Three horses of awesomeness

 First off, video from today and why I love this horse like crazy!

Soon with his ladies

His huggableness makes me just melt.  His talent for cuteness just knows no limits, I swear, and I'm pretty sure I'm wrapped completely around his hoof.  All of them.

I had one heck of a great day at the barn today.  To follow up Soonie's owwie from last week:  he was never fully lame (at least not in the ring on the lunge line), but was short on concrete and had what turned out to be some inflammation on the inside of his left front, with edema on the right hind.  I don't know what he did; he may have tweaked himself outside, or perhaps been a casualty of the ongoing (albeit sporadic) war between him his neighbor in the barn.  Who knows.  He stayed in and was poulticed two nights in a row, wrapped all the way around, and thankfully was sound on Monday.  So he got the rest of the week off just to be sure, and started back outside on Wednesday night.  I hopped on him Friday and did a light, but productive, walk/trot flat school in the indoor, followed by a walk around the farm to cool out with the girls.  The footing in the indoor was questionable, so I opted that today's ride would be more dressage work outside on the track. 

He felt good today, we kept it to a dull roar with maybe 25 minutes of work and just walking and trotting again.  It's nice to be able to work on some dressage stuff out on the track, as it gets the horses out of the ring ("We're going on an adventure, Charlie!"), but offers the most consistent footing on the farm.  And it's fun to visit the magical leopleurodon, even though he doesn't really say anything.

You are entirely too adorable

Good girl Baby Girl!

After I put Soonie away, I brought Zenny out for our first ride.  She was super quiet on the lunge, and overall very well behaved for her first time undersaddle in several years.  She had been doing schooling Training level dressage and jumping around 2'3" before her long period of unemployment.  We worked today on going forward off the leg at the walk without running into the trot, some bending exercises, and when I felt like I had her in a good spot between my leg and hand in the walk, we did some trotting in each direction.  She's built a little down hill; combined with her lack of fitness, she felt a bit heavy in the bridle at times (which I'm told was somewhat typical for her as a 3-4 year old as well).  She did respond well when I pushed her off the inside leg and asked her to displace the shoulder slightly in order to keep her from falling in, so that led to some good moments.  I think she'll come along well, I'm in no hurry and her owner (the barn owner) seemed pleased with what she saw.  When Zen's in that sweet spot (in front of my leg and on the contact without leaning on the bit), she feels like a nice ride.  She is also a sweet mare who seemed legitimately pleased to have a job (pretty typical for more Thoroughbreds).  I look forward to playing with her some more.

After I put Zenny away, the wonderful BO asked if I'd like to hop on her other mare, Bella!  Whoo hoo!  Bella is a young (6 or 7 year old?), 17.1hh Hanoverian mare that the BO is bringing along as a dressage horse.  I was delighted that she offered, so I hopped on and we did a little walk/trot/canter after their workout.  She is a BIG mare, not just tall, but overall large and a lot to keep together.  Nice moving horse, uphill, she's learning and getting stronger all the time, and has a great mommy who is doing a lovely job bringing her along.  It was quite a day for me going from little Soonie, who is like driving a Miata sports car, to Zen who right now feels like a dump truck, to Bella, who is comparable to a dually with a V10 or something in it.  It was a blast to hop on her for those 15 minutes and put her through her paces - I had to really pull out my dressage skillz especially in the sitting trot!  We rode mainly 20 and 25 meter circles while another horse lunged on the other side of the ring, but we did get to do two trot lengthenings on the diagonals which was a blast!  I had a big grin on my face; riding a horse like that who is so different from mine is such a treat, and to be asked to hop on was a real privilege.  I can't ride big horses like that a lot anymore because of my back, but when I get the chance to, it's a lot of fun and nice when I don't embarrass myself and manage to make the horse look good.

I am used to riding just one horse these days...today I got to ride three amazing ones!  Life is good.  :)