Hello...

Where have I been you ask? Nothing exciting, trust me. The weather has been absolutely beautiful the last number of days, and I have been stuck inside. Well one thing was good at least, I got to spend two days with Rudy. He was fried, and needed some home time other than overnight. When I wasn’t spending time with him, I was doing tax related stuff. When Rudy went on the road, he stopped taking care of the finances. Since I now had to do everything, I tracked finances on a spreadsheet, and now I have to convert everything to our financial program. In addition he didn’t set up some new accounts related to his new business, did nothing with the credit cards, and shall it suffice to say that I still have a lot of catching up to do before I send everything to the Tax Accountant. I don’t mind it when the weather is bad, but the days have been perfect riding weather (sigh).

Today I finally went out with Ibn. I couldn’t take it anymore, besides it’s not good to let the horses go too long without being ridden if I intend to ride them in July. It’s all about conditioning. I went out late, spending too much time this morning talking with Rudy, and watching the news programs. Before we left I had Rudy take some pics of Ibn, and I. I can’t take pics of Ibn, and hold him at the same time. Why I don’t know but such is life, I’m just not that talented. He’s still a fur ball, but he doesn’t look too bad. In another month he’ll look much better. He is starting to get more definition in his muscling which shows he is toning up. He’s not where he should be but getting better. Stallions always stay in pretty good shape, after all they have to look good for the girls, and all that testosterone keeps them pumped up.

Rudy asked if I worked him a little before I started, because he was being antsy, and of course I hadn’t. I reminded him that Ibn doesn’t do well just standing there. Still he posed, and we got the job done. Actually except for being a little spooky he did very well. We started out at a nice trot. It was warm with a cool breeze every now, and then. I even wore a kerchief around my neck thinking I would be sweating before the ride was over. I generally wear it around my head to keep the sweat from dripping into my eyes, but with the helmet on that wasn’t going to work. As it turned I ended up needing a slightly warmer shirt instead.

I have found that with Ibn he seems to work better after a few days off. As I said he was a little spooky, but I think that was more because it was later in the day, and the shadows were different. Horses are so funny, they spook at the silliest of things, and if things aren’t exactly the way they were the day before, then it’s a whole new ball game. I put Ibn into a light canter at the first meadow, slowing to a trot, and then a walk when it got rocky or narrow since I don’t particularly like getting scratched arms. The horses don’t seem to understand that our skin is thinner than theirs. Trees, and branches don’t bother them after all. He kept up a good pace down to the first loop. I finally slowed him to a walk, as the road was getting rocky, and steep. He’s still unsure of himself, and gingerly picks his way through the rocks. Everyone talks about the horses getting stone bruises if they’re not shod. Ibn will never get a stone bruise the way he tip toes through rubble, trust me.

He acted up a little as we rounded the turn to pick up the second half of the loop. He wanted to trot so I let him trot up the steepest ridge on our track. Halfway up he stopped to catch his breath. I told him it wasn’t a good idea, but he just wouldn’t listen. We crested the hill, and since what goes up must go down he partially slid down the backside of the ridge. From there on it’s pretty flat until you get to the grassy knoll, and since the track goes along the knoll except for the end where you cross over the other side, we cantered a nice comfortable canter. Towards the end it was more of a gallop, but that’s because you climb to get over the ridge. We got over the top, and I pulled him back into a slow trot. He had gotten nicely sweated up, if there can be such a thing.

Over the crest we went, down to the road, across the ridge, and back. I kept him to a calm trot most of the way across the knoll to the other long meadow, there we cantered. Since we were going north again he was more of the thought that we could gallop home. All we really do is a big loop skirting the meadow. We got to the end, turned back the way we came on the other side of the meadow, and he got all disappointed because we were going south away from home, even though we were actually on the way home. He doesn’t seem to understand that even though we are going in the opposite direction, we are going towards home. Marina gets it, but Ibn doesn’t.

I kept him to a crisp walk back towards the main road. He was happy to turn back north, but didn’t understand why we turned west on the next loop. I wanted to increase the distance as I had with Marina. Going this direction the ridge is very steep going down. I had to really encourage him going down, as he was sure he couldn’t do it. Maybe by July he will get it into his head that he’s a horse, and he can do these things quite well. To his credit, even though he’s sure he’s going to die, he does what I ask even though its with trepidation. Horses are no different than us. They too have to overcome their fears. He’s getting more certain of himself all the time, but he still has a long way to go to get as confident as Marina, which I’m sure will never happen. She is absolutely fearless. I have only seen her balk at one extremely steep downhill, which quite frankly I wasn’t willing to go down. This was years ago when we first moved here. Rudy was riding Marina. I’m not sure who I rode, but it had to have been Sadie I’m thinking. At any rate there is a process the horses have to go through much the same as people go through before they have the confidence to tackle something new, and scary.

We finished the loop and were finally on the final leg home. When we got to Baker’s property I noticed a white truck over by the windmill. As we got closer I could see that no one was in the truck. I thought maybe Dwayne might be doing something to the windmill when I heard a loud crack. Ibn went straight up, and sidewise. I jumped too. Someone was taking target practice. I looked for the two horses but couldn’t find them. After about the third shot Ibn realized that the loud noise wasn’t hurting him so he settled down. Whoever it was kept shooting. I spotted the two horses chomping on some fresh alfalfa on the far side of the pasture. I guess whoever was taking target practice wanted to make sure that they stayed cool, calm, and collected as well as far away from where they were shooting.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. We were cantering the last meadow on the state trust land when Ibn realized just where he was.  We got back to the barn, and when I checked the time, I was very pleased. Even though we did more than the 10 miles he still made it in 2 hrs and 20 minutes. Not bad, not bad at all. He was cool, and dry so I rinsed him off, and threw him in his stall. I went into the house, and took a very short nap before I had to feed. By this time it was a bit cool, so I put a jacket on to feed.

After dinner Rudy, and I visited while we watched TV. He’s leaving tomorrow, and taking Skye with him. Skye is all primped (meaning he got a bath), and ready to become a road puppy. Ok he may not be ready, and he’s not a puppy anymore, but Rudy is going to take him anyway. Frankly once he gets used to life on the road, he’s going to become even more spoiled than ever. I’m really going to miss him, but that’s nothing. Rudy has to miss being around everyone. I can give up my little Skye so Rudy can have a little bit of home with him.

Maybe I’ll ride again tomorrow, and work on the taxes in the evening. That sounds like a plan I can deal with. Right now the only plan I’m interested in is one that includes a nice warm bed. Yep, that sounds like a good plan to me.