Solstice & Christmas Eve Rides

I had one one last chance to ride Halo before leaving town for Louisiana last week. It was solstice, and it seemed to get dark before I even left my house to go to the barn. The moon was low in the sky and bright orange!



Here is Halo in the dark, begging for treats at the tie rail. I just got the box in the mail this week with the brand new pad and girth for her, so I'll be trying those out later this week.



Her expression here says it all. "Mooooooom, stop taking stupid pictures!" I wanted to get a good conformation shot, but she wasn't very keen on standing square while I took pictures. Her condition is looking good to me if a little on the tubby side. I'm especially happy with how her neck is looking, given that when I got her everyone said she had a horrible ewe neck. I didn't have the greatest ride on her this night, but it wasn't awful either. Just a day where she was a little more hyped than usual, and a little less focused.



The ride was a good reminder that Halo is a horse who needs an active rider. I probably had my brain halfway on vacation, and she knew it. Yes, some days are easier than others, but for the most part since she is green, I need to be paying attention. One of my riding instructors used to tell me to imagine that riding the horse was like channeling water. You have to hold the channel together to direct the water, and if you don't, the water starts splashing out all over the place and you lose impulsion and/or direction. Halo reminds me of that often.

While I was out of town, I had the opportunity to ride in Louisiana. I got to ride a big palomino paint named Shadow. He had one blue eye and one blue/brown eye.



We rode out in some of the farm fields neighboring the land where the horses are kept. I think the men I was riding with thought I was a little nuts for taking pictures, but this isn't really something you see near Austin. The fields seemed to go on forever! The fields we ride in out behind the barn in Austin are hillier, and most just grow hay.



Here's me and Shadow alongside a ditch. We rode for a couple of hours around the edges of the fields, mostly just walking. I have to say, I loved the saddle I rode in, which surprised me. It was a saddle made in Monroe, Louisiana, not too far from where we were riding. I hope I have the opportunity to ride again next time we visit!

Summer Is Here

It's hot again, and Halo and I have a lot going on! This Saturday will be our second show in the CAQHA open show series. I think we're still going to stick to walk/trot classes. We've been cantering a little bit every ride, but it's still pretty rough, and the steering is quite as good as in the walk and trot. Also, if we aren't too worn out from the show on Saturday, we may be taking a little field trip out to the lake on Sunday to go swimming! I can't wait!

Also, I have a lesson tonight from another local rider who cleaned up at the last CAQHA show. I think it will be very enlightening to get some coaching from someone who is winning the shows at which I'm hoping to improve my performance. If Casi comes along, I'll definitely try to get some pictures taken. If not, oh well.

There will be more updates later this week, as well as a show report. Casi will be able to attend this time, so hopefully I can get my show results up more quickly since the pictures will be on one camera instead of three.

Ranch Ridin'

No posts in over a month! I've been committing the pinnacle of blogger sins with my prolonged silence. I have so many updates on Halo that I barely know where to begin. We've had some very good rides, and some very not-so-good rides, but she has made some amazing progress in the past couple of months.

The first thing I want to catch up on is a ride we went on at the very end of March. Casi and I were supposed to go trail riding at a fun place not too far from town, but an opportunity arose to haul out for an all day ride on a 1,500 acre ranch. How could I say no?

Of course this required us to get up at a very early hour, as evidenced by the semi-darkness and Halo's cranky face.

It was about a two hour drive down to the ranch. Halo did great with the trailering, and was quite content to eat all the way there. It amazes (and pleases) me that she trailers so well. My previous horse had trailer anxiety and would inevitably arrive at any destination covered in sweat.

She was a little hyped when we got there, but I saddled her up and longed her for a couple of minutes to take the edge off. I was still a bit nervous after how the beginning of our 12 mile ride went just a couple of weeks before. The barn owner gave Halo a little bit of Ace to keep her head cool for the morning, and that made things much better. While I generally don't think Aceing your horse is a great solution to problems, it can be a huge help in keeping them calm through a new and potentially scary situation. The Ace ended up wearing off by after lunchtime anyway, which kept things interesting.

Here are a few scenes from the beginning of our ride:

Casi on Louie before her knees started to hurt (still cheerful):

We started out in a big open field, and eventually made our way up into the hills, which were covered with scrubby bushes and trees. Halo was pretty mellow about the whole affair, and stayed in the middle of the group. I like being there because she needs to learn that she can't always blast off to the front. She's a little nervous about having horses behind her, especially unfamiliar horses, so it's good practice for her to get used to that.

