After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...
Whew! What a spring! Obviously I lost interest in blogging for a bit...whoops! It got warm and I started spending alllllll my free time in the barn!! So much has been going on and I wish I had just kept up with writing, but oh well!
I put the mares back into spring conditioning work the first weekend in March. I followed a pretty typical legging up program...two weeks at the walk for 20 minutes a day at the walk, building up to 30. Then three weeks of walk and trot for 30 minutes, building up to an hour. And then three weeks at walk, trot, canter, building up to an hour+.
Of course, I meant to blog all about it, but yeah.....you can see how that turned out. Basically I rode both mares each day for 5-6 days a week and they gained back muscle and fitness quite well! Dreamy was in great shape for her first show of the year, a combined test on April 15. (More on that later, promise!) Reva had some unexpected time off (more on that later too!!), but she is looking great now and we are gearing up for her first show of the year this weekend.
To make up for the lack of posts, here is some photo spam from my iPhone! LOL!
I put the mares back into spring conditioning work the first weekend in March. I followed a pretty typical legging up program...two weeks at the walk for 20 minutes a day at the walk, building up to 30. Then three weeks of walk and trot for 30 minutes, building up to an hour. And then three weeks at walk, trot, canter, building up to an hour+.
Of course, I meant to blog all about it, but yeah.....you can see how that turned out. Basically I rode both mares each day for 5-6 days a week and they gained back muscle and fitness quite well! Dreamy was in great shape for her first show of the year, a combined test on April 15. (More on that later, promise!) Reva had some unexpected time off (more on that later too!!), but she is looking great now and we are gearing up for her first show of the year this weekend.
To make up for the lack of posts, here is some photo spam from my iPhone! LOL!
The start of conditioning, Dreamy, March 2012 |
Reva, March 2012 |
An early spring trail ride, Dreamy and the best dog ever (Lucy) |
The snow finally melts! |
Beach Ride!!! April 2012 |
Reva is sidelined for a bit...more on that later :-( |
Early morning April ride with Reva! |
Glad to have you and the ponies back in the blogosphere, gal.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've been very busy! I wish I had the time to ride that much each week.
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