Long time.......

Gee, it has been a long, long time since I rode! Well, maybe not that long! Last time I rode was the day before Thanksgiving, over three months. The weather was really nice today, up in the 60's, sun shining brightly.......felt like spring.

I did laundry, cleaned house this morning while the weather warmed up, by 1:30 I was finished with the domestic chores and out the door. Gonzo was not a happy camper because he had to stay in the house with Petey, Buster and Laverne. Usually Gonzo gets to go but there are some mangy looking dogs at a house at the bottom of the hill that I sometimes go past. Didn't think that was a good idea for him to go, he was brokenhearted and cried and cried to go.

Sorry Gonz, only Lucy gets to go. I called Gilly and he came running, nickering all the way to the gate, he was happy to get to go somewhere. First thing I did was get Gilly out, brush the dirt off, put my new shims in the air pad, saddled up in the western saddle. Put on the new breast band and the dressage bridle with the bitless noseband. The one thing I did forget, were Gilly's necklace with his bells!!! Guess I need to take it to the tack closet then I will remember! Duh!!

Sorry no pictures, I just wanted to ride!!!

Ok, so I decided since I had no place to do any ground work that wasn't knee deep in mud! We walked down the road to see if Kim was home; she wasn't but we walked on down to see Lacy. When I say walked, I walked too, figured that Gilly would work off some energy, he walked sideways, backward and back and forth across the road.....ground work without the round pen.
Lacy was in a marish mood and was squealing and striking the fence. Gilly was feeling very friendly, licking and chewing on her neck but she didn't seem like she cared. (this is funny) Gilly stood and looked at her for a few minutes and turned and started back up the road toward home! Thought I heard him mumble under his breath, "That's the last time I'll play kissy face with you!"

When we got back to the barn I got the step stool out and climbed up in the saddle! Wow, I just wanted to sit there for a few minutes, soaking it all in......am I really sitting in the saddle again???? YES I AM! We started out up the road and Gilly seemed like he was happy to be out on the road, he was looking from side to side as if to say, "hey, it's been a long time since I saw these sights!" As we walked along I pushed him from one side of the road to the other with my legs, we worked on some flexing, turning in a complete circle with only my legs, boy, that's hard for me I want to help him with the reins but I didn't. He remembers how to do it. I just did some little things, we were mainly just out to have a nice ride and we did.

Gilly just had his feet trimmed yesterday so I was wanting to see how he did on the large stone that had been put on the road over the winter. Used to be he would take one look at the sharp quarter sized stones and want no part of it; today he walked over it like it wasn't even there. His feet are very hard and strong now, after the ride there wasn't a chip or crack anywhere! He has GREAT feet!

We rode to the bottom of the hill and the mangy dogs came out barking and heading for Lucy so turned and headed back toward home. We did some trotting too, fun! Back at the farm we went back the hollow to see what had happened to things over the winter, looked the same but with more mud! Made a few more loops around some of the out buildings before unsaddling. Gilly was a very good boy so he got a few horse peppermint treats after I got his halter back on.

Pokey was at the gate waiting and having one of his little ass-fits for being left behind. I gave him a few peppermints and he calmed down. Next time it's his turn to get out and go for a walk!

Great to be out and riding again....anyone else get to ride today???