Things have been going well so far! I've ridden everyday, except the Friday he had off and an extra day when the weather was miserable. I've been doing mostly flat work, he's at a perfect weight right now and so I'm hoping he'll muscle up quickly and easily and adapt to a more intensive training schedule. We've been easing into our rides, with the exception of my lesson which was highly focused on canter work and he worked up quite a sweat. I walked him out in the arena and then took him on a long trail ride and splashed around in the pond a little so that I knew he was cooled out afterward.

They're out in their first grazing paddock for the summer. It's nice and grassy. I've been grazing him for half an hour to an hour and a half every time i've been out because we don't let them out gradually. It's not ideal, but they've always been okay in the past especially with the grazing for 2 weeks beforehand. It's a lot harder to find him now that he's in the big paddock and I have to schedule extra time before my lesson in order to walk out there!

I fed them last night and they all came galloping up to the fence. Such happy bbies right now :)

Anyways, I'll provide a more detailed riding post after my lesson this week!

Hello, Again

Well- it's been a LONG time since i posted. And despite my excited-ness last spring i barely ended up posting last summer during the thick of it. I really enjoy re-reading my posts from earlier in the spring and it would've been nice to record how far we came last summer. I'm going to have to start over again this spring, and it should be just as lovely and frustrating. Boomer's had a great winter, he's now ridden twice a week by my best friend H, and twice-three times by his leaser. He's been working in the arena all winter, but is back outside in the big ring enjoying himself once again.

I must say i'm much less prepared for the year this year than i was last year. I have NO plans for the summer, i've bought NO memberships... nothing. I'm very broke and very overwhelmed by life at the moment, i can't imagine having a plan for the summer. All i know is i'm working full time 6 days/week starting May 3rd so i'm going to be working for twice as long as i did last summer. I really burnt out last July/August from working so much, so i'm hoping this summer I can go into it with a more positive attitude. I have slitghly different responsibilities this year and I know my employers/fellow co-workers better so it should relieve the stress of it all.

I really don't know what i want to do this summer. There is a new short course series running in the area, there's dressage shows, hunter/jumper, the events I did last year... the only different is there's no C-Rally running. I didn't join Pony Club this year so it works out well.

I think my main goals are:

• LEARN how to canter on a loose rein/no contact, trust him in the field/big ring/anywhere to canter out. I don't trust him like i want to at the canter and it really holds us back. He has a gorgeous canter i just need to let go of his mouth and let him run a little!
• Jump jump jump.. last year at the last event i went to/last time i rode in the warm up ring we were popping over 3' fences like it was no bodies business and loving it. He was a little more toned down because he was tired and i was awesome! i was just so good. I need to figure out how to do that every time- just relax and ENJOY IT.
• Go for as many hacks as possible- those solo hacks at the beginning of the spring last year really cemented our trust and bond for the summer. We really got to know each other last summer, I hope we can build from it this year.
• Continue to expand my interest in dressage, do some reading, practice tests/movements for fun. Have a plan when I go to ride sometimes.
• Organize my locker/tack at home so that I make use of the ridiculous amounts of stuff i've acquired over the years- its all nice and some of it never used because there's so much and i dont know where half of it is when i need it.

H shaved his legs/pulled his mane/trimmed bridle path so he's probably pretty comfy. Last time iw as home (Easter) he was shedding like a madman, so maybe once i'm home i'll be able to make sure it's all good and his summer coat is coming in. He got his spring shots/teeth checked/mini-physical last week so I'm happy about that too! Hopefully soon after i get home he will be let out into their wonderful 'big' paddock and he can enjoy some grass. I'll need to start grazing him as soon as i get home to get some 'green' in his belly. We always try and graze them for an hour or so on our own time because the herd can't be turned out intermittently on the grazing pasture due to staffing constraints/large herd size.

Well- I'm off to bed. I'm home April 25th and although i made a lot of promises last year and didn't write as much as i expected, or at all after June, all i can say is i hope to be back and i want to write as much as possible this summer and maybe get some more followers on my blog. The horse community on Blogger is great :)