500!

As of yesterday, I have logged 501.5 hours with Finn this year. We reached our goal of 500 hours in 2014! And with time to spare, I might add. I am grateful, though, to have done it before I start my seasonal position at UPS, since I am unsure how much time that will leave me to ride. We have had a busy, productive, hard-working year so far, and it is likely we're headed into a bit of a lighter winter.

I was super pleased I was able to "celebrate" reaching 500 hours on a stellar trail ride with S and a visiting friend of hers. We went to Clear Creek and went even further than last time; I think we did between 8 and 9 miles total. The Fall weather was glorious and, as usual, the mountains were beautiful.

"Termination dust" (snow) on the mountains.

Finn was absolutely super. He took a couple small spooks, but for the most part felt very grounded. I think his confidence was a little shaken by the experience at Montaña de Oro. When we turned around, he was a little over-forward for a while, but patiently insisting that he maintain the same distance behind slower-walking Rainey helped him settle down. He gradually started taking more and more responsibility for maintaining the space, even when it meant balancing himself better downhill to avoid falling into it. I was pleased. He also crossed a bridge twice, following Cody closely for confidence. I was VERY pleased. And we even had a chance to practice water crossing, thanks to a large puddle in the parking area!

Fun to ride with a group of three!

All in all, it was a lovely, relaxing, awesome ride. I felt very grateful for the horse underneath me, the time we've spent together this year, and all the tremendous experiences we've had. They've been fun, challenging, funny, scary, frustrating, relaxing and everything else imaginable, and we've been together through it all.

Customary ears photo.

I am, of course, contemplating my goals for next year already. I have a general idea of where I want to head... continuing with our study of Dressage, Naturally, for sure. Starting Finn over fences. Taking him to his first shows at some local dressage and/or H/J schooling shows. But I'm not quite sure what I want my specific goals to be. Whether I want to increase my hours, or trust that being employed all year will make getting 500 again challenging enough. I may set a goal next year for the number of rides I put on him... There are so many options, and I have quite a while to choose.

And here's my favorite pic from the ride; I'm so glad it occurred to me that this little turn in the trail would make a nice photo op! I adore Finn's expression here, even though one can barely make it out. I'm just glad to have a photo that captures my joy for me... my love for this challenging little horse and for the beauty of Northern Nevada. Things are looking up. :)

Montaña de Oro: We're Back!

Actually, we got back late Wednesday night, but it has taken me this long to scrape up the motivation to write a blog post about it. The trip to Montaña de Oro was more challenging than I expected in several ways, and I think Finn and I were both pretty drained by the experience.

First off, the trails were more of a physical challenge than I expected. Many of the trails around the horse camp and towards the beach consisted of deep sand. While perfectly logical, I just wasn't prepared for that, especially because many of the trails also featured significant elevation changes. Fortunately, Finn was up to the job, thanks to our extensive riding all summer.

Sandy trail en route to the beach.

Next, the trails definitely challenged Finn's confidence more than I expected. There were many places where steps had been added to help resist erosion, and if there was more than one step close together, it became cause for consternation. I was definitely surprised by this, and there were several places where I had to get off to walk Finn through tricky parts of the trail. In fact, on day three, we encountered what pretty much amounted to a full-on flight of stairs, and I simply chose to get off and walk him back to camp. By that point, it was clear he wasn't getting more confident, but instead more anxious, so I figured it was time to cut our losses.

The beach also challenged Finn more than I expected. While I certainly wasn't expecting him to walk right into the surf without question, I didn't realize we would have so much trouble with clumps of seaweed, the way wet sand changes color when you step on it, or even the effect of hoof prints being left on fresh sand. Looking back I sort of wish I had lowered my standards a whole bunch and simply been happy with less, as even my best efforts fell short of accomplishing what I thought were reasonable goals. Live and learn, I guess.

Really not bad for first-timers.

Finally, the size of the group seemed to unnerve Finn more than I expected as well. After his success riding out with the group during the Washoe Lake overnight, I thought we were covered, but this environment was much less forgiving for a nervous horse and offered far fewer options for helping him stay with me.  I had some success just keeping him in front of the group when he was feeling a little amped, and we definitely had spans where he was able to relax and be in the middle, or even the back, so it's not like there are NO positives to note.

Bringing up the rear on day one.

Finn became extremely attached to Tiva during this trip. Perhaps I shouldn't have put him in a pen next to her... something I will consider for next time. But this wasn't a huge surprise; while S and I have worked on separation on our rides around home, I know Finn isn't fully confident when Tiva leaves us behind. If Tiva is behind us, he's usually fine, but Tiva going out ahead of us is a whole different story. He is by no means unmanageable or impossible over this, but it is difficult to have genuine connection with your horse when half his brain is locked on keeping track of his buddy.

Not saying they don't make a cute pair...

Finn's confidence definitely took a hit on this trip, and I'd have to say I think mine did, too. Especially because on day two I fell off Finn for the first time, and the second. Yeah, day two kinda sucked.

The first fall happened like this: I was riding along on a loose rein and Finn felt totally relaxed. Tiva was leading us by a horse length or two, and the rest of the pack was behind us. We were winding through some sandy trails towards the beach. Tiva tripped and stumbled, and my horse pretty much vanished from underneath me. There were some loose branches in the sand around where this happened, so they may have played a part in Finn's spook, but I'm not really certain.

I hit the ground with the reins still in my hand and, of course, tried to hold on to keep from losing my horse. Unfortunately that basically turned me into an unidentified potential monster trapping Finn in a mortal danger in his mind and he sent a double-barrel kick my way and connected with my right shin. At that point I am grateful I had the presence of mind to recognize what was happening and just let go. He blasted past the other riders at Mach 10 and galloped off like the terrified prey animal he was.

Luckily, and true to form, he didn't go far. With nothing further contributing to his terror, he crossed his flight line, realized he was alone and stopped to look for the herd, which was waiting where he had left us. I prepared to hike out there to fetch him, but he soon came bounding back, cutting through the brush, and headed straight for Tiva. After pausing for a few minutes to let our adrenaline wear off, I remounted and we continued on our way.

The second fall happened on the beach. I was trying to get Finn to step into the receding waves and he got startled and once again spun so fast it was like he practically disappeared from under me. Luckily this time I landed on my bum in front of him, in a position where I could hold onto my reins without risk of being kicked. After pulling back for a moment, he calmed down and realized it was just me down there.

