Reluctant to ride

I don't know if it's been some left over exhaustion from my last trip to DC, not feeling up to dealing with Cibolo's issue, or just tired from the pace of life, (maybe a bit of all three) but I was reluctant to ride this week. I didn't head out to the stables yesterday - had too much work to do I decided, even though it was an incredibly beautiful day and I probably could have snuck out.

But today Mireya wanted to go to the stables. She so rarely wants to go, that I never let an opportunity like that go by. So we loaded up.

Initially I didn't even plan to ride. Just brush and love on horses. But Cibolo was in an incredibly loving space. He wanted to hang out with us and after a bit I decided to saddle them both. Only after taking great big whiff of horse fur.

God, I love the way horses smell.



Sierra rode Lily, Stephanie rode Cibolo.


Lily was misbehaving a bit, turning to bite when mounting. She never connects, never comes close, really. It's just a threat. We need to see what that's about. She's very cinchy, and hasn't been ridden consistently and can become a pill under those condition. Still, I wonder if this behavior is pain. I'll be checking out her back more thoroughly next time we're out.


The riders headed out and I played horseshoes with Mireya.


We set up our field: the little stump was 10 points, the inner circle 5 points, the outer 1 point. Then we named it. The Stump was the barn, the inner circle was the arena, the outer was the trail. Miss the whole thing and you were in the pasture.


Mireya is a horse shoe shark. Don't ever play her for money.

Here she is with her first ringer. First of many.


Cibolo rode very well, I hopped up on Lily at the end to just do the cool down (the larger saddle was on Cibolo so rather than switch saddles I just got on Lily instead). Lily was a bit hot, they'd done some running and she wasn't done. But the kids were getting cold, and it was time to wind things down.

So we worked on some mental things. Backing. Turning. Giving. Lily needs more consistent work, something she'll get now that the days are getting longer and the weather is more rational.



Cibolo is a different story.

It's interesting. Stephanie had worked on Cibolo through his fit with the wind. Then, when I took him out in the wind, he did fine.

I worked him through his fit with the inclines. Then, today he did fine on the inclines.

I don't know if he really learns that fast, but I am proud of the progress he's making. Hopefully my reluctance to ride (I do think I'm just mentally wiped out from work) will lift by Sunday. We have another chance to ride then.