DAY 36, 37 & 38 - Patient Possum

Sunday I did end up taking him out for a hand walk and a little grazing before we left for our gig at the Fair. It was mild and sunny, and we took a right out of the driveway and walked down to the end of the dirt road by Lenny's. At the Dodge home, I ran into Mr. D and chatted with him for about 20 minutes. P was very patient, waiting for us humans to finish making the noises that come out of our mouths (how I imagine a horse interprets human conversation.. ha!)

After our walk, I returned him to his space and before we left at 2:30, he was left with his pellet ration (with carrots strips) and almost a whole bale of hay spread about. When we returned that night, an hour and a half later than we had expected because of a flat tire and a call in to AAA, he was out in the back resting, and I only saw him a little later when I gave him another flake before I retired for the night.

The next morning I had intended to ride, but it never happened. It's been a crazy week. I had to bring to Jeep in for inspection (and spare tire repair), and of course an additional steering wheel part repair had to be made in order for it to pass inspection, and I most of the day waiting for the mechanic to call. We ended up picking it up on Tuesday morning, and meanwhile, all I could do with Possum is take him out around 3 for a long walk down to Dr. Doyle's and back up. We walked behind Dad's and ended up back in our back field, where I let him graze for a while, then I put him to bed.

Tuesday, I got up on him around 2:30, and I wasn't sure how he was going to act after having two days off, but it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. It was a calm and mild afternoon, and he was very agreeable. We walked up to the Dodge field and worked out there for about 20 minutes. Walking around, then some focused and balanced trots, and I tried to remember to encourage his forward downward transitions. Then we tried cantering in each direction, and he was great, despite a little mini buck and picking up the wrong lead twice in a row going to the left.

After our short practice session in the field, we walked down to the big field across from Lenny's, and explored that for a while. Then we walked back up the road and towards home. We went down to our secondary driveway, and we trotted over the little cross rail jump (and this time he jumped over it instead of trotting over it), then we walked back to the stall. We had been out a little under an hour.

Riding Tuesday afternoon

This morning, we had yet a little more car business to deal with, then I ran down town to return bottles and cans, bank, and a small grocery shop. After I got back, I got Possum brushed off and we walked down to the Dodge barn, in order to meet Butch for a much needed farrier appointment.

We walked, then grazed, for an hour and a half, and finally found out that Butch got held up in Berwick and wasn't able to make it after all. So, we walked back and I started dinner, then fed Possum, cleaned his paddock and filled the water buckets.

I'm disappointed that we didn't get the trim and re-shoeing today, because tomorrow morning we're going to meet up with Ryan again for another lesson. I'm also bummed we couldn't ride today, but he was so, so good yesterday, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. Just the way it is.

He's happy, either way, so that's all that really matters.