On the loose

One in the saddle, one on the ground

horseback riding

  • Solid steps

    Today gave me a glimmer of hope that I can convince Tarma the trailer isn’t all bad. This was mostly thanks to my barn owner, who turns out is something of a whiz with trailer loading. Within about 15 minutes she and I had Tarma pretty much loading up with no pressure, although she was… Read more

  • Work To Do

    I was supposed to be writing a mostly triumphant post today. My plan was to haul to McIver and try our newly booted hooves at our first out and about trail ride together. Maybe a few bobbles, some lessons learned, but I was optimistic…overly, as it turned out. Remember when I mentioned building that partnership… Read more

  • Tarma’s First Adventure

    I took a chance on the weather today and I am so glad that I did. We loaded Tarma up and went to our favorite nearby state park, Milo McIver. There are a series of obstacles built by the North Valley chapter of Oregon Equestrian Trails, of which yours truly is somehow currently the VP… Read more

  • Big step!

    Oh sweet lady, I needed today’s triumph! Our biggest step together yet was the absolute highlight of my day. I snuck away from work early with less than an hour’s worth of daylight left but I wasn’t going to waste it! I was lucky that it was close enough to dinner time, so when I… Read more

  • Ten feet tall

    I am so proud today! Flash, Cyrus and I did five and a half miles solo at Hardy Creek this morning and everything went smoothly. I have ridden at Hardy extensively in the past but Flash has only been there once a year ago. We did most of the ride on a loose rein while… Read more

  • Fun with Flash

    Another long hot day so instead of saddling up and working on the basics, I hauled myself up bareback with a pocketful of treats. One of Flash’s favorite things is treats, so tonight we played soccer and worked on teaching him “push” (with his nose), “kick” (with his legs), and tonight we added “chase”. Soccer… Read more

  • Basics are good

    I had to admit to a friend today that despite all my experience in the horse world, I’ve never studied or really learned how to build a horse’s strength and carriage up from the basics. Oh I’ve picked up some tricks here and there, but no consistency. My main goal for the next two months,… Read more

  • Bluebird Day

    Vitamin D and a pretty awesome pony! Read more

  • A new exercise

    Trying out a new grid exercise Read more

  • Bloghop: Favorites of 2018

    Here’s a fun post idea from Centered in the Saddle. So much has happened this year, and this is a photo based way to wrap it all up. Favorite Horse Show Picture I don’t show and didn’t make it to a single endurance ride, but here’s Kade’s first mounted lesson (and many more to come!)… Read more