Weekend recap and Mango Bay Giveaway winner!

The fun part first: congrats to Hillary H., you’ve won the Mango Bay belt giveaway! Check your email for details on how to claim your prize. Big thank you to everyone who participated – this was the biggest weekend ever on my blog and there were almost 70 entries in the giveaway! If you didn’t win, get on over to Mango Bay and buy yourself something nice to ease your sorrow.

My weekend was decidedly horsey and not much else. After a hellacious week at work I pretty much just vegged and watched documentaries on Netflix when I wasn’t at the barn. Friday night was dinner/happy hour with a couple of my favorite horsey friends, then I went to bed early. Party animal – that’s me. On Saturday I got to the barn in the morning to try to beat the heat a little. Apparently everyone else had the same idea – the barn was bustling!

We focused mostly on lateral work and lengthenings, and just being steadier with the contact in general (mostly MY issue). Henry was really super and gave me some really nice moments. Despite several walk breaks and a long cool down walk around the property, he’s still getting way hotter than he should. Not really sure what’s up with him but he’s not handling the heat very well. He’s sweating great, works normally (not lethargic or dull), drinks very well, seems well hydrated, and doesn’t seem distressed when we’re actually working, but by the time I get off he’s very hot and breathing very hard. Even just standing in his stall in front of his fan he’s sweaty and pretty warm. Planning on calling the vet today to see what she thinks. It’s really not even hot yet by Texas standards but it is WAY more humid than normal, so I’m not sure if that’s a contributing factor. He is and always has been a Southern horse though so he should be used to it… I’ve never had a horse have this hard of a time with the heat, even my non-sweater. But this seals the deal on no horse showing for the summer – he’s obviously not a hot weather creature. I’m okay with that since we have the barn move coming up in a couple weeks anyway.

On Sunday morning I decided to focus on transitions, and that wasn’t a particularly great idea. We did the 15-15-15 exercise (15 steps walk, 15 trot, 15 canter, 15 walk, etc etc) which he did pretty well about 4-5 times the first direction, but mentally fell apart the other direction. It was just too much and he got very anxious and worried about any tiny move I made. So instead I had to redirect the ride and spend the rest of it walking and trotting around, getting him to stretch out and relax again. Note to self: he’s not ready for that exercise yet. Point taken, Henry. But once he chilled and accepted the leg/hand contact again I cantered him over a few little logs in the field then went for a walk. Again, he got very hot and it took me a while to cool him down. Hose, scrape, walk. Hose, scrape, walk. Hose, scrape, fan. I’m starting to think this is how our whole summer is gonna go, poor guy.

I think this is how Henry wants to spend the rest of his summer.

 

After the barn I spent some time hanging out with my dad for Father’s Day, then went down to the park with my cyclocross bike to brush up on my flying mounts and dismounts. There’s a pre-season race tomorrow evening that I’ve got my eye on, but I haven’t been on my CX bike since January when the season ended. Figured I should probably get back on it and practice some of the trickier maneuvers, lest I trip over my own feet and break my neck. We’ll see how tomorrow goes… if I could leave a CX race without shedding blood, freezing to death, or being coated in mud, that would be fantastic! I think I’m safe from the latter two but the first one is never a guarantee.