I'm not going to lie, this is somewhat unnerving. I have sat through lots of Finn's spooks, but these were really in a whole different category when it comes to speed and suddenness. Maybe I would have held on better if I'd had my own saddle with it's lovely suede seat (I do find the saddle I'm borrowing from S very slippery to sit on), but who really knows? On a positive note, at least the saddle didn't spin like I've always worried about!

I am considering not riding in S's saddle anymore... which will basically amount to not riding anymore until I can get a new saddle. I have one en route from Smart Pak to try that I have high hopes for... I am REALLY hoping the Thorowgood T8 Jump saddle proves the answer for us.

But I am itching to get back on my horse. We finished out that second ride without any further problems; Finn was as relaxed as could be heading home from the beach, aside from being extra skeptical about a few things that had hardly bothered him on the way out. But still, I feel like we've now had a string of less-than-successful rides, and I'm impatient to begin re-building some positivity in our partnership.

Anyway, the third ride (on the next day) was the one where I turned back at the stairs. Apparently that trail was chock full of similar challenges, so I'm glad I made the choice that I did. In retrospect, I wish I'd have taken a few minutes to walk him down and up the stairs from the ground, but I don't want to waste time fretting over THAT of all things. We went back to camp alone, which he did willingly and with relative calm, although he was calling fairly regularly. After working him some on the ground, I tied him to the hitching rail and let him practice that for the next several hours.

He actually settled down quite well while the other horses were gone, but he had quite a melt down when Tiva returned, went out of sight to be untacked, and then went to her pen. It took several hours for him to really find peace on the rail.

The next morning, I tied him while I was cleaning his pen and getting ready to ride and was super pleased that he was contented to stand right off the bat. However, when S took Tiva to the trailer to tack up, he lost his cookies all over again and I ultimately elected to just stay at camp and let him work that out. While it was a bummer to miss the last ride, I felt it was the right decision for Finn at the time. Going out on those rides certainly wasn't helping him! He actually did quite well, settling down to stand pretty calmly only 30 minutes after the other horses left.

Realizing he hasn't been left here to die.

He once again had a bit of a fit when Tiva returned. In an ideal world I would have let him stand at the rail until he was over it, but with the long drive back to NV ahead, I had to settle for less.

All in all, the trip didn't go quite like I hoped, but that's life. Group setting and challenging trails like this are good for pointing out all our holes, and not so good for fixing anything. That is the attitude I am trying to take for all this... I now know more about where Finn and I are struggling and all I can do now we're home is do my best to fix it. More to the point, trying to fix these things on the trail wouldn't have worked; not with this group, not in that setting. Sometimes you just have to live to fight another day.

Yes, this was all somewhat discouraging. Yes, it has made me question my horsemanship and my goals for this horse. Yes, I shed some tears and had some lapses in positive attitude. In the end, however, that's just life.

I look forward to getting back to some routine riding and seeing where we're at. I feel like I am still in need of better tools and techniques for this horse if he is ever going to be a solid trail horse. I feel like I really need a better strategy for helping him navigate tricky things. But paramount in my mind at the moment is a commitment to setting us both up for success in the immediate future. I slipped up and over-faced him, not just on this ride, but on some of our other recent rides as well. Now we're both a little less confident, and only time and positive experience can repair that.

Token photo from the inland trails.

Clear Creek Revisited

I was so pleased to be able to squeeze another trail ride in with S before I head off to braid again! I really wanted Finn and I to have a more positive experience than our last ride before we both take a break. So, after some deliberation, I chose Clear Creek, a trail we know well and that doesn't present too much challenge to our emotional fitness.

After all the wooded, more mountainous rides we've done lately, it was really nice to be back to winding through the sagebrush on a sandy trail:

We took advantage of the good footing and gradual, winding climb through the foothills to get in some long, steady trots and even a few nice canters. Finn did awesome, I was so pleased with his relaxation and rhythm in the trot, even though at times S and T were quite a ways ahead of us.

It was about 80 degrees and the horses are starting to put on their winter fuzz, so they got pretty sweaty during that part of the ride. There was, however, snow in sight... I love mountains:

See the snow caps on the distance mountains?

We went further than we've ever gone on this out-and-back trail, and wouldn't you know it... less than 100 yards from where we've stopped before, there was a bridge! Luckily, this bridge was at least three times as wide as the ones we struggled with at Brown's Creek, and it had safe, sandy "landings" on both sides. I thought at first it might not even be an issue, but Finn definitely informed me otherwise.

He would have been happy to rush across, but I wasn't having that. I got off to discuss going without rushing, asking him to step his front feet onto the bridge and stop, until he could semi-relax there. I did get on and ride across after that, and then we rode a little ways further before turning around.

Again, I thought the bridge wouldn't be such an issue since we had just had a prolonged discussion about it, but Finn said otherwise. Again, he would have been happy to rush across, but I wasn't having it. In the end, I didn't ride him across on our second go, just got a slight improvement on the ground and moved on. We had to be back to the barn to meet my trimmer at a certain time, so I didn't want to take up more time.

Clearly, we need to work on this at home. Finn absolutely has to learn to walk calmly and confidently across a bridge in order for it to be safe for him to do so. So, I'll have to talk to the barn owner about maybe keeping a large piece of plywood in the arena for a while. I'll need something I can easily lift and move by myself. At least it will give us a starting point.

Anyway, Finn was a little on adrenalin heading back towards home after the bridge... I'm not sure if it was the bridge or the change of direction that got him so fired up. He was by no means terrible, still maintaining a walk on a loose rein (a VERY forward walk, but still a walk)... but he wasn't really connected. He had a hard time standing still when we stopped. So, we kept stopping and standing until he could commit to stopping, then going on. For this part of the ride, I asked S to ride behind us so there wouldn't be yet another thing (T) drawing him forward.

He settled back down after a while and the rest of the ride was really lovely. S and I both played quite a bit with transitions, which resulted in us being quite far apart at times. Finn handles S & T disappearing behind us with absolutely no concern. When they disappear ahead of us, he starts to think a bit about looking for T, but again nothing too dramatic.

Anyway, all in all, it was a super ride! Exactly what I was hoping for, even if we didn't quite achieve what I'd have liked to with the bridge. When I come home, we'll get back to that!

Another view of the beautiful desert.

The best view there is. :)

Brown's Creek

I can't say I'm super enthused about writing this post... it is so much fun to talk about the good stuff, but today's ride was more sobering than exciting. Finn and I crossed the line of what we were capable of accomplishing together, and I am just grateful beyond words that neither of us paid for it too dearly.

