Wizard Rides 495, 496, 497, & 498: Dream All Day

The Pentosan is not only helping Wizard under saddle, but also with standing for the farrier. The farrier said he felt a big difference in his flexibility while he worked on his hind shoes.

Recently, I started a weight loss challenge with some colleagues, which I’m guessing that Wizard appreciates for two reasons: 1) his rider is getting smaller 2) his rider is riding less because she spends so much time exercising. Each day, I try to walk or jog on hilly trails or on a paved loop. I daydream about riding, but I know it’s a good thing for me to do other kinds of exercise in addition to riding. It’s going well so far- let’s see how I feel at the end of the eight weeks.

Wednesday, 6/5/13

Kris and I rode in the arena at dusk. Wizard and I worked on leg yields and shoulder in, and ended with a few passes over the trot poles to a cross rail. He was so settled that he actually trotted over the whole thing and did not feel the need to canter after the jump.

Saturday, 6/8/13

Wizard and I did 4.5 miles on the trails at a walk and a trot. He was a little “looky,” but remained responsive to the aids.

Wednesday, 6/12/13

Wizard and I rode in the arena. Since we had some time off and he’d get a few days off after the ride, I decided to work on something I knew would be challenging for him: canter transitions. After we were warmed up, we did trot-canter-trot transitions. Instead of our usual one or two, I asked for several in each direction, and then asked him to trot before he got a head of steam from cantering. To the right, he started clumsily but got better. To the left, he got a little fried and started skittering to the side and did a few nervous leaps. We were able to end on a good note. I need to keep working on them until they feel like nothing at all.

Thursday to Saturday… RAIN, RAIN, RAIN.

Saturday, 6/15/13

Wizard and I did 5.32 miles in the park. We looped around the big “bowling pin” field twice to get more time on good, dry footing, and did some work at the trot. I also introduced a little canter work to our trail routine. It was a little wild, but nothing too bad- mostly small but excited leaping. While we were walking along the bottom of the hill, I saw a rider and her horse (who looked like a Thoroughbred) canter up the ridge. She let out a happy, “Woo-Hoo!” as they cantered along. I don’t think she saw us, but it was a really fun moment to witness. I couldn’t tell if she or her horse was having more fun.