The only incident we had on the way to lunch was at a man-made reservoir. The trail leaders decided it would be fun to ride up to the edge of the reservoir, which was in a big built-up hill made out of very soft dirt. The footing was very loose, so the horses had to scramble a little to get up the hill. Halo was fine getting up, but then the path around the edge of the water was very narrow. A fence around the water was on one side, and a lovely steep slope of loose dirt was on the other side. We did fine until about halfway around the pond when we had to take a sharp turn to stay along the fenceline. Halo decided she wasn't going to go that way, and headed off down the hill. It took me by surprise, and I couldn't pull her around because I was afraid of her losing her footing. We did a slip and slide down the hill to the bottom, but made it in one piece. I wasn't about to try and go back up there, so we stayed along the bottom of the reservoir until everyone else came down on the other side. Halo was a bit anxious when she realized she'd separated herself from the other horses, but she listened to me well and we made it back to the group without incident.

I tied her up for lunch, and she took a nap under the trees like she'd been a ranch horse all her life.

After lunch we went through some very beautiful wooded areas. The pictures don't do it justice at all. Everything was incredibly lush and green, and the ground was carpeted in purple and white wildflowers.

When we came out of the woods, the group split up. A few people were ready to get back to the trailers, so they headed out. Casi had a bit of trouble getting Louie to go with the group of unfamiliar horses back to the trailers, so she ended up swapping horses to ride Buddy, who is less herd sour. Halo and I also had a very exciting moment right before the split - our first canter! Brynn, who is 15 years old and gutsy, was more than happy to take her horse out to lead Halo and I in a canter. Domino is a 17h giant, so Halo had to work plenty hard to keep up with him. We did the turbo trot of doom, and finally opened up into a lope. It was an amazing feeling! No bucking at all - just a nice big canter out into the open field. We cantered out and then back to the group. I was so excited I had to let out a whoop on the way back in. I'm a dork.

I felt a lot more confident after the canter, and felt like I had somewhere to direct Halo's abundant post-lunch energy. After a bit more riding in the trees, we finished off the ride with a gallop across a big open field. The wind stung my eyes, reminding me of the time I galloped Smot on the beach years ago. I felt like I was finally home on my horse's back.

Texas Star Rodeo Ride (12 Miles!)

So here's the story on the Saturday before last (March 13).

I got up at five in the morning, far too early for any kind of coherent thought. It was still dark when Casi dropped me off at the barn. Halo was out on the grass, which I figured was a good thing since I wound up not having time to longe her. In retrospect, I should have taken a longe line with me to the ride, but alas, I decided to be brave and assume she wouldn't need it.

We got everything loaded up and hit the road a little later than we meant to at about 7:00 am. I'd been helping load Taz, the horse I leased last summer. When we got to the Manor Ghost Town, Halo was a little amped up, but still behaved pretty well for saddling and all the rest. After we tossed all the tack on the girls, Cavelle (my riding buddy for the day) took her trailer down to the rodeo grounds to catch a shuttle back up to the start of the ride. That left me alone with the horses for about half an hour. We were scheduled to ride out at 8:30.

Here are the girls at the hitching rail, making their crabby morning faces.



Halo was in mid-head shake here, but her coat looks nice in the morning sun!



The Ghost Town is allegedly some sort of tourist attraction. I'm not sure what kind of events they usually have there, but it made for a fun old-west style picture. I wish I'd had time to take a few more, but it was more important to keep an eye on Halo and Contessa.



There were about 20 or 30 horses on the ride in addition to several wagons pulled by mules. When everyone started getting hitched up and moving around, Halo's calm demeanor changed completely. She was on high alert and full of beans, not sure what was going on, but determined that she needed to look every direction at once. This is about when I started wishing I had brought my longe line. I did manage to get on her, but the commotion of the mules and wagons and everything else moving toward the road had her way too amped up to pay any attention to me. We bronced our way across the mounting area, and then someone got on the loudspeaker and said something about "keeping four feet on the ground" that I think was definitely directed at us. Crap. After we almost ran into the horse of an innocent bystander, I decided it was too dangerous to ride out on the road with her skittering around. So I got off. And thus began the most painful 3.7 miles of my life.