It was the creek crossings that did us in, because they were not particularly horse friendly. Not a problem for a truly seasoned and confident trail horse, but Finn is just not there yet. Instead of a nice jaunt through a shallow creek, which Finn and I have gotten pretty good at handling, there were very narrow bridges, steep banks, and very limited options:

The second bridge.

Finn actually crossed the first bridge twice successfully with me on the ground. With the help of Tiva's lead, I then rode him across, but that ended somewhat awkwardly when he tried to take a half-leap off the far end to avoid stepping on the rocks and slipped a bit on the bridge. So, I got off, thinking I would lead him across a few more times. Two attempts later, he made a mis-step and fell off the bridge.

Thank God he popped right up with nothing but a few scratches to show for it. I cannot help but think how easily that could have been way, WAY worse. Which is in my nature... I had that thought from the moment I saw that bridge. I didn't feel it was safe. But I allowed naive optimism to over-rule my true intuition.

I want to point out that this is NOT a question of the bridge itself being safe or not. It is plenty safe for a sure-footed, confident horse that is used to handling such questions. It was not safe for Finn and I, based on his nature, experience and our level of communication. I wish I had understood that sooner. To put it in eventing terms, I challenged a Novice level horse with an Intermediate level question... recipe for failure.

What's done is done. I pray I don't find Finn any worse for wear tomorrow, and based on several hours of monitoring him (ie - finishing our ride) after the "incident" I don't have any reason to believe he will be. So, there's nothing much for it but to reflect on what I learned.

First, I learned to be more conscientious about the questions I present to my horse. From now on, I hope I will do better at honestly evaluating our chance of succeeding.

Second, I gained much food for thought on the general question of how we operate our horses. When it comes to things that scare Finn, I have a habit or philosophy of allowing him to think it through/make his own judgement. My thought process being that I don't want him to feel forced, I want him to see for himself that it is safe. While I wouldn't say we haven't gotten results with that approach, it proved inadequate today. Facing a scenario we couldn't control where there was no room for error, this approach of letting him make his own decisions was inadequate.

I think of all the times I have let him leap across the tarp, telling him that it's fine if he rushes across, I just won't reward him for it. While I wouldn't say that is wrong, it again was a pattern that served us poorly when facing the "real" world. When the chips were down and I needed control of his feet, I didn't have it.

I don't really have any conclusions to make at this point, because I don't know what is right. What I know is that I want this to get better. Not only do I want Finn to get more sure-footed and confident within himself, I want him to learn to rely on and obey me when he isn't sure. And, of course, I want to set him up to learn it when there is no great price for a mistake, until I have a realistic reason to believe we won't make one.

So in the end I guess today was a lesson learned and that's all there is to it. Ever more reason to explore my convictions and beliefs about horsemanship.

Finn and I at the end of our ride.

High Sierra Riders 4H Trail Trial

I am SO grateful Mother Nature held off and allowed the High Sierra Riders 4H Trail Trial to go off without a hitch. After watching the forecast get progressively more grim throughout the week, I woke up this morning to a forecast of 70% or more chance of thunderstorms all day long! Well, suffice it to say the forecast in Northern Nevada is often even less predictive of the actual weather than in most places. While it drizzled on us a bit and was rather chilly, all in all I'd say it was a lovely day.

Finn, by the way, was an absolute super horse. Aside from the Buck Brannaman clinic this May, this was his first big "event." It was also his first competition, although I don't think he noticed. He was somewhat confounded at first by all the horses going every which way, but he soon grew accustomed to it. That alone was a huge part of what I was hoping to accomplish! I've had Finn half-way LOSE IT over horses in the distance before... today there were almost constantly horses in the distance and it was no big deal.

When it came to the actual obstacles, I was pleased to find that the Novice level challenges were pretty appropriate for us. There were several obstacles which Finn handled with ease, such as picking up a rain slicker, mounting and dismounting, walking through a "car wash", or navigating ground poles. There were others that concerned him more, requiring that I allow him more time to think his way through, such as circling a tarp-enclosed water hazard and crossing through a white PVC gate. And there were a few we accepted a score of '0' for, but still found a way to achieve success by our own definition.

For example, at one obstacle, we were asked to walk across a board laying on the ground. After several minutes of working at it from the saddle, I asked if I could dismount and work on it from the ground. Luckily, there was no one behind us waiting, and the judge welcomed me to spend some time schooling. After a little more discussion, Finn gave it a try, making the first crossing in a half-leap, and the second in a lovely walk. I would have happily left it there, but the judge invited me to remount and try again. After a brief hesitation, Finn willingly took a little half-leap to the other side, and on the second try walked across perfectly. So far as I'm concerned, the score of '0' does absolutely nothing to detract from the value of that experience! I was thrilled.

Trying it from the saddle first...

Helping Finn find success from the ground.

On another note, the PVC trail gate had the added challenge of a semi-hidden small board on the far side which the horses had to step onto. I know Finn well enough to suspect that he might launch a bit when that board moved under his feet. If I hadn't been doing a trail trial, I probably wouldn't have set something up like that, because it did test my nerve. I worried that Finn might put a foot across and then suck back, potentially catching a foot on the bottom bar of the gate.

In the end, he did launch somewhat... forward though, which is almost always preferable to sucking back, especially for a future jumping horse. I was on it enough to have taken a hold of my breast collar when I felt him commit to going, so I stayed right with him and didn't catch him in the mouth. I praised him big time for his bravery and moved on, as there were people behind us and thus no opportunity to school.

The reason I am dwelling on this (and a few other things that happened) as a success is this: nothing Finn did today felt concerning or difficult to ride to me. His handful of startles and his one big leap all felt reasonable to me, and never once did I feel like he was anywhere close to really losing it. In other words, one might say I have ridden through some of his antics and survived! That is definitely a confidence booster.

The thing is, Finn has shown me some very dramatic reactions in the past, reactions which I would absolutely NOT want to ride. He showed me them at a time in my life when my confidence in my horsemanship was already faltering, and to be honest I have felt more nervous, heck even fearful, around and on this horse than I had EVER felt before, especially with one of my own horses!

But that's changing... I trust Finn more now. I trust my own abilities more now. And altogether I no longer feel like getting on him is a gamble... now we've got enough going on to really put the odds on our side. That is HUGE!

So, all in all, a fantastic day full of growth and fun and laughter and Yes! moments. Exactly the outcome I had been hoping for all along. Again, I am SO grateful Mother Nature chose to play along with our plans!

