother and a neighbor and stopped in to see if I wanted to join them.  Tossed on a headstall and headed down the road to catch up to the leggy Thoroughbreds.

Following T & Red

We started out in the dunes, but quickly lost the Thoroughbreds.  No matter.  T & I had been in these dunes dozens of times and felt comfortable playing around until the sun started slipping behind the mountains.  We did see the other two in the distance when we came out of the dunes, but they were too far away to catch.

Um, not so sure about this fire stuff, but OK

We headed to my house to let Bill know we were alright ... I know he worries when I'm out in the dark.  He had started a fire and invited T to join us for some hot dogs and marshmallows.  We decided to follow T & Red home since it was getting dark and then I would ride home by myself.  I'd swap the Morgan for a car and pick up T so she could join us for "dinner."

Wait ... did you hear something behind us?

No incidents on the way to T's house; just a pleasant ride down the middle of the street.  Once she was safely home, I turned Morg around and let her trot home.  Didn't have any trouble at all after her initial nervousness.  Made it home in no time, untacked her, and took a few quick pictures before turning her out.

I was surprised by the amount of sweat she had worked up, but trotting two miles in the dark can do that to a girl.  All in all, a great evening.