Monday, May 14, 2012

Temporary hiatus? Summer vacation...

Not too much going on here - lots of yard work following the hail two weekends ago.  The plants, even the rhubarb, mostly rebounded.  The insurance adjuster's been and gone.  Sunny's time loafing in the pasture resulted in an even rounder pony...

Other than some groundwork and brushing I haven't been doing much that's productive with the four-foots.  Not that they care!  But Saturday I took them both for a bareback spin around the pasture, and tonight I saddled them both up for a while.  Sunny was nice and round - no pun intended - underneath me.  Since he's round enough to make using most cushions a no-go, I ordered a Thinline pad for him.  Not sure if it will provide enough extra cushion with the English saddle, but it's worth a shot. 

Unfortunately for my semi-industrious plans, the first patch of long grass we tromped through released a hoard of bloodthirsty mosquitoes.  They weren't too bad in the sheep-cropped patches and along the verge of the driveway, but any time we ventured in deeper we were mobbed.  The fly spray was doing a great job with the face flies, but it didn't phase anything else. 

The driveway's hard as a rock and so is the road.  I suppose I could have taken them both for a tour of the neighbor's place at a high trot - even had the invitation, as D and daughter from down the road were headed past as I finished up with Sunny.  They stopped to chat for a bit and mentioned the possibility of doing some horse camping later in the summer.  Then they were off to make the full lap mosquitoes and all but they were keeping a pretty good clip to stay head of the bloodsuckers.

So I called it an evening with Sunny after about 30 minutes of bending.  Then it was Thunder's turn, and probably about the longest stretch I've ridden him.  We did circles, figure eights, a bit of backing... he was pretty good, all things considered.  Not always enthusiastic about it - he would rather have been standing by the trailer watching, I think - but cooperative.  Progress, I guess.

Other than the bugs it was an absolutely gorgeous evening, and tomorrow is supposed to be a carbon copy.  I'm hoping for a bit more breeze, though. 

I hauled the trailer back into town with me so I can clean it out, and if it's as warm as today, I might wash it out, as well. 

Not sure how regularly I'll be posting the next few weeks, as summer company is coming and we have a lot of house projects planned.  Isn't summer "vacation" fun?

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