Jones Whites Creek Loop

Finn and I went on another brilliant ride with S today. The Jones Whites Creek Loop is 9.2 miles... add in the .4 miles from the parking area to the loop, and it'd be fair to say we rode about 10 miles today! There was quite a bit of climbing (and descending) involved, some very narrow trails with significant drop-offs, creek crossings, and a few fallen trees... all in all quite a challenging ride, but our horses were stupendous and made it feel like no big deal.

This was one of the more "comfortable" narrow spots...

The loop we were on passed nearby the bridge we crossed last week, so both S and I took the opportunity to ride across it twice. Finn was hesitant and took his time evaluating the situation, but crossed willingly once he'd had a minute. He was similar at each creek crossing... while there was some hesitation on his part, I never had to go beyond about a phase 2 to encourage him to try. That's quite a change, even from last week, but especially if I compare to six months ago!

View from the trail, sans ears...

Another noticeable change: while I had to remind Finn a few times to be available to my requests for more energy, and he still wasn't keeping pace with T most of the time, his forward FELT different. He was more mentally committed to it. Trying to explain the difference to S, I said it felt like each footfall was a foregone conclusion, instead of like Finn was asking if we should slow down with each and every step. This held true both uphill and downhill, over rocks and on softer terrain. While it wasn't physically much faster, it was definitely different. Considering all the work we've been doing in this area lately, I felt really positive about that change!

All this riding is really building up Finn's butt!

There were many areas where the trail was very narrow, and to be honest, that kinda freaks me out! Luckily, I am usually pretty good at managing my nerves and not looking down. Even more fortunately, I am getting better at trusting Finn all the time. I work on focusing on where we're going and staying our of his way, and hopefully each time we survive will be one less time I get nervous about it. There was one point on the trail today where I almost decided to get off, but there wasn't much space to. Since there was a turn approaching, I decided to get off there if the trail didn't improve around the corner. Luckily, it improved markedly!

The huge plus of this, and the rockiness of the trail, too, is that it seems to really develop sure-footedness in the horses. For certain, Finn feels many times more sure-footed than he did in January! That's a feature that will really come in handy when it comes time to jump cross-country. Of course, his having seriously earned my trust will be really handy, too. I told S today, after some of these trails, running a Prelim cross-country course should feel like cake!

We stopped for a rest (and to reset my saddle) at the top of the climb.

This trail unseated last week's as the rockiest we've ridden so far. Happily, both horses felt even better over the rocks than they did last week. That, my friends, is the magic of conditioning. It was awesome to feel Finn (and watch T) negotiate the trail with confidence and feel, like nature intended. Neither of them seemed even the least bit foot-sore, even after ten miles with little break in the tough terrain. I've been keeping my horses barefoot for over ten years, but I'd never tested it like this. I'd say Finn's hooves passed with flying colors. I felt very fortunate to at last truly witness and experience something I've believed in all these years.

View of South Reno towards the end of the loop.

At one point during the ride today I summed it all up with the simple statement: "This is so much fun!" I never knew trail riding could be SO AWESOME! Now that we're past the stage where it takes continual effort to keep Finn with me and relaxed, I'm learning about a whole other stage of relationship development and just plain enjoyment.

Finally, today was definitely a day when I was struck by how lucky I am, how much I love my quirky little bay gelding who certainly didn't make this easy for me. He is truly developing into the horse I've always dreamed he would be, and boy am I glad I didn't give up on him in the dark moments. Now, I wouldn't trade him for any horse in the world.

My favorite pair of ears.

Thomas Creek/White's Creek

S and I rode out from the Thomas Creek trail head yesterday and logged another excellent ride! The trail was quite different from our usual haunts... through the woods alongside a creek, so much more like actual "trail" riding. Plus, the majority of the trail was in the shade, which was absolutely awesome. There were stumps, logs and rocks all along the side of the trail, which threw Finn for a loop at first, but he soon realized these were not, in fact, hiding places for horse monsters and settled into the new environment.

Early on.

This was definitely a fun trail for "challenges." We passed several hikers, some with off-leash dogs, and bikers. Both horses handled this superbly; S and I were really pleased. We have seen hikers and bikers on our rides before, but not with this frequency and often not in such tight quarters.

There were three creek crossings on our ride. The first two were in places where the water was moving through quickly, which definitely gave Finn pause. I was so pleased, though, because I actually found it quite easy to maintain my intent without getting impatient or frustrated! I just kept focusing on the idea that we were crossing the creek, remained passively persistent in the proper position, got firm with fairness to make my point, and soon enough Finn was willing to give it a try. His first tries at the first crossing were leaps, but he walked through calmly on the third attempt. At the second crossing, his first attempt was an excellent, thoughtful walk across! And at the third crossing, I barely had to encourage him. I was so, SO pleased, and I think I did a good job conveying my appreciation for his efforts. Funnily enough, he actually stopped in the middle of the third crossing to pee in the creek, which I found very amusing, but also count as an indicator that he was pretty relaxed about it by then!

On a related note, he also drank from the creeks for the first time on a ride. Finn is usually very suspicious of any new drinking source, so he has been slow to catch on to this concept. It took him a few minutes to get the idea at the second crossing, but by the third crossing he had the hang of it.

This ride offered a nice climb to a lovely meadow with a view of Mount Rose. That seemed like a good midway point for a snack break, which the horses LOVED:

A bit further on, there was a view of the actual Mount Rose Summit:

And a little further still, a view of Washoe Valley. We could even see Washoe Lake, the location of so many excellent (and sometimes challenging) rides:

After a very pleasant descent with long switchbacks into White's Canyon, we encountered the second creek crossing and then a new challenge: our first bridge! S and I both decided to get off and lead the horses across a few times before tackling it from the saddle. While Finn was suspicious, he was more apt to rush than balk at this question... in part because T and S had already crossed. But he walked across with no problem, and when we remounted, I decided to lead the way. He was hesitant, but not resistant, approaching the bridge. I gave him a moment to look and think, and he very quickly decided he had this and walked across with no problem. I was SO proud!

The bridge!

Along the way, I also asked Finn to walk across several small fallen logs and he never hesitated. Excellent progress and a good indicator that we're getting closer every day to our goals. I told S I'm starting to get really excited about taking Finn cross country one day, because I am starting to feel it inside him already. Maybe that seems weird, but one of the things I've learned as a horsewoman is that we do tasks or exercises with our horses to develop the qualities we want in them. Qualities like bravery and willingness and trust. Walking down the trail may seem a far cry from galloping a cross country course, but on these rides I'm starting to feel the qualities I'll need on the cross country course one day, and that makes it feel not so very far away.

