Riding Without A Rope

My Father-in-Law, who lives on property with my horses, had knee surgery is beginning recovery. In the meantime, Chris and I are driving 40 minutes each eay twice a day to feed the horses. The extra time with them is wonderful it's just unfortunate that it also comes at a time when gas prices are higher than I have ever seen. I've already told Promise that now would be an awfully convenient time to go ahead and foal so I could be there checking-in on the two of them.

Whisper hasn't been worked this week at all. The down pours saturated the ground so much that footing was not conducive to training. I hadn't been up on her back in 2 weeks and it was killing me. Chris was with me and after we groomed both mares, he held Whisper and I tacked up.

We walked up and back a few times before I had Chris turn her loose. We rode down to the telephone pole and back about ten times while Chris stood on the hill. She did okay, only she seemed nervous not having an anchor on the ground. Last time I rode her solo it was a simple circle and Chris was near.

It occurred to me that there may not be much history in her training of actually riding alone. A groom may escort to the track, a lead pony would pick-up from there, then she's in the gate among other horses. Even during warm-ups, it would be rare if at all that she would be ridden solo away from other riders, horses, or handlers.

Whisper and Chris get along really well while Promise is still okay to simply tolerate him. I'm thankful to have his extra set of hands tacking up and handling these girls while we are out in the open without use of a stall.

Spring is slowly showing itself and purple flowers have carpeted the front yard outside the pasture.

It wasn't as difficult as I expected to handle her out of the pasture, save for the woodpecker that kept getting her attention anytime it made a noise.