Spring? Is that you?

I'm definitely jinxing myself with that title, but oh well. Monday night we heard the peepers for the first time, and it feels like spring, so I'm gonna go with it! 

Wednesday it was SEVENTY ONE DEGREES! 

Cinna is always SO JEALOUS when it's Ruby's turn. 

#bestbaymare

Peeping herself

Even if I only ever use this mirror to take outfit selfies, still 100% worth it lol. I do use it for more than that, but it's not like I can take pictures of myself riding by it while I use it to eyeball what weird things my limbs are trying to do. 

We had company!

Wednesday turned into a really fun ride, because a friend rode down from the barn down the road (where I used to board Ruby) and joined us! That mile is fraught with peril (in the way of scary cows and lots of loose dogs that frequently chase horses) -- I don't think I ever rode it alone, but I did venture out with another boarder once or twice. Huge kudos to how brave and confident this team was! Although, when they got to the house, Cinna and Jack ABSOLUTELY LOST IT and were racing around their dry lot like maniacs, which made our visitor's horse a little concerned about walking the alleyway between the house and the barn to get to the arena lol. So Ruby and I wandered out there to give them a lead :)

Ruby was confused because this was a grey horse, but not Cinna. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him lol. 

The peanut gallery was heavily involved, haha. 

Ruby and I had a nice, if brief, workout. We're both fat and out of shape (story of my life lol) but we went through the basics and it was situation normal -- left lead canter was DELICIOUS (she actually would have been happily to softly canter around like a hunter all day lol), right lead was a bit of a train wreck (but she picked it up each time I asked, which is an improvement over some times in the past!). I focused on not letting her get wound up after the canter and still being able to work nicely at the trot.... plus lots of walking! Let's be real, it was mostly walking haha. 

Trigger's foot is still.... Trigger's foot. Sigh. Growth is slow. He's still getting outside though and it's still staying clean. I'm going through obscene amounts of duct tape lol. Another farrier visit next week, so I am interested in seeing what he thinks, and I also need to probably make another vet follow up. My life would get a lot easier if I didn't have to keep his foot wrapped 24/7!

Now that it feels more like spring Cruce is living his BEST LIFE. He loves to go outside and sun himself for hours. 

I rode Cinna last night. She has matured SO MUCH. I was prepared for some shenanigans, but she came out all business. Although we still had to go look at ourselves in the mirror for a minute before she wanted to concentrate. SO vain, haha. 

My mom's dog was hanging out with us, and Cinna was a little skeptical about that lol. But, she worked around him quite well. This is also a little reminder to myself that Ruby's right lead canter issues aren't ALL me (although they're mostly me), because Cinna stepped off into the right lead canter BEAUTIFULLY every single time I asked. Something to ponder. 

Fun new breeches that I finally got a chance to wear.

Cinna was so good that after 20 minutes of great work, I hopped off and took her for a hand walk in the back field. She was pretty sure this was ABUSE and would like to report me to PETA plz. I have never met a horse who is SO solid in the arena and such a trainwreck outside of it, sigh. Although she's generally fine with company, just not alone, which I know just means we need to keep working on her confidence. It's a slow slog, but she'll get there. Eventually. I hope. I didn't want to end on that note, so after we walked around the back field for a while, I went back in the arena and climbed back on to walk around a little more. 

On high alert. 

Plodding around in the arena on the buckle 5 minutes after trying to bolt in terror from the waving grass in the field.... lol. 

She also almost dumped me spooking at the goat pen. The EMPTY goat pen. Horses are great... lol. 

In all seriousness though, I do love her, she's such a ham. 

Hopefully I have snapped out of my winter doldrums now and can find the energy to keep going (and writing, even if most posts are just a collection of photos and my disjointed thoughts on them lol). TGIF! I hope you have lots of fun horsey plans for the weekend, and that you're enjoying similarly nice weather!

The cutest blep you've ever seen.