Squeezing in some horse time

It seems that we are running from activity to activity recently. Looking back at my calendar I realize that I am home only one night most weeks, but I happen to like all the things we are doing so it's okay. For the most part.

One thing that is suffering a bit is our week-day horse time. E and I still manage to get our weekend time in, but after school hours are now consumed with piano, soccer, Spanish, volunteer commitments - lots of stuff.

Yesterday was no less busy, but the girls and I decided to sneak an hour in at the barn anyway. We hopped in the car, after-school snacks in hand, and drove off before the phone could start ringing and pull one or the other of us away! And I'm so glad we did....

R really wanted to spend time with Curly. She brushed all the mud off his coat (or all that she could reach, anyway!) and then lead him over to the round pen. It's been a long time since she's spent any time with her horsey friend and she's forgotten how to manage him a little...plus he was being a big, pushy dork and not attending to her as well as he could. So it was frustrating for her, but after a bit of time, she managed to get him to go where she wanted. I think he was grateful for the opportunity to munch some green-ish grass and do something a little different.

R leading Curly - what a pair!

E decided that she wanted to ride, but since the arena is currently a big mud pit and we only had an hour so she couldn't saddle up.

Even the sandy footing in the round pen was too wet.

I encouraged her to ride bareback, which she did.

You can tell it's a cold, gray day around the barn....

I think E and Monte should do this more often. They both enjoyed the exercise (and heaven knows he needs more work to do!) and it can only help them work together better.