Saturday..........Finally Working Horses

It's been a long week. Between trying to get Vee and Percy body clipped, dealing with the new puppy, vet and chiropractor appointments and Richard falling things just seemed to get more complicated than expected. The end result was horses just didn't get worked most days.

Today was the first day I even made it over to Angie and Richard's place. I arrived earlier than usual per Richard's request only to find he forgotten about telling me the earlier time. That meant I scurried around worrying about being late when instead I was earlied than expected.

As is usually the case, days that start off a little out of sync just seem to stay that way. We did get the two yearlings worked and even managed to get Scarlet's icky legs rinsed off with nice warm water so at least I don't have to worry about her getting chafed from the sticky combination of urine and pellets she somehow gets saturated in. (Have I mentioned how much I hate bedding with pellets?)

Legs got worked for the first time since he cut his leg. Despite starting off reflecting all his pent up energy combined with his dislike of the wind, the horse actually gave me a pretty good ride. At this rate we will be working on achieving that draped rein here soon.

The second load of horses had lots of energy as well. Vee and Percy now pretty much naked gave a new meaning to the words "fresh horse." The cold chill of the incoming storm made for some interesting energy.

Percy seemed to have lost his brain along with his hair. The horse seemed to be preoccupied and acted like he didn't "get" things he'd done really well the week before. Mostly Percy just wanted to go without much intervention from his rider. It was a while before Richard rode him down to the listening co-operative horse he'd been last week.

Vee had her own thing going about losing her hair. She started off on the humpy side although she didn't do much about it until she went into the canter. Even though she was anticipating the gait and going before asked, she still bounced a bit in the back end, not really bucking and not really crow hopping but definitely humped up and a bit springy.

Once I got her past anticipating the canter, working to the left (definitely her "bad" way) every time I put my inside leg on her to move her over at the canter she swapped leads behind. This has not been a regular problem with the mare but it sure was today. I decided to canter her good way to work off some energy. Then went back to the left side again. She was better but still not as good as she'd ended up last week. Not a surprise with most of the week off, but still disappointing.

Then there was Tag. He did get worked once earlier in the week but he'd not been happy at standing in his stall those other days as I'd worked on clipping horses. The horse was kicking the stall toy suspended in his stall almost to the ceiling, then bucking and blowing his displeasure at not working.

Today, the horse was happy to be worked. Still packing a full coat of winter hair, the horse wasn't really bothered by the cold wind or the snow blowing into the arena. His only concern was the other young horse being worked in the arena at the same time. If anything the horse felt a bit put out at having to work in only half the arena. There's nothing that Tag likes more than "booking" down the rail. Circles are just NOT his thing.

The predicted snow storm decided to arrive earlier than expected. It quashed any hopes of that last load of horses getting done. I am such a chicken about driving in snowy or icy conditions and didn't want to take any chances with my horses so Hope, Lucy and Dandy got the day off. I'm sure none of them appreciated it because all three really like to work as well.

Tomorrow, I hope to touch up the clip jobs I did earlier in the week. Getting to see them in Angie and Richard's barn light definitely exposed some "issues." I must admit they did look better than I had expected between my new contacts, ordering the wrong blades and the lousy lighting in my barn. However, I am a perfectionist and I won't be happy until the issues are resolved. I'm pretty sure that neither horse will be happy to see those clippers again.

This picture is Percy at the open house this summer.

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