Leading Halo as I was, we quickly fell to the back of the ride. There was a rig following us, and the trail boss directing traffic from the rear was our only constant companion. She was nice, and asked repeatedly if I was okay. I was fine, but not happy about walking/running. Horses walk a lot faster than people do, so I was constantly having to jog to catch up. And every so often the trail bosses would crack the verbal whip, insisting that we keep up with the pack and not fall too far behind.

Halo leaned on me a lot while I led her, which was not very much fun for me or my arm. She was still hyped up and all too eager to trot to keep up with the pack. By a mile or so in, I was ready to get on, but there was no way. We weren't stopping, and if I'd tried to stop and get on, she would have become upset that the other horses were going on without her, not to mention that I doubt the trail bosses even would have allowed me to stop and fall any further behind.

I walked/ran until I couldn't go on. I walked/ran until I tore colossal blisters in the backs of both my heels. I walked/ran until I was completely out of breath and felt like a nap in the road would be preferable to taking one more step.

Let it be known that riding boots do NOT make good running shoes.

Just before we got to the first rest stop, I finally couldn't keep up any longer. The trail boss found someone to pony Halo, and I hopped in the truck pulling the water supply and outhouses. Ironically, the person who ended up ponying Halo looked about 11 or 12 years old, which worried me a bit at first since Halo had been so naughty earlier. But she and her mount seemed capable and took good care of things.

At the rest stop, I was committed to getting on. I certainly couldn't walk any longer, and I wasn't going to ruin a kid's ride by making her pony my rotten filly the whole way. Plus, riding would be harder work for Halo, which she obviously needed if she was going to be a turkey.

After our water break, I got on for the second time. It's a good thing she is okay letting me on from the ground now, because I didn't have a choice. She was fine when I first got on, but as the caravan departed, she started crowhopping and bucking again. I wasn't having it. She got to keep moving out whether she wanted to or not. We fell back behind some of our friends; they wanted to ride between mule wagons, and THAT was not going to be a good place for a spazzy, green filly who still had plenty of energy. We stayed in the pack of horses behind the last mule wagon, from which country music was blasting loudly.

Unfortunately, they also started up music from the truck following us, so we were surrounded by music on both sides that was completely deafening. The cacophony was awful, and the trail bosses couldn't even hear their walkie talkies. After riding in that state of torture for about half an hour, they finally turned down the music behind us, and it improved a bit. Halo was still full of energy, but there was no more bucking. Phew. I do not want to fall off on the road again.

Here's Halo about halfway through the ride, sweaty, but still plenty energized.



Anyway, we continued on for the rest of the 12 miles, and things steadily improved for me and Halo. She settled more and more into the rhythm of walking and trotting, and didn't show any signs of fatigue or overexertion. Someone's hat blew off in front of her at one point, and though she stopped, she didn't become upset at all. I was proud of her for not being spooky once she got over her initial antics.

We finally made it to the end! Here's Taz and his owner at the end of the ride. I must say, they pull off the cowboy image a lot better than I did. I was the only person there wearing a helmet, and I looked extra geeky with Casi's CamelBak on for my water supply. (I should add that the CamelBak saved me while I was doing all that running. I would not have survived without it).



In this last picture you can see the flags marking the rodeo grounds up ahead. We were instructed to ride in two by two, which we mostly did. However, there was a man on a very ill-mannered head-tossing Appaloosa that kept getting dangerously close to me and Halo as we closed in on the rodeo grounds. I finally told him Halo would kick him (not actually that likely) if he didn't back off, but he seemed oblivious. Fortunately he didn't cause a wreck.



I wish I had some pictures of Cavelle and Contessa, because they stayed with us through most of the ride. Cavelle even rode alongside me while I was suffering through the running portion of my day. I'm glad to have good riding friends now - it's important to feel like you aren't alone, especially when things are going wrong.

I don't know that I will go on this ride again. While I feel that it was great experience for Halo, and I'd like a second chance to remedy her behavior, the noise level was a bit unpleasant at times. Also, many people brought alcohol on the ride. I know a lot of people drink and ride, but for me, alcohol and horses don't mix, especially a green horse like mine. It seems especially dangerous out on the roads. We had the sheriff with us at the back of the caravan, and I was surprised they allowed the drinking/riding. People weren't subtle about it at all - they were carrying beer cans in their hands and dancing around to the music on the backs of their horses. Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but it was too easy for me to picture a wreck happening due to drunken antics.

