The sun was shining today

The sun was shining, so I saddled Vinnie up, hopped on and went. No lunging or ground work today! I had to catch all the daylight possible, since soon that will be lost to daylight savings. So out explored the local roads it was. We met other horses, squirrels on fences, serious barking dogs, a deer, horses galloping up to the fence, cars, trucks, puddles, mailboxes, pavement, gravel and more.

He did jump a few times and the loose horses running up the fence by the road made him puff up a lot and dance a little, but he never lost it. He was most spooked by a huge rock someone had put by their mailbox. It didn’t even move! But it elicited snorts, backing up and wanting to scoot down the road. I asked him to face it at a comfortable distance. As soon as he was willing to take one step toward it, we moved on.

He was light in the bridle and listened to my seat to steady him. When we rode up to the arena at Three Cedars, someone was washing the mirrors at the far end. More snorting! We had a really nice big trot along the back side of the turnouts that turned into our first short canter. And later he gaited on the pavement home. We got to the gate to his barn and he wanted to explore further, so we took another turn down the side road.

And he hasn’t even had ten rides yet. What a joy…

I guess the work we did last night in the Three Cedars arena paid off. I’ve been trying different bits on him this week. He seems to like a single jointed better than a French link. I’ve been having him carry it and working him off the cavason still. Last night I put side reins to the bit for the first time. They were very loose and he did well, stretching down into the feeling.

It had been raining steadily all day and continued through the evening. I had stripped his muddy sheet and then walked him down through the rain to Three Cedars to work. I wanted to try my Wintec AP saddle on him. It seems to fit alright, though I’ll be switching out the gullet for a slightly narrower one after Paisano leaves next week. I rode him a some after lunging. The sheepskin that Pam put on my saddle is really nice! I quit after he did a full round of the arena at the trot. Prior to that, we had to spend some time looking in the mirrors, sniffing the mounting stand and otherwise exploring.

Going home was an adventure, as it was quite dark by then. I have flashers that I hung around my neck, a yellow one to the front and a red one behind. Then I trotted Vinnie in hand down the road home in the rain. Thankfully, we only met one vehicle. I am continually happy with what he puts up with!

One more week and Paisano leaves. Then another week and Lily comes home. There are so many transitions going on that sometimes, I don’t quite know what to think. Still, I keep going to the barn and doing what needs to be done each day. And it’s usually something interesting.

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