On another note, I haven't talked much about barefoot hoof care on this blog yet, but it is something I'm quite fascinated by and passionate about. Finn has been barefoot all his life, and I intend to keep it that way. This trail was by far the rockiest S and I have ridden this year... even my trimmer told me we'd need boots for it. While I'm not opposed to booting when needed, I don't have space in my budget for boots at this time. The horses, however, showed no need whatsoever for any assistance, and they both put some beautiful wear on their hooves during the course of the ride.

I've been wanting to learn to trim Finn myself for some time, and my reflections on this ride this evening really affirmed that I ought to get on that. Through regular riding, Finn pretty much keeps his toe and heel worn to the correct length on his own. He's a bit over seven weeks out from his last trim right now (and my trimmer didn't think he really needed to be trimmed then) and I wouldn't say he needs anything taken off his toe or heel.

On the one hand, I'm drawn to the minimalist idea that if he's keeping his toe and heel length in check and he's sound, why bother messing with it? On the other, I'd like to have the ability to confidently tweak... giving him a little more quarter relief, or helping him clear out some excess bar. There's not enough to do to call out my trimmer, but there are some helpful things that could be done. The obvious solution is to learn to do it myself. So there's another mission for me...

Anyway, another excellent ride in the books. Finn could not have been more superb. As usual, the stunning scenery was a nice bonus. I chuckle to myself when I think how I used to say, "I'm not much of a trail rider." Now I can hardly think of a better way to spend my time.

Hobart Road

I found out at 1am Wednesday that there was work for me in Menlo Park that night if I could make it, so I'm away braiding again now. BUT, I refused to let that stop my planned ride with S Wednesday morning. It meant we'd have to keep it to less than 3 hours, but I figured that'd be perfect for our first shot at Hobart Road.

Open to hikers, bikers, horses, and dogs, Hobart Road also serves as an access road to Hobart Reservoir and the irrigation systems for properties below, including the ranch where I board Finn. From the trail head, it is 4.9 miles to Hobart Reservoir with an elevation gain of nearly 2,500 ft. In short, it's quite a climb! I'd like to ride to the Reservoir this year, but I think it might be best if we build up to that over the course of a few rides.

This time, we rode out about an hour and then back. Unfortunately, we don't know how far we went... it was definitely slow going, but boy was it worth it! The views from the trail were positively glorious!

Looking down over Miss Me Not Farm, where I board Finn.

Breathtaking!

Taking in the view of Carson City before turning around.

Finn was absolutely stupendous for the whole ride. He felt super grounded and relaxed from the moment he got off the trailer. In fact, he unloaded REALLY well. Although he has been loading and riding really well all summer, he had still been sucking his front feet off the trailer quickly instead of calmly stepping off. Not so on this ride; he stepped off like a true old pro.

I don't know what else to say about him, other than he felt about as much like a seasoned trail horse as any horse I've ever ridden. It was really nice to be able to just get on and go... we didn't do much by way of grounding or connecting exercises, we didn't have to. I was so thrilled and thankful for how wonderful he was, and I'm happy to say I passed those feelings to him freely with lots of praise, loving, and the occasional grass snack.

I was definitely aware throughout the ride of my ignorance of exactly HOW much I was asking of him in terms of physical exertion. He barely broke a sweat and his breathing never seemed too labored, but I'm sure each step was an effort! When I turned him back out after the ride, he exuded tired. Which is not at all a bad thing, I just wish I was more knowledgeable about how to avoid over-doing it.

Anyway, S and I plan to return to this trail frequently. Besides the fact that it's a lovely ride, we are both stoked about the fitness benefits for our ponies. Ultimately, I look forward to a nice ride up to the reservoir, including a picnic lunch and maybe even a swim!

Intrepid horse and rider in the foreground; Washoe Lake in the background.

Camping at Washoe Lake, Part 2

On day two of our camping trip, the group decided to head for the arena first to help some of the horses who had struggled the day before. As soon as I got on, I knew I had quite a different horse to ride. A much more grounded horse with significantly less life in his feet. I was also aware that I was different. On Friday night, I was really geared up and dialed in for an intense ride, which manifested as the very strong focus and steady patience than resulted in a success. On Saturday, I could tell I was tired, more mentally than physically. So it was fortuitous that Finn’s state of mind was less demanding of me!

I kept our work in the arena to a minimum, but one notable success was Finn’s excellent handling of a couple loose-horse instances. In both cases, Finn observed the horse running around the arena with interest, but minimal concern. We even drove one of the horses away without a problem. It’s was good to feel like Finn understood that the antics of those horses was not his problem.

Surveying the action.

I took the first opportunity to head out on the trail, when two other riders headed for the beach. Finn perked up a bit on the trail, in a good way! I didn’t feel like he was concerned; I felt like he was eager. That’s a great feeling. He didn’t put a foot wrong all the way to the beach. Once there, I rode on the beach for a few minutes, then decided to ride back to the arena. I wanted to capitalize on the uncommon opportunity to practice being our own herd of two while riding with a group!

Finn did excellent. He was a little hesitant about leaving the beach, but he was willing and was soon won over to my idea. Conveniently, another part of our group was headed for the beach by then, so I was able to practice passing another group of horses on the trail. Finn certainly felt the draw of the other horses, but he stuck with me and soon got his mind back on our agenda.

We trotted part of the way back to the arena, and Finn felt wonderful, maintaining a lovely, relaxed tempo. Two of our group were still in the arena, so we rode around there for a few minutes before turning around and heading back for the beach. Fortuitously, two other riders were headed back towards their trailer, so we got to practice passing horses on the trail AGAIN! So good for Finn!

When we returned to the beach, the rest of our group was still there, so I settled into something I’d been wanting to work on, which was long, straight trots down the beach. We chose a trail where the sand is pretty deep and practiced going away from the group and back. Surprisingly, going back towards the group he felt wonderful -- perfect rhythm and very relaxed. Going away was definitely more of a struggle, as he was much more impulsive and tense. Repetition and quality one-rein stops served us well, and I eventually quit on exactly what I wanted. Finn trotting a straight line away from the group, maintaining an even and energetic tempo, and beginning to stretch across his top line and really relax into the idea. Utter bliss!

After that, I meandered down the beach with three others from our group, practicing changing positions in the group… passing a horse who had stopped, not being drawn ahead by a horse who passed us, etc. Finn was really feeling good by that point, so I was able to really relax and just enjoy the ride.

