I spent the morning catching up on internet stuff, then got dressed and went down town to market. I didn't groom and tack Possum up until about 3:00 in the afternoon, mostly because of the warm temps.
I put on my old chaps and mounted up in the paddock off the old stump. We walked around the paddock a little bit, then went out the gate and around to the back of the house. We took the little loop in the back yard, then walked down the path to Dad's land, and down to the big path behind his house. Possum and I walked through the cool woods, and I made him walk down the hill of the "dip," then I let him trot back up. We continued on to the road at a walk, and took a left and walked all the way down to Dr. Doyle's old place. On the way back to the corner, I asked him for a trot, and man, could I feel the burn from Monday's lesson! I tried my best to keep my tummy tucked and my shoulder's rolled back, then we walked all the way down to the opening by the big logs, just past Laughing Tree Farm. We walked down the little logging path and looped over to the back of the Downing's field. I figured it couldn't be such a terrible thing to walk along the tree line on the back of their property back to New Road, so that's what we did.
We had run into Dad as we were walking down the hill earlier, and just as we got back onto the end of New Road, we ran into Dad again, just coming back from the market. We said hello, then Possum and I walked up into the field on Rt. 117. We explored another little logging path, but it was very muddy, just like last year, so we headed back through the field and onto New Road. We walked most of the way, but trotted a few times where the road is more sandy and less rocky.
Coming around the corner, we picked up a canter and got about a quarter of the way up before we slowed to a trot and then a walk. We kept going straight up the hill on the road, and then took a right into Dad's driveway. We went through the top path towards the paddock, and looped around the back of the house and walked all the way into the stall, where I dismounted. We had been out a little over an hour!
He was quite warm and sweaty, so I sponged him down with some warm/cool water, and he was very good. I decided to try this without putting the chain over his nose, which I usually feel compelled to do, and he was very responsive to my commands to stand still! Then, we ambled around back for 20 minutes of hand grazing. He was super mellow and cool. He didn't fuss much when I pulled his head up and led him back to the paddock. So good.
He was cooled down enough and I fed him his pellets and spread out a bunch of flakes of hay. I cleaned the paddock and scrubbed out and refilled his water buckets, gave him a quick brushing and sprayed him with more fly spray, and then he was done for the night, except I replenished his hay a few more times. Another great day with Mr. John Possum!
Today, another easy ride, perhaps out in the Dodge field to practice a little from the riding lesson.
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| Grazing after the ride. |
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