pasture time ~ 1 of 5

Spending more time with our horses makes me feel more connected to them. Plain and simple.

Maybe it's humanizing them, but I think they feel similar in their horse way. So much more one can do with horses when enjoying warmer weather. There is less need to rush, and longer days. Our rides aren't necessarily lengthier, but there are added things to do in hand. For example; hosing off or hand grazing - and when all the extra warm weather stuff is done, there is even more joy to be felt in watching horses interact in the pasture! Similar can be done in the winter as well, but beautiful weather lures one to linger - and pull out the camera!

Koda & Nemo are pretty nonchalant about being turned out. When Cierra gets added into the mix, there is sure to be some fun interaction in the pasture! Not only is she a girl but she's young and energetic, not to mention an instigator. Since Cierra is in training she doesn't get turned out as much as the boys, and is always happy to join them. She loves to stretch her legs, and that girl can run ~ fast! Cierra easily out runs Koda and Nemo.

She does her best to get the boys to play, it's way more fun if you have someone to join you. This is typical of what we see when we turn Cierra out with Nemo & Koda:

off we go

follow me

joining the fun

Cierra instigates

she gets pasture neighbors to play too

the far end of their pasture is a favorite play area

more horses more fun

they always keep an eye on us

enjoying pasture time together

Since she is the "belle of the ball" my next post will feature some shots of Ms. Cierra enjoying the pasture, followed by one each for the boys, and closing the series with quieter pasture times. Looking forward to catching up. Hope you and your horses are enjoying the warmer weather!!

all over, randomly

WI is suppose to get some snow this weekend, at least I hope so! We headed north to ride earlier then usual, just incase the dumper of snow hit before expected. We were surprised to find the barn completely quiet, just the way - I - love - it!! My hubby raked the arena, again......and so, we got to ride on freshly raked sand!

He suggested two things for this ride, that turned out fantastic! One, try loping Koda off like I used to (before the 360 circle-off's) just because, and two, try putting cones in random order, instead of in a pattern - say what? 

I tried, but every single cone I randomly placed ended up in a pattern regardless of where I placed them - I am hopeless! So, I moved those darn cones and re-re-placed them until they were patternless, or at least as well as possible!! I also set up some trot poles...

Surprise surprise, with the freshly raked sand Koda loped off a corner on the first try - and yes, on the correct lead! Hmmmm? Truth be told, Koda offered the wrong left lead on a similar lope-off later in our ride (never ever has he given the wrong lead on his much preferred right side) but, we re-tried and got it - sans circle. I am getting sooo much closer to feeling his lead 100% either way on his tricky left side, and that my friends is a huge thing (in my world).

The specialness about freshly raked sand is the way you can SEE your horses footprints. I was giddy to see when Koda did TRUE side-passes, the writing was in the sand!!

As for those random cones, simply genius! Hubby said he read a recent article, counter to what you hear on the TV/Internet where you don't want to believe everything you hear/read, but instead try what makes sense - these suggestions made sense. 

With cones placed all over, multi-patterns were left up to horse and rider to create on the fly, and yes it was so much more interesting then cones in a row! Of course, we had a ton of fun playing follow the leader around and occasionally through (oops!) the random cones, towards the end of our ride - did you have any doubt?!!

As for our horses, they also had snow much fun inside & outside!!

Koda, Nemo, Cierra (L-R)