Heat Wave!

Well, the Minnesotan version, anyway.

Yesterday I went out to the farm, to find the Other Farrier there. There a weird thing at the barn where everyone except me has used the same farrier for years. I started using a different farrier four years ago, and while everyone tells me that my horses hooves look the best, no one has switched. What are ya gonna do? But I decided to play with Royal in the arena, and he had lots of energy. I let him loosen up on the 22ft circle and when I asked him to canter, he let out a massive buck. After that he was perfect, but it was nice to see him moving around.

Today was less successful. I planned on riding, and we had a fantastic ground warm-up. I got on, and he was kind of tense. I tried backing him up, which usually helps to relax him, but not today. Then I tried Partial Disengagement, which did not go well. He tried sticking him head in the air, pulling the reins out of my hand, stopping completely, even half-rearing. I stuck with him, trying to release at the smallest sign of relaxation, but it still took an hour before he let out a long sigh. And that's when the ride ended. Just from walking around, he'd gotten really sweaty, so I had to cool him down and dry his sweat off.

The heat wave is supposed to continue for a few days, so hopefully I can get a couple more rides in before school starts up again.