Anyway, the day was definitely not a loss, but could have been a better experience overall. I'm glad I took Halo, and it reminded me that some days are just not going to go as planned. It's all part of the process.

Pictures From a Ride

These pictures are from our third trail ride sometime in mid-December (pre-accident).

Halo has filled out a lot over the winter, and I can't wait to see what she looks like under all the winter fuzz. She's standing a little funny in this picture, but you can see what a nice strong hip she's developed.



Here we are out on the trail, or in the middle of a field, rather. This is the thrilled poneh expression you get when you take a filly away from her food.



Nom nom nom


Sadly my head didn't quite make it into this shot...


Halo and Salty are watching some falconers out in one of the hayfields. Salty and his owner are wonderful to ride with, as Salty is a quiet older horse who is very seasoned on the trails. He is not bothered at all by Halo's occasional goofy antics.


My view from Halo's back as she watches the falcon.

A Tale of Two SUVs

It was our first trail ride of the new year, and our fourth trail ride total. We'd already conquered a 4 1/2 foot long rattlesnake (our second ride), and a scary giant flag at the subdivision behind the barn (our third ride). Nearly all my fear at riding a green horse off the property had evaporated. I was confident in my filly, and I knew a few spooks here and there would be no problem at all. Little did I realize what was in store for us today.

We left the barn at around 1:30 in the afternoon, ambling down the driveway to the front gate. I rode with C and J, two other women from the barn. C's Paso Fino gaited excitedly ahead of us, with J's placid older horse plodding along behind. Halo and I walked briskly in the middle, alert, and happy to be heading out.

We went down the road, the horses occasionally stopping to ogle a horse-eating fence post or drainage pipe. We crossed by the house in front of which was the rattlesnake's former abode (the barn owner shot it the week after we first saw it). We moved aside for cars and talked amiably as we passed by the subdivision and scary flag, occasionally calling to the barn dog that had followed us to get his furry butt out of the street.

Before long we were already near the end of the road where it Ts into a busier street. It was almost time to turn around and head back home. As we paused to turn around, I noticed two red SUVs turning onto the road.

"Cars!" I shouted ahead to C and J. We all obligingly began to turn our horses over to the side of the road, but something had captivated Halo's attention in the fenced pasture across the street. She was far enough to the side of the road that I didn't press the issue, as I could feel her tensing up beneath me. I looked out into the distance to try to see what she was looking at, and realized that the SUVs approaching us were in no way slowing down despite three horses in full view.

I muttered some colorful phrases under my breath as the first SUV passed, Halo dancing in place. And as it passed, I had the misfortune of finally seeing what had Halo's attention in the pasture. It was a cow. Not your typical cow, standing in the pasture, minding its own business of eating and shitting all day. This was 1,000 lbs of hamburger on hooves, ears forward and galloping in our direction, with the occasional leap over brush and logs. Halo's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she drew her neck up toward my face. The second SUV passed altogether too quickly, and C started yelling at the driver to slow down. Meanwhile, the cow continued its charge in slow motion.

I believe "oh, shit" was my last coherent thought as Halo's filly brain finally fried. She whirled around 180 degrees, scrambling forward on the pavement, attempting to evade the gallumphing hunk of tenderloin behind us. I slipped further to the side as she struggled to regain her footing, finally passing beyond the point of recovery. A split second decision was made, and I let go, dropping onto the concrete.

I landed flat on my back, my head connecting the ground last with a resounding crack. Halo bolted about five strides, skidding to a stop when she remembered there was grass to be eaten on the side of the road. I jumped to my feet, probably more quickly than was advisable.

"I'm okay," I said. Then, realizing the foolishness of that statement, I added, "I think I'm going to sit down for a second." I did body inventory, moving each limb in turn. Amazingly nothing seemed to be broken or even particularly sore. Except my head. I decided not to waste time, so I walked up to Halo and grabbed her reins. I was relieved she hadn't bolted clear back to the barn, and even more relieved that she appeared unhurt from her little slip and slide on the pavement.

We did the walk of shame back to the barn, my head aching more with each length of ground we covered. I got Halo untacked and checked her legs. She looked good, so I put her away and headed home. When I finally took a look at my helmet, this is what I saw:







The crack went almost around the entire left side of the helmet. My mother, from 2,000 miles away, insisted I go to the emergency room to get checked out. So, an emergency room visit and a neck brace later I was diagnosed with bruising and a sprained neck (basically whiplash). Can you imagine what my injuries might have been if I hadn't been wearing that helmet? Although I've spent the past few days extremely body sore and with one of the worst headaches of my life, I am grateful that those are my only complaints.

