Back in the Saddle - More

Well, after giving Max some time off due to the lingering smoke from the various fires going on around the area, I decided that it was time to get back in the game.

Saturday was started off cloudy and somewhat cool with a couple attempts at drizzling. Later, the sun came out and it warmed up considerably. I started Max off with the usual warming-up process and then proceeded to a combination of trot and canter transitions. It was like riding concrete and Max was definately being lazy (OK, granted he's got his winter coat and was getting warm).

Eventually Max got the proper motivation and we proceeded to do various arena work to iclude leg yields, transitions, etc. Max was even did some nice side-passing. He really amazed me there! I ended with some two-point stance work that really made me sore.

Later, my wife came out to the stable to ride Max so I wound up riding another horse named "Kisses". She's a Standardbred, ex-race horse so she doesn't have a lot of riding training under her but it worked out OK. Her gaits take some getting used to and she has a strange sort of canter. Not quite as polished as Blondie.

Everything ended on a good note and Max was definately sweaty. :-)