One last big moment of our ride was when we paused in a meadow on our way back towards the campground. Everyone wanted to ride around a bit, so we worked a little more on our straight-line trotting, maintaining an even rhythm both towards and away from the other horses. That went super, and I got the feeling it was a perfect moment to gallop Finn out a bit. The other riders we were with were kind enough to wait a few minutes while I got good gallops in on both leads. I asked more of Finn than I ever have before, and I think just enough to stretch both of our comfort zones. To be honest, I had a tiny moment of tiny panic, but of course Finn came right back when I picked up on my inside rein and turned him in a large loop. Came right back right to the halt and stood happily on a loose rein, then turned and headed back to the group without an ounce of concern. We tested a flat-footed walk, a relaxed jog, and a rocking horse canter, all on a loose rein headed right towards the other horses. And when I asked, he stopped from the canter without me even picking up my reins. Again, utter bliss!

After that, we walked back to the trailers and were done for the day. I was so pleased with the ride on many levels, but especially for Finn to have the experience of other horses coming and going, riding all around, taking different trails, and ultimately knowing he could just stay with me. That is such a challenge for horses, considering their instinctive desire to be with the herd, and it’s not that often one gets to practice getting a horse more flexible in that regard.

One last highlight for me was Finn’s trailer loading on the way home. As I mentioned yesterday, Finn was a little unsure of the unfamiliar trailer and horse that came to pick us up. When I loaded him to Saturday afternoon though, I got the strong feeling that he 100% understood that that trailer was his ride home. He loaded perfectly, and stood patiently with no thought of backing out while I tied him and closed the partition. It may seem like I making too much of this, but I just LOVE that feeling I get when my horse really gets it… when I feel like he understands and is totally ok with his life, even though it involves things that don’t come naturally to him, like climbing in a metal cave on wheels for a ride.

And with a short ride home, our trip was over. I had such a great time. I absolutely could not ask for more productive, enjoyable rides, and in between rides I had a wonderful time chatting it up and eating good food with my fellow horse ladies! What a blessing!

Last note: I haven’t talked on this blog yet about the goal I set to put in 500 hours with Finn in 2014, but on Friday we broke 300 hours! We’re definitely on pace to achieve our goal, despite that I’ll lose some weeks to braiding over the next handful of months. Not only that, we were more than on our way to achieving what I hoped to achieve during those 500 hours. I said I wanted to get Finn’s foundation solid, get our partnership solid, and feel like Finn understands his job. While those things are certainly subject to never-ending self-improvement, I feel like what I have with Finn now is already what I hoped to have by the end of the year. I can’t believe how far we’ve come. Just goes to show that the wisdom of one of my favorite Buck Brannaman quotes:

“Time is the gift. Give it freely to your horse and you’ll both be the better for it.”

Finn's accommodations for our stay.

Camping at Washoe Lake, Part 1

As I was driving home from the barn this afternoon, thinking of all the ways Finn exceeded my expectations in the last two days, I wondered to myself: how am I going to fit this all into one blog post? Believe it or not, it didn’t occur to me that I could just write TWO blog posts for at least another hour. I blame it on being tired, I guess.

Things started off on a decent note when Finn loaded into an unfamiliar trailer without too much hesitation. It was definitely not the rock-solid load I have come to expect when Sy comes to get us, but Finn was willing. Upon our arrival at Washoe Lake, Finn surprised me by being significantly more unsettled than usual, but some patient and quiet groundwork got him calmed down in no time. Since we had time, we also practiced loading and unloading from the horse trailer a few more times.

There was a storm threatening soon after our arrival, so the group opted to cook dinner while we let the storm system evolve and ride afterwards, assuming it cleared up. Fortunately for us, it DID clear up and we were presented with a glorious evening for a ride.

From the moment I got Finn out of his pen, I worked very hard to maintain a “we” focus for him to connect with, and it really seemed to help. I wanted to ride quite a bit to get him grounded before we headed out, which fortunately meshed perfectly with the plans of the rest of the group. The beginning of our ride was intense, but more mentally than physically. I tried to have a plan for every moment… “Walk to there, circle this sagebrush, circle that sagebrush, walk to that tree, back up, etc…” There were many opportunities for me to practice maintaining my intent while Finn got distracted by the other horses. We rode around where the other riders were warming up with lots of small circles, short serpentines, HQ/FQ turns, transitions to back-up, etc. and by the time everyone else was ready to head out I felt ready, too.

My greatest stroke of genius for the whole weekend was what I did next. As the group started moving in the direction of the trail to the beach, I cut through the sagebrush and hit the trail about 50 feet ahead. Not only did this prevent Finn from getting too strongly pulled into the herd, it also put us in a perfect position for Finn to acclimate to the large group. At first, even though he was walking ahead willingly, I could feel his focus pulled backwards at the mass of horses following us, but he was soon matching my intent and focusing ahead. I wanted to establish from the outset that we were our own herd of two… perhaps within the larger herd, but still able to have our own agenda and independence from the group. I feel like this strategy of going out ahead really helped accomplish that.

In short-order, two other riders broke away from the group and passed us, which presented another challenge for Finn, but a manageable one. The HQ/FQ turn served us very well in this moment, as Finn suddenly had much more forward energy than I’d been asking for. Passive persistence won out in the end though, and we both improved our turns and got together and grounded again.

When we made it to the beach, the group scattered a bit as everyone enacted their own plans while also being respectful and supportive of everyone else’s challenges. This was perfect for Finn, as we simply practiced being together around and through all this “commotion.” More HQ/FQ, more short serpentines, and then more open serpentines. I worked up to trotting shallow serpentines up and down the beach, waiting for him to get connected enough to respond without having to pick up my reins. We trotted for a good while. Finn stayed calm throughout and maintained a lovely little jog, but his connection and attentiveness weren’t at their peak. I think the length of time we trotted was really valuable, though, as he started blowing and stretching more consistently the longer we continued.

After this extended time playing around everyone on the beach, four of us broke off to linger a while on the beach while the rest of the group headed for home. At this point, feeling like Finn and I had established a rather solid connection, I rode more in the midst of the small group and Finn was excellent. We stopped for a few photo ops, and Finn and I even took a few photos for others. He felt really grounded by then; there was no doubt in my mind that he’d be fine to take the photos.

One of the photos I took. Sunset on the beach.

From there on out, the ride was easy. We ambled back to the campground with the smaller group and Finn didn’t put a foot wrong. I never lost the feeling that he was available if I needed something.

In conclusion, I declare this ride a HUGE victory! I was really unsure what to expect from Finn riding out with so many horses. Considering how much effort and constant attention it took to get and keep him grounded for the first half of the ride, I don’t think that uncertainty was unfounded. But the great victory here was my strategy worked! It’s not that Finn didn’t have concerns; he did! And the tools I chose and the attitude I carried HELPED him! And thus, he let go of his worries. That, my friends, is a big deal for Finn and I… a VERY big deal.

