2007-2010 May 10th

May 10, 2007

I had planned to ride Phoenix this morning, but he got very agitated by Misty and Star running loose in the yard.  So agitated, as a matter of fact, that when one of them came running down to the fence where he was tied, he got tripped up on his own lead rope and pulled the fence post out of the ground.  I checked him over for wounds and then spent the rest of my time desensitizing him to a bunch of garbage and old appliances dumped at the side of the road.  He did good with that.

May 10, 2008

My first attempt at roundpenning with the cast on and it went quite well.  I couldn't do it very long, but Phoenix listened like a gem so he made it easy.  He even backed and yielded his hindquarters and forequarters at liberty!  I also taught Dave how to roundpen Onyx and that went well, too!  We took them for a long walk around the farm, letting them graze, then ended with some flexing and desensitizing.  Phoenix was super-responsive to the flexing - I just picked up lightly with two fingers!

May 10, 2009

It was bloody cold today - the temp didn't get above 4 degrees Celsius and the wind was howling around the barn, so after mucking stalls, we grabbed the boys out of the pasture and took them for a long, grazing walk in the shelter of the front lawn of the house by the barn.  We groomed in the barn, then Dave took them both back out to graze while I cleaned up.  I joined them out by the pond and we made them both back to the barn, then flex before putting them in their stalls.

May 10, 2010

Went for a bareback ride on Phoenix after work - they're predicting rain the rest of the week, so I thought I'd best take advantage.  We went out back and did lots of circles around the trees because was pretty keeyd up.  We went out on the road and he was really worked up by some flags stuck in the field where they've put in tiles.  He did fantastic with a loud, fast truck that went by, though.