After so, so much rain we finally had a proper spring day. Temps in the low 60s, a light breeze, and sun, glorious sun.

Don’t they say, never look a gift horse in the mouth? Must mean that you have to ride two horses to get double the sun.

Freedom is the best horse to ride on sunny days because the light makes his coat glow and his coloring goes very nicely with the red maples that are starting to unfurl. He’s not gotten a lot of time out lately and so he had the longer ride today.

Freedom is a conundrum. He feels good a lot of the time, and then he has days where I’m sure there’s something off in his hind end. Last week I took him to a hunt trail ride. He warmed up perfectly, then almost as soon as we started the ride, he felt discombobulated. He couldn’t hold a canter on either lead and was leaping and plunging, pulling hard on the reins. This is not like him. This is a horse who can canter practically in place and takes only a light contact. I settled him into a trot but even that didn’t feel great, so after about a half hour, I walked him back to the start. Just as a test, I took him to the host’s ring. Again, he felt completely sound. Anyhow, since then, I’ve been taking it easy with him. Today we mostly walked, but he felt fine at the trot and canter. Of course, he is 22. Maybe he just wants to slow down a bit?

Zelda has been acting naughty. She’s got plenty of energy, it just need to be directed in more positive directions. She got annoyed about being ridden when it was clearly dinner time, so she tried to nip me. Then we had an alpha mare confrontation. I’m pretty sure I won, but she may just be planning her revenge. I’ve been working her harder to get her slim enough to fit into her regular girth, but I may breakdown and get another one.

I was at a trail ride over the weekend and someone told me that Zelda had a great butt. I swear that mare gave me a look that said, “see, I’m the perfect weight.”