One of the downsides of riding in July and August is the bugs. Deer flies, horse flies, mosquitoes. They are everywhere. There are fewer bugs out in the fields, so I’ve been having short rides concentrating on dressage. The barn has a dressage ring and a few open fields that lend themselves to flat work. Transitions, transitions, trot poles, and lots of lateral work. We’ve had a couple of cooler days where I took some short hacks to give the horses a break. Freedom is more stoic than Zelda when it comes to bugs. A gallon of bug spray (what does that stuff repel?), a flymask and a fly whisk made our hack bearable. And it was good to take a break from riding in circles.
