Twilight Rides

Last night I just barely squeezed in a ride on Jabby at dusk.  The forecast kept calling for showers, but the showers took their sweet time showing up. By the time I got done with work, got done with chores, got done trail riding Willie (who was Mr. Sparkypants for a change!), it still hadn't rained but we were almost out of daylight. The sun was nearly down, but the clouds had already rolled in, so everything was awash in blue light. We did our speediest tack-up and carrot stretches ever, and I hopped on for a twenty minute ride. It was far more productive than I had hoped, with Jabby walking calmly past some terrifying handsaw noises coming from the barn owner's garage, moving right off into a stretchy trot, and bopping happily and smoothly around our "arena" as the last of the light faded.

When a strong gust made the plastic hood of my windbreaker snap like a whip, he bolted forward exactly three steps, then stepped himself right back into my outside rein and continued trotting like nothing had happened. It's good that my horses have life figured out for those times when I'm too busy going, "Whoops, that was an unpleasant noise," to be of any use to anybody.

His canter was nice, too. We didn't do much, just a few circles and a stretch down the "long" side. It's nice that a year ago I was worried about this horse falling down on me when we cantered, and now we can lope around in the twilight like it's NBD.

Today all my after-work errands took longer than expected, but once more I raced the darkness for a ride on the Moose. I got up in two-point and we went almost straight to trotting, with Jabby chugging along like a happy little train as the temps dropped swiftly. We breezed around the back of the soyfield at a hand-gallop, swapped directions and cantered back.  We walked for a few moments, then threw in some shallow canter loops for funsies, too.  On the right lead, he wrapped around my inside leg and reached softly for the bit from true canter to counter canter and back; the left was stiffer and not quite as steady, but he gave it his best shot.  We finished up with a trotted figure-eight back in our "arena" before walking through the housing development to show Jabby the lit-up McMansions.

Since one completely horrid day at the beginning of last week, we've had some really good rides.  This horse is a rockstar -- and by that I mean some days he brings down the house, and others he trashes his hotel room with a broken guitar.   The bad days really get me down, but when he's good, he's so good...

He is feeling slightly "stuck" behind again, this time maybe in his left hip, so I put in another call to Dr. L for when she comes back from vacation. He may just need regular adjustments for a while -- he's a big horse, from a breed with a tricky hind end, and pretty hard on himself mentally and physically.

I'm thinking, too, he's definitely one of those horses that needs a job 6.5 days a week, or even twice some days. Not to work him to the brink of exhaustion, but just so he gets his mind and body engaged every day. Even living outside 24/7 isn't quite enough for him, since his field is flat and fairly small and he really doesn't exert himself much moving from hay pile to hay pile.


Sorry I haven't updated much recently... There always seems to be one Anti-Blogging Month and this time around it's December.  Just winter doldrums, unbloggable things, and a lack of things I feel worth writing about.  I'm glad it's not as cold as it could be, but I'll be happy when the days start getting longer again.

And hey, good news!   The boys have started letting go of a few extra hairs at a time when I curry them after riding.  That means an early spring, right?  (Right?)