Monthly Totals

September 2014
430 minutes = 7 hours riding time for me; 5.5 hours on Morgan

260 minutes = 4.25 hours - Bill and Majesty
90 minutes = 1.5 hours groundwork only

Wasabi's saddle time 2014: 
Jan - Jun - 5 hrs
July - 2 hrs
Aug - 1 hr
Sept - 0 hr

Just a quick jaunt

Monday, September 29th  15 minute ride  80° 
Rode with T & Red

T stopped by for a few minutes tonight.  It started to get dark, and I didn't want her to ride home alone so I saddled up Morgan and rode with her and Red.  Just a quick jaunt out and back ... because dinner was waiting for Morgan.

Morgan looking for comfort ... whenever she gets nervous now, she reaches out and touches my boot

Coming in for a landing!

The Other Side of the Valley

Sunday, September 28th  90 minute ride  70° 
Rode with Bill & Majesty and Meggan & Zanadee

Wait ... who's that riding with Bill?  Well, our friend, Meggan and her horse Zanadee.  Morgan's ears seem to be in most of my photos

Meggan took us through some interesting scenery.

Don't worry Maj, feel free to leave "road apples" if needed ... the "No Dumping" sign doesn't apply to you.

Hmmm, we seem to be up here all alone.  Where is everyone else?

There they are! Waaaaay down there.

Bill decided to switch places with me

Hey, which way do you want to go?

Meggan says "Follow me"

And we're off ... climbing down the dune

Bill and Majesty discovering what's around the corner

Morgan and I heading home ... can't resist those fuzzy brown ears

More Baths!

Saturday, September 27th

It's starting to be a bit chilly in the morning and the horse's "fur pajamas" are starting to show, so I figured it was time for their last summer baths.  I only managed to get 3 out of the 5 done, but there's always next weekend for Wasabi & Sundance.

First I started with Traveller ... he kinda looked like a puppy sniffing the ground and once he discovered the "delightful" aroma of alfalfa was coming from the trailer, he stood like a pointer for a bit before trying to grab a snack.  Silly old man.

Majesty is NOT a fan of the goat ... here he is closing his eyes and wishing the goat would go away.  That didn't work, so he tried making silly faces and noises, which did work, much to his surprise!

Morgan was supposed to be drying in the sunshine while I filled the dinner buckets, but she kept giving me "the eye" while I worked.  So I held out a cube and she promptly yoinked it and turned her head away, just in case I wanted it back or something.

Morgan's resigned face before the bath starts, and her "look at me, I'm gorgeous" pose after her bath. 

Blazing New Trails

Sunday, September 21st  30 minute ride  90° 
Solo

Tried to add a different dimension to our ride today.  I had bells on a leather strap so I attached it to her neck and we moved around a bit to get her used to the sound. Once she figured out that she made the noise, she seemed to have fun moving different parts of her body to the jingle. Too cute!

We headed down the trail, just jingling away

Most of our normal trails had been washed out, so we spent quite a bit of time searching for ways to get through the sand dunes.  We looked for other prints to see if the path ahead was safe, but we didn't much other than jackrabbit prints.

This used to be a sand dune we would climb down ... now it's been washed away and it drops off a mere three feet from where we stopped.

Morg and I lost the trail again, but we found some quad tracks off to the left so we decided to investigate ... 

The tracks lead us right to this drop off.  The far left "bank" is where Morgan had a hissy fit last month.  Now we can't get there because the area has been completely washed away.

Batteries gave out shortly after this, but we made it home safe.  Once we were on the property, I took off Morgan's headstall and we tried riding around with just leg aids.  It's exhilarating!  We need to work on stopping, but otherwise she did fabulous.

Getting dark way too early

Wednesday, September 17th  25 minute ride  90° 
Rode with Bill & Majesty

Horses can twist themselves into the most interesting positions.  It always makes me laugh when they itch themselves with their hind hoof.

Heading out at 6:45 pm ... sky looks like we have plenty of time to ride

With flash & without a mere 10 minutes later

This is what it looks like when we get home at 7:15 pm

I miss when the sun was setting at 8:30 pm.  

Even though it's setting earlier, we still have 90+ degree weather until 9:00 pm or so.

*sigh*

Trailer Loading Trials With Wasabi, Part 2

Tuesday, September 16th  30 minute groundwork  92° 
Trailer Loading with Wasabi

Morgan just figured out she got left behind ... Sundance offered comfort

I figured I'd spend a more time with Wasabi on trailer loading.  Morgan had been napping when I went in to collect Wasabi.  When she saw Wasabi and I on the other side of the fence, she started scolding me ... she was whinnying, nickering, and running the fence line for 10 minutes before she settled down.

Wasabi and I went right to the trailer and did basic groundwork for a few minutes before I asked her to load.  She initially refused, so she got to do a few more figure 8s before she got to rest.  She stepped right in the trailer the next time I offered her the chance.  I got most of her body and three hooves in the trailer, but just couldn't figure out how to get that last hoof and rump in consistently.  At least we had no more refusals.  She was standing in the trailer when Bill got home, so I opened the "escape" door and let her get muzzle snuggles from him before putting her away for the evening.

It occurred to me later on that I "send" her horizontally from the trailer door and she does just fine. Perhaps I could try "sending" her vertically and see if that will encourage the forward momentum needed to get her whole body in the trailer.

Great fluffy clouds and beautiful colors tonight