I am so proud of Finn, but I would be remiss to not acknowledge that I am also proud of myself. It’s just so uncomfortable to say that! Uncomfortable or not, though, I acknowledge that I met my goals, made a plan, listened to the horse that showed up and chose strategies that helped him. I am really pleased I was able to offer Finn what he needed to exceed my wildest expectations.

Stay tuned for Part 2, in which the successes continue!

Back At It!

I’ve had a lovely couple of mornings with Finn since R and I returned from LA. We’ve been developing some Liberty building blocks and experimenting with some of the very first exercises in Karen Rohlf’s book, Dressage, Naturally. Also getting in some thorough grooming to make up for three weeks of absence. Finn’s mane went berserk while I was gone, starting to revert to its natural position on the left side of his neck, but on the whole he’s looking quite good. His dapples are spreading and he certainly isn’t lacking in shine:

Am I right?

After halfway-fretting over our last two rides being not-awesome while I was away, I decided to start with a ride in the small arena yesterday morning, but Finn was so great we ended up going for a little ride up the road past the big arena. Notably, our weightless trotting was superb in the arena. I found that particularly interesting because we really struggled with that last week at Washoe and worked at it quite a lot. I didn’t really feel like we’d accomplished much of anything, but the improvement over our typical results in the arena was significant, so maybe that time was better spent than I thought.

This morning, I was feeling much more ambitious, so we went for a much longer ride around the ranch and explored some totally new territory. Finn was really quite super about it all, a little hesitant and one silly spook in which he felt like he might trip over himself trying to back away from the object in question, but I was, for the most part, really pleased with how things went.

New territory!

I’ve been thinking a lot in these last two rides about really having a connection down to the feet during the whole ride and testing it frequently with long serpentines and turns. The thought I have in my head is that I want to be able to float that inside foot wherever I want at a moments notice. So we lingered in a few places doing figure-8s until the turns felt really good in both directions. We also worked quite a bit on keeping those feet available even when we were headed towards “home,” and even when we were going downhill. That turned out to be quite a challenge, but we eventually got it going really well. There was a point where I fell into my unhelpful pattern of frustration, but I recovered, so I’m not going to be too hard on myself.

I’ve stumbled across a mantra that seemed helpful for keeping my attitude where it should be as Finn and I set out to conquer the unknown. When Finn was a little “look-y” or distracted, I reminded myself and him that “it’s” not about that stuff. It’s not really about pushing him to face his fears, nor about getting to some pre-determined point no matter what’s in our way. It’s about us, practicing harmony and communication no matter where we might be. This helps me remember to simply ignore what I don’t want and reward what I do, and resulted in me having a pretty soft, confident horse to ride.

Last thing: I was reminded today of the great value in doing things twice (or more). I have often been too constricted time-wise to think about doing too many things twice, but not that I’m either away working or not (and therefore pretty much free), my schedule with Finn is predisposed to longer sessions. Today, I rode him up the driveway quite a ways past where we’d ever been before. Heading back towards home AND downhill, we were really struggling to keep together, as Finn was thinking “home!” much more strongly than I was. So, once we’d found some improvement and gotten back to familiar territory, I decided to try making the “home zone” hard work and the new section of the driveway more relaxing. We trotted for quite a ways, past the barn and up to the big arena, cantered some circles each direction in the arena, and then trotted all the way back to the hill up to the new area, then walked the rest of the way back to the point we’d stopped at before.

While we were up there, I got off, loosened the girth, and let Finn graze for a few minutes. He enjoyed that, of course:

Desert horses aren't too picky about their grass.

When I stepped back on and proceeded to ride back towards “home,” Finn was ten times more connected than before. I was so thrilled with the change. I think I have often missed the opportunity to get that much improvement in one session because I don’t have the time it takes to ride home and back out again. In any case, I will keep that in mind next time I’m wondering if I ought to quit or take one more go at something!

Anyway, with two really productive rides behind me, I am feeling much better. I’d say that I hope Finn is, too, except I don’t think he was nearly as bothered by those last rides as I was! Oh, wouldn’t it be lovely to be so in the moment as a horse.

Post-ride roll!

An Odd Juxtaposition

So I’m away again, off to LA for vacation with R this time, but I used my one full day home to spend the afternoon with Finn. S picked me up and we headed over to Washoe Lake State Park for the late afternoon and evening, and it turned out to be an interesting experience which gave me lots to mull over on the long drive down to LA today.

We started our afternoon with some Liberty in the public arena at the park, and I was so super impressed with Finn. His connection to me was even a little better than the day before playing the Find Your Herd game, and we moved on to playing with some yields and thoughts about the Friendly Game. S generously shared some info she’s learned from Aimee Brimhall (one super talented horsewoman, especially at Liberty!) whose insights I’ve been hoping to incorporate into my Liberty going forward.

There were two things that REALLY impressed me. First, even when Finn got a little confused about the Friendly Game and thought he should leave when I meant for him to stay, his version of “leaving” was to go out on a circle about 40’ in diameter at a trot. So even through his confusion he was doing his darndest to maintain the connection and stay with “the herd.” The other was that even when S decided to take her mare back to the trailer and tie her, Finn stayed with me! I thought he might get worried about his buddy going out of sight, but he seemed perfectly okay with it.

All in all, this experience at Liberty on top of the one the day before and all the others I’ve ever had with Finn add up to this “conclusion”: this horse has SUCH a strong desire to connect and be part of the herd. I mean, honestly, it’s really an exceptional quality… something I’ve always known about him, but maybe haven’t fully appreciated before. The “double-edge” to this is probably that it also increases his draw to other horses, which can be a challenge, but I still see it as more of a gift than a problem.

After our Liberty session, we took a break in the shade and then headed out for a ride. This time, though, we decided to experiment with heading out separately, because our last few rides at Washoe Finn has wanted to leave the parking area like his tail is on fire and I was wondering if it might be because he was anxious about “the herd” leaving. So I left ahead of Sally. Finn was still wanting to book it out of there, so I decided to experiment and let him… no faster than a trot, but I let him trot as fast as he wanted.

