Summer fun in the kiddie pool

-
Q was not amused. After a good run in the woods, a quick shower and a roll in the sand, I brought him his lunch served on the very scary neon green kiddie pool.


I also got to test my new video skills thanks to Teresa’s great suggestions. More videos to come.

Looking at me forlornly in the hot sun, poor Q never finished his hay. Something to work on.

Comments

  1. lythaJune 10, 2019 at 12:14 PM

    Dang he's fit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nat DJune 10, 2019 at 2:43 PM

      That's his signature move! Handy for fighting a bull, not so handy when you have a middle-aged partner struggling to follow. :-)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pumpkin Spice and the empty cup

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides 202/200 (Bareback 29/40) Ive been reminded of the zen proverb about the empty cup a few times these last few months, and I think it is such a powerful analogy when it comes to learning and growth. Obviously, horses are an incredible catalyst to self-awareness, learning and growth and my Q is no exception. The zen proverb is based on a zen master receiving a student who has come to learn but spends all his time explaining to the master his great accomplishments and successes. The zen master invites him to tea and then proceeds to filling his tea cup until it is overflowing. The student exclaims while the tea is spilling over the the table, and the zen master says "you are like this cup. Overfilled. I can not add to your learning until you empty your cup." Its come to my attention recently that Q prompted me to empty my cup a few years ago, and it continues to be something I am working on. It started when he first arrived, and I could not touch his ears or pu
Read more

Gloomy November

-
Image
I feel like I am in good company when I say that life and work has taken me away from riding these last few weeks. I finally made it back to the barn during an epic windstorm with over 1,000,000 homes without power. No surprise that I didnt ride that day. I did make it out to the woods yesterday for my first time in two weeks and boy has the scenery changed. From golden colors to barren trees, from sandy trails to muddy bogs, from blue skies to hail storms. It’s time to be well dressed, with jackets, gloves, and good socks. I have been dutifully practicing the long reins every day for 15 minutes, and Q is a quick study. We now do nice transitions between collected walk to collected trot, and during one of our teardrop turns Q offered me a leg yield to my squeal and delight. He stopped and raised his head to me, saying that if I was going to squeal that much he deserved a mint. I obliged. He also taught me a lesson today. Yesterday, I was doing our standard trick at the fri
Read more

The Arctic Winter Riding Handbook

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides: 29/200 Here in Quebec, Canada, we have variable weather patterns in winter from springlike sunny days of +10C to arctic freeze of -40C. While winter officially goes from Dec 21 to March 20, we find that it really begins on November 1rst to April 30th. SIX MONTHS OF WINTER! Our other three seasons are much shorter as a result. Aside from the cold, winter also brings a new set of challenges for footing. Deep snow, sheets of ice, crusty snow can bring about dangers to horse and rider and also increase fatigue and injury if not careful. For the truly committed, a set of four winter shoes with studs and plastic snowball inserts, can make a world of difference. Particularly if icy conditions are commonplace and restrict turnouts. I currently keep my horse barefoot, and as a consequence there are a cumulative 2-3 weeks a year where turnout is limited if not impossible and trail riding is off the table. I also benefit from an indoor arena when this happens, so it really is
Read more

What a trip!

-
Image
One of those kind of trips where you don't actually go anywhere, but your mindset shifts and you feel the whole planet twist under your feet. A puppy. What a trip! Puppy is about to turn 5 months, and has been in our lives for almost 3 months now. We have mostly conquered potty training, crate training and the basics of obedience. Puppy has also conquered us, as she has transformed our cold icy hearts into piles of mush at the slightest whimper. We had a brief medical emergency this week when we discovered blood in her stools. Off to the vet to find out that there is a big difference in bright red (goodish, ie intestinal inflammation) and dark red (scary, ie internal bleeding) blood in the stools. We did a quick diet correction and within 24 hours we had a great reversal in her condition. We have been exploring lots of different training avenues on top of basic obedience, including agility for puppies, tricks, and soon scent training. I have big plans to have her certified as a the
Read more

What the whip?

-
Image
Im no stranger to spurs, whips and nosebands and I understand their purpose. However I have chosen the slower path to training objectives and have foregone all of the above in my work with Q. Which has been working well so far, in part because Q has a lot of try and is very sensitive. Despite the icy trails, I still made the trek to the barn today and was planning on riding in the arena because ... I just realized I havent cantered in 2 weeks! Partly because of poor trail footing, partly because of rambunctious Q, partly because of slower training objectives. Regardless, I woke up this morning with a mission. A canter mission. We were in the arena with two other trainers, one in reining, and the other in dressage. All was good, and it was just about managing traffic and keeping left-to-left despite their circles, spins, canter half passes, and protruding dressage whip, etc. I had a good session with Q and I was really happy with his canter-to-trot transitions from my seat. We
Read more