Spring Break

     I went home for spring break last week and had a great time. I have been meaning to post about it earlier but between a busy school week and a bout of food poising I haven't had the chance.  

      The Friday I got back I was able to go down and ride my boyfriend's horse Weldon and visit with everyone. Pics from that ride:

Saturday I went on a trail ride with my boyfriend and I rode his other horse Sophie while he rode Weldon. It was a lot of fun. Weldon freaked out when another horse passed us and was giving his owner trouble but other than that it was a good ride.

Sophie:

Sunday we tried to go sailing but when we got to the harbor there was a Tsunami warning so we didn't go out. We did get to see it come into the harbor while we were there. It mostly looked like a very strong current coming in and it raised the water level in the harbor almost 3 feet.

I rode Weldon again on Friday and he was very forward. The rest of the pics are from this day.

Boyfriend and Sophie:

Ground driving

     I have been neglecting this blog but I have been busy with school and haven't had much time or much to post about. I have had some good rides on Banico and jumped him a bit last weekend. We have been having some big storms come through and it is so nice to have an indoor arena to ride in when it is bad out. My horse looks awful from all the mud and it hasn't been warm enough to give him a bath for months. He did start to shed today so spring is coming. 

     When I went out to catch him from pasture he got everyone going and all the other horses stared galloping around. He started it by pinning his ears at some one and got everyone riled up. The BM told me he is the ringleader out there and always gets everyone else going. He also is the boss and gets all the hay and is getting kind of fat. Most of the other horses came up to the gate quickly but Banico and another two horses went down to the end and came back. He was on the other side of the creek and jumped the creek at full run and galloped up the hill. I finally was able to catch him and he gave me some attitude leading him through the gate so I reminded him that he couldn't do that with me. 

     I then put my surcingle on him and first lunged him a bit. He was giving me more attitude and showed me that he could canter sideways to get away from me. Those darn Andalusians are to darn athletic sometimes. He did settle down after a bit and was very good. He was very forward and we did a bunch of trotting and some cantering circles. He is improving with the ground driving and I should do it more with him.  

   Here are pics. Ignore the scruffy looking horse because he hasn't gotten a bath in months. Also the darn burr plants are growing again. 

He looks fat again witch is an improvement. 

Good roll. He was very sweaty after the work out and his long winter coat.

Barn goat. 

update

     I have been super busy with school so haven't been able to post for awhile. I have been getting to ride Banico a few times a week and he has been amazing. I have been mostly riding him bareback. He has been very responsive and much calmer than he had been. I have been really enjoying ridding him and will be glad when it warms up and we can use the outdoor more. I think he has finally settled in and we found a good grain for him. His weight finally is getting really good and he is so much calmer when I ride. He is really enjoying being out in pasture and he is the top horse out there. Its starting to warm up a bit and hopefully I will be able to get down there a bit more when it is nicer out after classes.

Pics from yesterday:

 Fuzzy boy. He had never gotten much of a coat in CA but has a nice one this winter.

     I started back at school this last week so its been kind of crazy with that along with a number of other things going on. I did make it down to the barn a few times and had some good rides and one good ground driving session. Yesterday he was great except for one BIG spook right in the middle of the ride when I was giving him a break. Darn horse know when he can get away with things and takes advantage sometimes. Have no clue what he spooked at. He was good for the rest of the ride. When I was ground driving him a few days ago he really wanted to go play with his pasture mates so we got in a fight about that where I want to go one way and he wants to go the other. He did show me his amazing ability to canter sideways. Sometimes I wish he would give me some of that stuff when I ask for it. We did get it figured out and went back into the indoor to get some of that energy out.
     I found out Friday that my aunt had been taken to the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. She is doing much better now. This life always gives us the unexpected or and my Dad calls it "Undirected." Every time I feel like everything has settled down a bit something else seems to happen. Sometimes we just have to take what this crazy life gives us and just move on and see what happens. Who knows what will happen next. This has been a confusing week but it will work its self out and who knows what the future will bring.

And just because here is Banico enjoying life:

Back in KY

     Got back into KY late Sunday. Had an uneventful flight just a long day and lots of walking between gates. There seemed to be a lot of delays and my one flight got in a bit late but there was enough time for me to get to the next gate.

     Had a very good ride on my friends horse, Weldon, Saturday. He was much calmer than the first day and was very fun to ride. He only tried to break into the canter once and when he was in the canter it was nice and slow and not rushy at all. My friend said thats close to the best he has ever seen him go. I also rode another friends horse, Trouble. I had ridden her quite a bit before I left and she is fun to get on and putt around. Did get some pics of her.  

Weird camera angle.

     Did get down to see Banico yesterday and he is doing good. Didn't seem to thrilled to see me until he saw the carrots I had. Yes my horse is spoiled. He was very snorty when I was leading him out of pasture so I let him out in the indoor to get some of that out before I rode him. He was very nice for me to ride but the indoor was kind of frozen so we mostly just walked and trotted. It has been snowing off and on all day so didn't really feel like getting down there today. Start back to school tomorrow and it will be an interesting semester. I signed up for an energy healing class that will be very interesting.

Riding

     Its finally dried out  enough here in CA for me to get out and ride some. I went on a very short trail ride on Sunday on my friends horse Magnum. My friend just walked with us but it was nice to get out. Yesterday, I went on the same horse for a longer trail ride with another one of my friends. We did a long loop with lots of hills and Magnum really seemed like he enjoyed getting out and really wanted to go running up all the hills and gave me a few interesting little moments. My friends horse Sophie wasn't feeling great towards the end and ended up getting a nasty allergic reaction once they got back to the ranch. She is fine now. Magnum at the end of the ride felt like he could go around the loop again and be fine but I did get him quite sweaty with his winter coat but it was nice enough to hose him off a bit.
     Today I went down to my old ranch to ride my friends other horse Weldon. He has been off work for awhile and is finally sound enough to start riding but is very out of shape. My friend doesn't feel good riding him himself until he is a bit more in shape but wanted me to try him out because I am lighter. Weldon was a lot of fun to ride and really enjoyed getting out and doing something. He is a TB/Arab cross and sure showed his race horse heritage today. He really didn't want to settle into a trot and kept breaking into a canter. When I did canter he was very forward but the first direction he kept changing leads but the second direction he just went. I kind of just had to let him get some of that out and he did give me a nice slower canter at the end. He took a bit of getting use to at first because he has much more suspension than Banico. I also saw a bunch of my old friends from there and had had some nice conversations with some. It is very nice to have friend who will let me ride their horses when I am so far away from Banico.  

Tacky Tack

Went back over to the tack shop to look around again and take some pics. I ended up getting an old crupper to practice with Banico for driving for $10. 

Pink English saddle:

 A synthetic:

 Barrel saddle

 Bridle:

     Most of the stuff here is really nice. You can find some great deals on really nice things but there are always fun stuff in there. I always go in at least to look around when I come. Most of the time more than once.