This Weekend

This weekend has been full of horsey-related things. Most of my weekends are, but this one involved clipping, an all-day trip to the horse park yesterday to watch an event, and a hack in the gorgeous weather this morning. I already sort of posted about clipping, but it went much more smoothly than I imagined and Limerick was a saint. I made him stand in the cross-ties for a good three hours (I also soaked and wrapped his ouchy hoof), and he was a snuggle-bug the whole time. He kept looking back at me while I was clipping, like "what are you doing mom?! I'm supposed to have fur!" He also looks much better than I thought he would since it was my first time... I'm proud of how it turned out :)

Coming to see why I'm sitting in his stall <3

GOOBER

He can't possibly hold his own head up... enter farrier's back, a convenient head rest

 Yesterday, Kimmie and I got up and out to the farm by 9 to hold for the farrier. The farrier, D, at the new farm is fabulous, but he's SO slow. We were there from 9-1 for him to do both Limerick and Jazz... I was bored and tired by the end of it. Needless to say, I'll probably be paying my BO from now on to hold for me! After that, we headed to the Horse Park to watch team challenge. I got to see M, a younger girl from my home barn, do her dressage and go XC, which was awesome! She did really well and I got some great pictures for her. I also got to visit with Hillary, and she, Kimmie, and I went out for dinner after the event. It was a great day, despite being cloudy and grey!

Hill claims that I looked like a seal... I was just excited to drive my trainer's scooter

Today I went out with the intent to finally sit on my horse and just walk around, exploring the fields because it was such a gorgeous day. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting my 7-year old, somewhat spooky horse to be normal and sane after nearly two weeks off. This was a massive fail. We started out exploring the fields behind the barn and he was fabulous, and much better than I was hoping for. However, as soon as we went in front of the barn, and in sight of his field and buddies, Mr. Limerick started throwing the most massive tantrum I've ever seen from him. We luckily made it up to the flat part of the field when the shit hit the fan. He kept trying to run forward/bolt and turn back towards the barn, jigging and throwing his head like an idiot. Then the mini rears started... something I have never seen him do and was assured that he had never done before. Fun as that was, I was out at the farm by myself and was not going to fall off on my own, so as soon as he stood for a second, I hopped down. Let's just say that after that little incident, he certainly learned his lesson. I drilled ground work into his head, forcing him to listen to and respect me and smacked him hard with the reins if he did not immediately do what I asked. If horses can feel guilty, he definitely did and was very snuggly and cute the rest of the afternoon while I soaked and wrapped his hoof (for what felt like the thousandth time), trying to convince me that he didn't mean it and was sorry... how could I resist that cute face? That was around the time that I started thinking my expectations were too high and of course he probably has energy to burn. I think we both came to a little bit of an understanding today, and I'm looking forward to actually being able to ride again! This week is going to be much better than the last, and I should get to ride every day, with the exception of tomorrow :)