Officially summer

It seems that Coolie does enjoy being a riding horse, even if he thinks eating is a better past time. He has been really enjoying our rides since he has had to pick up the slack. The weather has been so perfect recently, it's even been a little cold and rainy, with the wettest November on record! It's nice to have summer start off cool, last year was way too hot and went forever. 

I keep trying to convince myself that we should do some arena work, but neither of us have the motivation unless it’s to jump over things and since that is still a couple of weeks away, we have been going bush instead. Coolie is far more enthusiastic about bush riding, and he bounces about enjoying himself and having a nice walk, trot and canter.

His fitness is slowly returning, though I probably need to get him up to the pony club to do some longer trots and canters. He will be fairly motivated there too, rather than his sluggish, bored self at home. We have been doing some suppling out on the trails, working with changing the flexion, then adding leg yield and shoulder fore. Coolie thinks it's a bit much but it gets him working over the back so much better, and his shape is changing for it so he can suck it up!

Henry was so well behaved for the first week of his holiday, but now he is starting to make his own fun. He is clearly feeling fresh, fit and happy given his galloping around the paddock. He has also been very spooky, which is unusual and tells me how fresh he is. Coolie is exactly the same.

Henry had his holiday cut a few days short, we had a quick ride on Thursday after work. He was quiet, sluggish, and felt a bit stiff though mostly I think he wasn’t in front of my leg enough. We just did 20 minutes and then went for a little walk.  Last night we headed out into the bush and he was so happy to be out and about. He is a horse who thrives off work. 

I don’t think he will mind being back in work, given his workload will be easy fun stuff over the summer. He just needs a job to do! He will probably get more time off over the summer as it heats up and gets too much to ride in, so I have no doubt he will have plenty of holiday before the season starts. 

Other than bush rides, things have been quiet in these parts. We had to go to a wedding last weekend so no riding and this past weekend we went away. It’s nice for everyone to have a little rest at the end of the season, but I am itching to get things moving again. I am in fact desperate for things to start up again, but I will just have to be patient. I think there will be a summer series in February we can go along to and in the mean time lessons and riding with friends is where it’s at.