Encounters on the Trail

MEGAN: After catching a ride to the barn with Laura, I took care of Simba and made sure everything was taken care of in the Hunter Barn. Rachel is spending a day and a half at home, so I am in charge of the Hunter Barn for the day. Emma and I did turnouts, and then I raked the track in the indoor. Cleaning Simba’s stall was a bit of a process, and while I was cleaning, one of the grooms asked me how old the country is. I missed the word “pais” which means country and thought he was asking how old I was. When I responded 16, he smiled, laughed, and asked again. Blushing, I told him and explained when the Declaration of Independence was signed, much to his lingering amusement. After finishing both Simba’s stall and my history lesson, I hand-walked and grazed Simba, then took him out to the field to warm him up. He was super, spooking once but otherwise very good. Then I rode him for a few minutes with Lendon, who said he looked excellent. Thank you, thank you, thank you Carl!!!! Then she suggested I have a lesson with one of the girls Tuesday while she was away, off to Muskegon, MI (Hey, that seems familiar!). She gave me a list of things to do while she was away and dashed off to catch a flight. I took Simba in the indoor and Annie helped me with a great leg-yielding exercise- ride the closed side of a 20 meter circle, then on the open side of the circle, do 2-3 strides of leg yield away from the inside leg yield, alternating between sideways and forward. Upon correctly performing this exercise, we added a transition to canter after the leg yield. Though it took some work, the exercise was sooo helpful and Simba felt awesome by the end, with Annie even calling him “fancy” by the end- a very big dressage compliment! To top it all off, he was sound as a bell (not the Liberty Bell :). YAY!!!! Emma helped me graze Simba while I mixed Mica’s breakfast for the next morning and did meds for the bran mash. Then I dewormed Simba, thanks to Heather, and refilled soap and did laundry in all three barns. The plan was to clean the sink in Mica’s barn, then take Simba out for a walk over hills to aid in developing him haunches. However, upon returning to the Main Barn after fruitlessly scrubbing at the sink for 20 minutes, I realized another horse had been added to my list. Victor, his groom, helped me tack him up so I could hack him with Astro and Annie. Astro, upon discovering the wonder of water on the trail, jumped a 5 inch wide trickle of water like a deer, quite nearly rear-ending Loui and I and almost losing Annie on the way over. After that eventful experience, all Simba and I encountered were some horse-eating patches of sunlight and a sound/shape/evil goblin which remains unbeknownst to me. Putting Simba away, I then cold-hosed Lucy’s RF tendon and helped bran mash all the horses. Then I did all Mica’s saddles with Emma and finished off the ones in the Main Barn by myself. After a quick tempo run and some work on the fundraiser, Emma and I devoured some delicious chicken curry and went to bed. Luckily I remembered just in a nick of time that tomorrow is Monday so we get one extra hour of sleep. Now the alarm clock is all set, so I will talk to you tomorrow!

SIMBA: Mom has officially lost her mind. Now she thinks that she can work me twice a day, even if one whole ride was just walking. Never admitting it to her, I had some fun strutting my stuff this morning. All those hills later, though, were completely unnecessary. And, boy, there is some scary stuff in those woods- but Mom was patient and gave me time to see everything and move at my own pace. Today was a great day- my feet feel great, and I am very proud of my workout today, Oooh, and there was lots of grass involved- and bran mash with treats. Overall, a four star day. Ah, that was a yawn, so I will get back to you tomorrow. G’Night!