I'll be back in the saddle soon, but not until I replace my helmet. And I may take Miss Halo by the cow on foot to let her get a better look that won't end up with me flat on my back on the concrete.

Playing Catch Up

Wow, two months, no posts! I apologize for my leave of absence. Halo and I have much to report. She's been doing very well in her training. In December I managed to put three "trail rides" on her. I came to the important realization that while we were making progress in the arena, our progress was also being hindered by the arena.

Because Halo is still young and somewhat unbalanced, asking her to carry me around in circles quickly came to a point where it was doing more harm than good. I don't particularly like that it's tougher on her legs, and it is also harder for her to balance herself. It has been an unusually wet winter, so the outdoor has been a mess and we've mostly been restricted to the small indoor round pen. My ah-ha moment came when I got her out in the big arena and asked for a little bit of trot on the long sides of the arena. She was much more balanced and didn't have any of the head tossing that has been a common problem in the indoor. Granted, we've barely trotted at all, so she's still learning how to balance. I think the head tossing may be a side-effect of her trying to balance my weight while bending on a circle. Solution = trotting straight lines to help her balance.

In light of that discovery, I decided to bite the bullet and get her out on some trail rides. There are several other riders that like to hack out around the barn, and most of them take it easy, especially with how muddy it is. Most of the riding is done on the roads, and sometimes we ride out around the fields when it is less wet.

In a way, it was almost a whim that got me out on Halo the first day. I have some old fear issues surrounding trail riding, especially when mud is involved. Not to mention that I still consider Halo barely started under saddle. . . we've trotted maybe a total of six times, and never cantered. So anyway, this first day I got out there when everyone else was tacking up. I tacked Halo up, and decided to just see how I felt when I got on her. I warmed her up a little in the round pen, then got on, and waited for everyone else to get mounted up. Down to the very last second I was battling in my mind about whether or not to go, but finally I decided to fly with it and just give it a shot. The barn would never be far away if something should happen or we needed to turn back.

I'm proud to say that she was wonderful, or at least as wonderful as a very green filly can be. She only spooked a couple of times, and in each case quickly calmed down and settled back into what she was doing. It actually relaxed me to have her spook the first time, because I'd been waiting for her to do something. When she finally did, and I didn't fall off, I felt reassured that I was capable of dealing with whatever she might dish out.

Halo steers quite well with the sidepull now, and I will soon be transitioning her into a loose-ring snaffle bit. I may continue to use the sidepull for trail riding, though, as it is comfortable for her, and also prevents me from accidentally jerking on her mouth in the case of a stumble or spook.

Here is a picture from our very first trail ride:

It's Been a While

Sorry for the lack of posts! I've had three sessions with Halo since my last post, so I'll try to summarize what we did. The weekend before last I took her on a trail ride. It was my first time ponying her off Taz. I think poor Taz was a little bit annoyed having to mind the baby, but he was very good about it. We had a moment or two of naughty behavior on Halo's part, but she settled in fairly quickly and kept up with the group. Taz likes to walk fast, and apparently so does Halo - we ended up leading or being close to the front for most of the ride. Unfortunately it has been so incredibly dry here that the ground is splitting open. The fields are barely safe to ride in because they are riddled with cracks. We kept our pace at a walk due to that (and because one of the other riders was recovering from a recent surgery). It was a great opportunity to take Halo out, and I'm glad we kept to the walk.

The last couple of sessions I've had with her have just been basic longeing. The horses are back to being cooped up in their dry lots now that all the grass is dead, so she has a lot more energy. I'm also getting paranoid that she's getting overweight, so keeping her fit and exercised is as important as ever. Her legs don't need any extra stress.

I took some new conformation shots:









I think her neck shows the most dramatic improvement over the past year. She went from looking very ewe-ish to having a nice shape to her neck. It's still a little shorter than I'd like, but those bones are the last to fuse - she may gain a bit more length.

She's still noticeably downhill, but she's been see-sawing quite a bit over the past year. She'll never be uphill, but if she makes it relatively level, I will be happy.

She's well-balanced overall, but still light on bone in her legs. Her feet also do not look as good as I'd like. She's as sound and happy as ever, but these pictures are reminding me that I need to bring her toes back. It's getting a lot harder to rasp now that her feet are so dry and hard. I worked on them last night, but it's going to take a few days to get them where I'd like them.

