My friends and I rode together again this weekend, twice, after the ponies received their monthly pedicure. We also mock camped in my friends yard, as it’s been over a year since we camped together and it’s always nice to just in up to the house when you forget something.

On the way to our first ride on Saturday, one friend and I confessed to each other that every time we have a stretch when we don’t ride regularly, starting again is full of worry and anxiety and that weird feeling of “probably shouldn’t do this.” It has nothing to do with the horses, and everything to do with that voice in our head that’s just wrong and negative all the time. Once we actually swing a leg over and move out, we’re on top of the world with our favorite partner again.

We got in two beautiful rides altogether, and I learned quite a bit and adjusted some things with Tarma. I had my saddle too far forward on her shoulders when we started our the first time, so one angry “Fix this now!” head toss had me hopping off and fixing it…and she was fine. Heading out today she was on her tippy toes, wanting to trot but not listen to my requests to wait for our friends, so we switched out of the lead for a bit til she chilled. By the end we were on a loose rein, moving easily along, in sync. Now she gets three days off before we grab a friend and head up to Quinn Meadows for a long weekend!