What's Up Wednesday

 

I'm a little pressed for time today, so going to make this as quick as I can! Things are mostly going well around these parts! I only got to have one lesson last week as trainer had to cancel Friday, so we're on a lesson break now until she gets back from Vermont in two weeks. But we're still practicing and plugging away!

I even did the bending 5 to 5 that I set up and thought I might or might not do. He went right through like a champ. 

I may change the course next week if I have the energy. (Lots of braiding the next two weekends, so we'll see.) In other Al news, I got his photos back from his photo shoot, and he looks like such a mature adult horse! (I mean obviously, but he usually has this goofiness to him that keeps him looking like a kid, and I think he doesn't look at all goofy in his photos.) Here are a few of my favorites:

Photos are by the incredibly talented Chelsea Lothrop who also happens to be a good friend. Photos are also featuring Al's new show bridle which I'm in love with. My first actual high end bridle!

Eros has been a bit strong at the fences lately. I think he may be due for a little free lunge, but I'm hoping he'll decide to get that out on his own in turnout first. I don't really like encouraging them to gallop around if I can help it. He hasn't been bad, just a little excited and draggy. He for sure is feeling a lot better in the hind end though. He's jumping me loose over everything and I've only been jumping him 2'3"! A little extra... Sheesh.

I let Pammon canter a few raised cavalletti for the first time last week. I'm not entirely clear on whether or not he should be jumping. The vet was pretty vague about jumping, but Pammon and I are both getting ridiculously bored of doing the exact same thing 6 days a week for the last many months. He was SO excited to "jump" and so I think as long as he stays sound, I'll let him do this once a week. We just popped over a few times. Nothing strenuous. But it was fun, and Pammon was happy. 

Weeeeeeeee!!!! -Pammon (probably)

My first few rides on Shiny after her time off for her maintenance were unimpressive. To the point where I really thought it didn't help at all. But on the third ride back something clicked and she's feeling MUCH better. 

Look at that trot! 

And since she's feeling better, I figured it was time to let her have a little fun too. So she also got to canter some of those raised rails too. 

She was hilarious! She was sighting in on all of the fences, even the ones we weren't jumping and trying to drag me to them. I think she's missed jumping! So over the next few weeks I'll start building her up to jumping some little courses again. I'll probably keep her at 2', but we'll see what she tells me. 

It's exciting to have everyone back doing some fun things again. The horses seem to be enjoying themselves, too, which makes me feel good.

In non horse news, it's mostly been fun and games around here:

show me a better Sunday evening... I'll wait.

But of course, life isn't all sunshine and rainbows all the time. There's also bees:

And leaks from the apartment:

Just to balance out all the fun, ya know? But such is life! The weather has been lovely around here. It's not been too hot (sorry to all of you melting in other parts of the country) and we've had just enough rain to keep the dust somewhat under control. Hope you all had a good week/weekend too! Do anything fun for the holiday (if you're in the US) or the weekend (if you're not)?