Halo also looks almost like she's a tiny bit back at the knee, but I don't think that's the case. I think her ridiculously long pasterns are making her appear that way. She does have very long, weak pasterns, which seems odd. To my knowledge, that is not a trait present in her immediate bloodlines.

Any commentary is welcome!

Trail Riding and Exciting News

There is a new horse in my life!



His name is Taz, and he's a 1996 Quarter Horse gelding. One of the boarders at my barn is heading to Oregon for the summer (lucky!) and wanted his horse to be exercised while he was gone. I've managed to work out a partial lease on Taz from June to August. While it will be a little rough on my budget, I think it will be extremely beneficial to me to have a horse to ride this summer. It will help me get in shape for riding Halo, and I will also be able to pony her on trails myself so that the barn owner doesn't always have to do it.

Taz is a mellow gentleman, but he is also very athletic. When I tried him out I enjoyed his nice big gaits and forward movement. Although he usually goes western, and has for many years, he has lots of potential as an English horse. I had a blast riding him in my dressage saddle. He moves extremely well off leg, and needs only light contact on the reins. Yesterday we went on a morning trail ride with some of the other boarders. It was my first time on a trail ride in a very, very long time (not counting the cattle drive). Taz is going to be a good trail horse for me. I have some confidence issues on the trail that result from many bad childhood experiences, and I would really like to start working on overcoming those issues. Sunday was a great start to that. The only thing that bothered Taz was one spot on the road where there was a horse-eating power pole, but we made it by after sticking close to one of the other horses. The only thing that bothered me was a big ditch we had to ride through, but I got off and led him through this time. There will be opportunities to challenge myself later as I become more accustomed to riding him.

We rode around the edges of many hay fields, and cut through areas of grass where the stalks were higher than my head even up on Taz - and he is not a small horse!



Now the next project is to set myself some summer goals with both Taz and Halo. For once I'm actually excited about summer despite the hot weather!

Halo's First Trail Ride

Well, it wasn't so much as a ride as a long walk in hand, but Halo did very well on her first expedition away from the barn. Heading off the barn property we walked alongside a hay field and then out onto the road. Most of the walking we did was on the pavement, and then onto a packed dirt road that went around the other side of the hayfield.

Several cars passed, but Halo was completely nonchalant. I am very glad that there was a busy road next to her pasture at the previous barn! Traffic doesn't seem to bother her at all. I'm hoping we'll be ready to walk in a Christmas parade this year, and this was some good encouragement in that direction.

What turned out to be really nice is that one of the other ladies at the barn also walked her horse, so we had some company at our slow pace. When the riders went off ahead to trot and canter, Halo still had a buddy nearby. The only bad behavior she offered was a little bit of pushiness when the other horses took off. To correct her, I stopped her and made her back up. The first time I asked her, she reared up, the little punk. I corrected her and asked her to back up again with all four feet on the ground, and she did.

For the most part, she traveled willingly on a loose lead and didn't try to charge off. We stopped several times to eat some grass on the side of the road, which she seemed thrilled about. She's very food-motivated. Due to my stupidity she also had the opportunity to pony for the first time. I am not very heat-tolerant, and the heat index was close to 100 yesterday. When we were still a ways off from the path back to the barn, I started fading fast. So one of the women riding let me sit double with her and pony Halo from there. It was awkward, and Halo was a little confused at first, but she caught on quickly.

Overall, I was very happy with the first trail experience! I hope to have her hauled out to a couple of the trail rides this summer so that she can get some experience being in new places. By the time I'm actually riding her, I want her to be exposed to lots of different things so that nothing takes her too much by surprise. Our next adventure will be a cattle drive at a nearby ranch on May 24th. I can't wait!

Here are some pictures, and proof that Texas is not just cacti and tumbleweeds!







To follow up a little bit on the bucking issues from my previous post, some progress has been made since then. Wednesday she got longed with the synthetic saddle (bucked at the canter, but we pushed through it), Friday she got longed with my extremely heavy Circle Y (walk trot only, no bucking), and I longed her yesterday before the trail ride with no tack (walk-trot-canter, no bucking). So I think I'm going to try doing a lot of saddled trot work and hold off on the canter for a week or so to see if that improves things. Hopefully she'll get used to things flapping around up there to the point where none of it bothers her anymore.