Riding a dream and finding our way

This is Cody. and he made one dream come true today. There's my daughter's best friend on his back.

And here's Lily in mid grass grab.

Lily is always careful around kids.

Mireya riding Cody, the Wonder Horse

Mireya, who the last time I tried to get to overcome her fear had a major meltdown, faced her fear today. And rode one whole circle.

It helped immensely that her best friend rode and Cody plodded happily along.

Cody has been passed around quite a bit in his life and I often wonder about what his life has been like. He's not a total dead head. He'll canter when called upon and, more importantly, plod when a scared little girl is riding.

Thank you Cody.

Today was Lily's first day out of the stall and boy, did it show in the round pen. Bucking, tiny little rears, charging around. I hope the fact we were working in the round pen made it "light work." But it's such a relief to see her feeling better.

Then it was time to take the next step.

Today I played with Smokey.

We worked in the round pen. Couldn't quite get the join up and since the kids were around I couldn't really focus on it. He did well, though, and I worked him through his gaits.

We lead around a bit. Very well behaved.

Then it was time for a ride...

Which I'll write about tomorrow...

Riding your dream horse

Yesterday I rode my dream horse.

I guess Smokey isn't my dream horse, because if he was he'd be older and more experienced. But he has been the horse I've really liked, (okay, loved) since I first met him.

Smokey, the buckskin 4 year old morgan, 14.2, who has been under training at our barn, is for sale (you can see him here).

Like Lily (who I told the owner that I would buy when she wanted to sell him), I said from the moment I saw him that he was my horse. So I was excited to actually get on him yesterday and ride.

Smokey has got the smoothest gaits. And while he has a lot still to learn (let's get that head down. Lets work on steering a little. Lets soften that back), I felt oddly confident on this horse. Probably confidence left over from my rides on Woody, who is much more the kind of horse I need to get. We cantered, trotted, went up and down hills and he was sane, sweet, and it felt like I was floating, his gaits are so smooth (he is NOT gaited).

It was incredible to ride this horse I've admired so long. Someone is coming to look at him this weekend and hopefully will see what I see - a beautiful horse, with great temperment. Young but steady, forward but not hot.

I wish it was 2 years from now, where both of us would be more broke to ride. But given his price is already at the top of my range and the fact that he needs a trainer to work with him for a few months, this is just not the time for this dream.

But I hope you'll forgive me if I don't want to wake up.

At the Vet and a Gift

Yesterday we went to the vet. Lily had the works done. Teeth floating...

Extra sedation for the Caslick procedure (which you can read about here, but warning, it has graphic photos), and her coffin joint injection. So basically she got worked from both ends and even the bottom.

At least she had a sense of humor about it.

Then, after a very stressful day (unrelated to the vet visit) I opened an envelope on my desk and found this:

A very sweet Morgan mare. Thank you, G. It's exactly what I needed.

Especially since I'm in love with a morgan who looks a little like this, but he's a buckskin. Who is still for sale at our barn. But too young for me - he's only 4.

But a woman can dream.

Lily swims and Catching a ride

Sunday was a cloudless day, the blue sky a stunning dome over the hill country. A perfect day to take Lily swimming at the lake.

She had been showing reluctance to load so I had decided we needed to get her out before vet day (which is today).

The whole family went, which is kind of funny because all we did was walk our horse to the lake and let her enjoy the cool water. We only got her deep enough to swim once. We didn't even picnic or anything.

There was a moment when Sierra was on Lily, I was holding the lead rope in the water, and I looked up. There was my daughter, glowing, thrilled to be back on her horse, Lily's sorrel coat was glistening a golden orange, the perfect blue sky behind them was deep. I took a photo in my mind. It's the one I'm going to hold onto for those tough days we all have, I'm going to hold it and bring it out, and remember.

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Late in the day I joined TR and C at our old barn for the weekly trail ride. Once again TR was generous enough to let me ride Woody.

TR wants me to get a horse just like Woody. I, of course, would love Woody! LOL

But I know a large aspect of why Woody is the horse he is is because of the work TR does with him regularly. While Woody is an honest horse, he's also worked by an honest horseman. Which is what I'm going to work on becoming.

I worked more on using the split reins and managed not to feel like a moron. Okay, a little less of a moron. I worked on the proper cue to cantering Woody in the arena, and worked on my body position again. I was leaning forward in the trot, and Woody was trotting faster. I switched to my cantering position and together with a stronger cue in the right place, we were cantering. I dropped my shoulder less. It felt not so overwhelming to remember everything.

I'm looking forward to next Sunday. Not only will the lesson be fun, but Lily will be ready for riding. While everyone seems to be offering me horses to ride, its still nice to ride your own.