Ride-itude

Good ride in spite of the wind and rattling arena. Makes for a good ride-itude.

Owed Phantom profuse apologies. I put his turnout sheet on him when I left on Friday. A little premature on my part. The medium weight turnout went back on him today. He felt warm under the sheet, but given the wind and cold rain, I think he deserved the warmer turnout.

Active day at the barn today. Young Trainer Kelly was riding Boarder Kim's youngster Finn when I arrived. Kim made the wise choice to have someone younger (not that Kim is ancient) make the early rides on Finn while the big kid is figuring out where his feet are. He's doing very well and seems to have a good mind.

Boarders Char and Genevieve arrived about the same time followed by Trainer Tracey. The bad news is, Zorro has an abscess. The good news is, it's only an abscess. The bad news was...it was COLD waiting for the vet to arrive!

It was young horse day, as Trainer Tracey longed her Friesian/Arab guy and worked with Zoe.

Char and I shared the arena. She did her pre-ride ground work while I longed Phantom. I KNEW, given the whistling wind, that Phantom would be wired -- but he wasn't giving me much on the longe line. Finally, after reversing direction once again, he blasted off. Yes! Get it out of your system on the longe, not under me! After ten minutes of running in circles on the longe line, Phantom was a gentleman under saddle. Pugsley tap danced once and Phantom did a brief boot scoot on at least one occasion. Otherwise, both guys did well given the weather.

Indy and Breeze had recess in the arena, but didn't play much. Since Breeze gets a little assertive, Indy kept near the mounting block or humans as safe havens -- although he really wanted to run in circles around imaginary sheep.

Saw the entire Critter Control Crew today. Romeo and Moe came around in search of scratches and pets. On Friday I noticed mousey remains near the parking area, indicating they've been at work.