And trot we did, for a LONG while. I had to repeatedly remind him that the canter was off limits, and he eventually settled into a HUGE trot. I would have gone further, but I was conscious of Riley following along behind in the 90-some degree heat and his furry black coat, so I eventually decided it was necessary to prioritize getting the dog to water over following through on what I was hoping to accomplish with Finn.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the rest of our ride wasn’t terrible, by any means, but I rarely felt like Finn and I were really connected. We passed some other horses on the beach, and as usual he got pretty fixated on that, even though we were trotting small circles and turns the whole time they were nearby. We stopped in a few places to practice our weightless trotting and other exercises, but the feeling of constant ‘druthers was nigh impossible to overcome. Everywhere we stopped to work, Finn was drawing towards where we’d come from, and trying to get him to feel really under me was not working out that well.

If I’d had more time, I’d have used it, but the sun was going down fast so I eventually just decided to appreciate a little improvement and head back to the trailer. I guess the bottom line is, it wasn’t a terrible ride, but it was still somewhat disappointing to me. Not that I’m disappointed in Finn, but just that I didn’t really feel like that ride moved us any closer to our ultimate goals.

Today, I’ve been reflecting on the juxtaposition of the two experiences on the same afternoon. How can I have a horse who has SO much desire to connect, and yet have SUCH a hard time keeping him connected under saddle? I guess it’s not really a huge mystery, because the connection I’m getting from him in the arena at Liberty isn’t really under much stress… yet.

So I’ve been thinking about how I might begin to carry more of that connection with us, and I’m not sure what the answer is. It’s harder for me, mentally and emotionally, to be a good leader from the saddle, and also harder for me to wrap my mind around what the idea of “find your herd” and being a “we” looks and feels like under saddle. It’s definitely harder to be unattached to the outcome when I’m sitting on his back!

I don’t know… I admit, I’m a little discouraged. Probably more than I have a right to be. Honestly, maybe it just wasn’t the smartest move to try to get rides in at Washoe these last two weeks on the ONE day I had home to ride. For whatever reason, Washoe seems to really challenge Finn. It seems like we always have trouble leaving the parking area!

S will be gone for most of July, so Finn and I will have several weeks to focus on working and riding out by ourselves, once I get back from the trip to LA. As I’ve got plenty of time for him between braiding jobs, I’ll definitely invest some serious time in our Liberty, and I might also think about riding him twice a day when I can. When working means being gone for two and three weeks at a time, I feel I’ve gotta pack as much progress as I can into the days I have at home!

Anyway, these are the thoughts I’ll be turning over in my head throughout my time here in LA. I’m really looking to this vacation, but also really looking forward to getting home and back to trying to sort some things out between Finn and I.

The Week in Review

So far as riding goes, for me and Finn this week is done, and I'm calling it a success. When isn't it, really? But I was able to stick to the plan quite closely, which we all know doesn't always happen. Living in the land of sunshine helps.

It was SUPER windy the night I had R out to video, so things were a bit rougher around the edges than they might otherwise have been. Still, I learned a lot. For one, although my HQ/FQ turns have improved, they have a LONG way to go. In the FQ turn, Finn still isn't planting his outside hind for a pivot foot... and I can't tell that he isn't. So my feel needs work, and we need to keep working on it.

For another, although our soft feel has a long way to go, it is really developing nicely! I wanted to make sure I wasn't rewarding Finn for over-flexing, and after studying several minutes of video frame-by-frame, I am pleased to say I am happy with what I'm releasing for. Case in point:

If you look closely, you will see I have JUST let go of my reins in this photo... you can still see the coil falling out of my left hand. And I am happy with what Finn is offering - to my mind, his flexion here is very appropriate for his level of development. And doesn't he look adorable?!

Watching the video of us playing with the soft feel, in addition to other thoughts I've been thinking about, has made me more committed to the idea that I want to develop Finn's dressage primarily via Karen Rohlf's approach. An open mind, however, can see that Buck's concept of the soft feel, applied correctly, is not so different in many ways, so I don't feel like what we're practicing now has been counter-productive. I just think that adding in the Dressage, Naturally insight and approach will result in a horse more appropriately developed for my goals.

Another boon from the night we videoed was this little clip of Finn trotting some ground poles:



I'm really pleased with this, mostly because he is so relaxed and maintains such a consistent rhythm. He also directs a good bit on my focus and leg, with the support of a light rein cue in some cases, and for the most part, stays straight as an arrow over the poles. We could use a bit more energy, but I'm happy with where we're starting.

The next evening, we had a lovely little ride around the farm. Finn's confidence and willingness continues to expand, and every time I ride out I take him further from his comfort zone than the last time. We took a long trot from partway down the driveway up to the arena on the hill, and Finn handled it superbly.

Wednesday we hit the trial for real, with trail buddies S & T. We rode at Fay-Luther Canyon, a great trail and a lovely view:

Finn was a little over-attached to T at the outset, but a few leap-frogs and he was feeling much more connected to me. The trail we chose was a bit of a climb, not terribly steep, but consistently uphill. It was probably the hardest Finn has ever worked! Going uphill, I had a hard time keeping him in front of my leg... something we really need to work on improving. On the way back down, he felt much more forward, no surprise there!

Finn's forward walk is still no match for T's ground-covering march, though, so we got left behind a little on the way back towards the trailer. No mind, it was a great opportunity to test out connection. While Finn definitely got a bit concerned about T's disappearance, he kept his cool rather well and I just felt the need to calmly remind him that he needed to stay with me both physically AND mentally.

All in all, it was a great ride... although Finn made it quite clear that he is NOT a fan of the horseflies that were hiding out up in the woods. We headed back to S's for a bit, and Finn got to have another great learning experience, standing tied at the trailer quietly, even if your buddies "leave." Although he got a bit worked up about that, he settled down in a few minutes. That's what I like to see.

 

I planned to ride this morning, it's true, but the ride yesterday really was something far beyond what Finn is typically asked to do, so I decided to give him the day off. He'll have another three days off as I'll be gone braiding this weekend, but you know, he's earned it. He's been trying really hard and has progressed a lot in the last couple of months.

So this morning, I fed him his supplements, gave him a good grooming, red-lighted the scar on his knee and hand-grazed him for 20 minutes. I also washed his sweaty, smelly pad and girth from yesterday's ride. It feels good to know everything is in order before I go. I think Finn enjoyed the lazy morning, even though the wind was blowing like crazy out there!

Next week, I'll have Monday and Tuesday morning to ride before I go braiding again. Then I should be back in time to have a ride Saturday, as well. I might be able to squeeze rides in Sunday and Friday after my returns, but I'm typically pretty useless those evening after I've driven home from braiding on only couple of hours' sleep. So the next few weeks will be lighter for Finn, but I am determined to make the most of the days we will have together!