I think I ate something bad - and my body definitely purged all night Thursday! So I felt awful yesterday, but by lesson time I figured I had enough energy to drive E. out to the barn and then just sit on a bench while she rode.
And I'm glad we made it because the lesson was so much smoother. E. was happier (In A.'s words, "She's got her sparkle back.") and Curly got a good workout. The arena is pretty soft and deep right now so it's hard work for the horses to run through it - kinda like running through soft sand. The horses are not in top shape yet, so she could only ride for 45 minutes. He was so wet with sweat at the end that he looked like he had just gone through a shower! We are careful when we work our animals this early in the year to not overdo it. They are athletes whose bodies need to be conditioned for what is demanded of them, just like human athletes.
I'm off in a few minutes to check out some hay a local supplier has. Sure hope it's good stuff! I was looking around the barn yesterday and saw that several of the other horse owners are in worse situations than us - needing good hay but no supplier available. I feel lucky that our supplier still has some left that may work for our needs.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
It' not just the horse....
Come to find out, the rider is part of the problem. :-)
E. had a lesson on Wednesday (after canceling out on the 4-H ride night Tuesday due to illness) and was struggling to control Curly yet again. A. happened to have her own horse saddled up in the arena so she instructed E. to switch horses - ostensibly to give Curly a bit of an attitude adjustment.
We quickly saw, however, that E. also had trouble with A.'s horse. E. was very upset by all of this and later admitted that she needs to re-learn bunches of stuff. It's been months since she's done any regular riding (since her ankle accident, really) so the situation is understandable. It didn't help that she felt crummy too.
Hoping that Friday's lesson goes smoother....
Side note - Q had surgery on Monday to fix an old injury and is out of commission for a few weeks. I was kinda bummed (very selfish of me!) 'cause I had planned to begin riding him. I even bought some riding boots this week!
Also, I have been doing a bit of research on how to stretch our hay supply (since we don't currently have enough to get through the spring). There sure is a lot of conflicting advice out there! Just when I think I've got it figured out, I see another site from a vet or university with a totally different take on the issue. Very frustrating! Reminds me of all the baby books we read when we were first starting our family, actually. :-)
E. had a lesson on Wednesday (after canceling out on the 4-H ride night Tuesday due to illness) and was struggling to control Curly yet again. A. happened to have her own horse saddled up in the arena so she instructed E. to switch horses - ostensibly to give Curly a bit of an attitude adjustment.
We quickly saw, however, that E. also had trouble with A.'s horse. E. was very upset by all of this and later admitted that she needs to re-learn bunches of stuff. It's been months since she's done any regular riding (since her ankle accident, really) so the situation is understandable. It didn't help that she felt crummy too.
Hoping that Friday's lesson goes smoother....
Side note - Q had surgery on Monday to fix an old injury and is out of commission for a few weeks. I was kinda bummed (very selfish of me!) 'cause I had planned to begin riding him. I even bought some riding boots this week!
Also, I have been doing a bit of research on how to stretch our hay supply (since we don't currently have enough to get through the spring). There sure is a lot of conflicting advice out there! Just when I think I've got it figured out, I see another site from a vet or university with a totally different take on the issue. Very frustrating! Reminds me of all the baby books we read when we were first starting our family, actually. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)