Clover Ledge Farm

Yay!  I love vacations!  So far my only complaint is that the temps have hovered in the 40's and the sun has been non-existent.  But, I have been riding and not going to work!  Yay!  That almost makes up for it...though I am willing to bet $$$ that next Monday it will be sunny and 60+ degrees out there.  SIGH


So this is week six of conditioning and Dreamy is finally starting to come together.  Her work is much stronger and I am feeling more confident in the idea of trying First level.  :-)  We have had five good rides in a row, April 15 to today, all walk/trot/canter for 40-50 minutes each.  Today we had a lovely canter in both directions.  It was great!  Started with half a circle, then a full circle, and then 2 full 20 m. circles!  Yay!  And finally her trot work after the canter is decent as well.  She loses so much strengthen in her hind end over the winter.  I hate it!  :-(  I am waiting patiently for my instructor to let me know her ring is ready for a lesson...I really had …

On Sunday, April 10, Dreamy and I went to the beach together for the first time!  Yay!  My friend Tania and her horse Otis came along for the fun as well.  Tania and I seem to be horse adventure buddies, as she is my fabulous groom/photographer who accompanied me to WEG this past fall!  We had SUCH a FUN time!  The beach is in Scarborough and is open to horses until May 1.  We hope to go back one more time!


The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  It was sunny with a bit of an ocean breeze, but we were comfortable in fleece and windbreakers.  To my knowledge, Dreamy has never been to the beach, so I did not know what to expect.  But she was so good and willing.  It was the perfect beach ride!!  I think she would have preferred to walk in the dry sand, as for some reason she has always been very self-preserving about her footing.  But she marched along at the walk and trot down at the water's edge, and we even tried a bit of canter, and she was excellent!  Though the first time we trot…

So apparently posting for 30 days straight made me avoid my blog for almost two weeks!  LOL!  Not only was I tired of writing so much, life has been super busy.  Thankfully I have been able to stick with Dreamy's seven week conditioning schedule fairly well despite so many things going on.  She is coming along well and I am pleased with her progress so far.  If only the rest of the snow would melt and the rain would stop long enough for everything to dry up.  My riding "field" is still not quite ready for riding so I have been making use of the driveway and road...not the best situation, but it works!

It always bothers me when owners pull their horses out of that pasture in the spring after a winter off and don't bother to spend time legging up the horse.  Especially as horses age, they need active work to get back into riding/showing shape.  I try to be very diligent and realistic with my horses.  I write everything down and make a plan ahead of time. 

Week 1:  March …