8/20

Today's plan: Ride
So I put the pesky beast to work today. I have been riding longer than any other sport I do or have done. My mother got hooked when my brother wanted riding lessons and from then on we always had horses. At a young age I had aspirations of trick riding, and would race around the ring on a patient mare. The biggest problem I had was that she was an exceptionally well trained horse, and as I jumped off at a canter and ran to a bucket to hop back on, she stopped. She had been trained to slow down as a rider slipped and stop completely if they came off. My current horse, a Welsh Cobb Thoroughbred, is not nearly as well trained. But she is my girl. We've been together for 6 or so years and while we squabble occasionally, we have a great relationship. Today we went out and played on the road, as early in the morning there are both less flies and less cars. The neighbors are doing a drainage project, and the large Cat with a bucket was an eyebrow raiser, but other than that, we had a lovely time.
This afternoon I took the puppy for a walk. She was my training partner early in the spring, we would walk out a mile and run back. Once I started running out and back, she had to be left at home: she simply wants to sniff too much! Today she got to sniff to her heart's content.