Violets & Dandelions

"No hour is wasted that is spent in the saddle."
Winston Churchill

Dancer always comes when he is called. Nava follows him, then as usual she tries to escape through the gate to join us.

Friday, Dancer and I spent a happy half hour grooming. His new shoes look great. I ordered extra large bell boots for him, as the blacksmith recommended.

We managed to have an excellent lunge session. I am going to start training him to harness, then hopefully buggy.

We had a great ride. The little kitty did not come and visit us in the arena.

Dancer is still having difficulties walking in a straight line, though he trots and canters in one. I am trying to position myself carefully so it is not me causing the problem. We trotted for much longer than usual doing circles and figure eights.

We had a nice canter in either direction. Dancer wants to canter collected. He was on the wrong lead and changed automatically, that feels sort of like a buck when he is already doing a collected canter. Eventually we did a gallop around the arena. Our first gallop!
To cool off, we rode up the lanes to the road, then back along the hay field. I plan on riding bit by bit into the hay field so we can get over being scared of the wild turkeys. He isn't afraid of geese flying up under his nose, but he is afraid of the turkeys.

As I walked him back to the field, I let him nibble along the grassy lane. We had such a nice ride today.

Spring Fever!

It feels like a broken record when I say Dancer is a mess. Today he is covered in dry manure...Yippe! This picture is from a few weeks ago, but I couldn't resist showing that he loves laying down.

Despite the hour of brushing, his rump was still pure dust. Oh well, his ears were up and he was ready to go.

I decided to saddle him up, but start by lunging him at the end of the hay field. This is where he has found something to spook at. I thought it was the phone box, but now I think it may be either the lamas down the road or the turkeys in the bush.

We went out prepared to lunge. What a great walk on such a beautiful, warm and sunny day. The wind was quite strong and I should have realized as we began that Dancer was going to give me a run for my money. He was skitterish around the mail box, then he walked so quickly as we progressed to the far end of the field. We managed about ten minutes of quiet walk and trot on the lunge line, then we progressed to the problem area. I could not get him to settle down, so I could only walk him up and down. I walked in the deep dry grass at the side as well. He tried taking off, bucking and kept up with the skitterish attitude. I wish I knew what was bothering him.

Usually Dancer is the most stable, solid horse. He even lets the goats, chickens and geese run under his feet. Oh, and when I lunge him in the outdoor arena, a cat comes and chases the whip - that doesn't faze him.

What can I do to help Dancer...and me?

Well this is where I have decided that my fitness is fitting into the horse activities. We were in the field walking up and down, with some trotting for over an hour. Add that to my hour of brushing and sweeping, that is a total of 2 exellent fun filled hours.

I let Dancer loose in the outdoor arena after I was finished. I asked him to trot and he started trotting around the outside, then all of a sudden he was galloping like alunatic. I asked him to trot throught to a stop and he did. He turned for me but just broke into a gallop. Maybe I should chase him in the arena and work off a bit of his spring fever before I lunge and ride!