From snow to rain.

What could be worse than snow? Melting snow, and rain! At least it was warm enough for me to only wear three layers tonight as opposed to my usual five!

Max was an angel tonight. The pitter-pattering of rain on the arena roof didn't seem to phase him. We started with a short lunge in side reigns which he was super at. After that I hopped on and went straight into trot canter transitions. He had some hesitation moving forward going right so I really had to encourage him with my seat. Whew it was quite a workout. We were both sweaty by the end of the ride!

Part of the arena was flooded so I took it as an opportunity to see how he'd do with big puddles of water. He was hesitant at first, dipping his nose into the puddle and blowing. (Soooo cute). When he was convinced it wasn't going to suck him up he plodded through like a champ. It got his Cavallos all muddy though ! >.<

Sorry..no pics tonight. Everything was just so muddy and icky I couldn't do that to my fairly new phone.

Also, Max had rolled in a disgusting mix of poo and pee and I gave him a big hug without realizing it. Even after a vigorous scrubbing in the shower I still smell faintly of horse urine. My poor poor husband!

Keeping up with the forward.

Yay! It's a balmy forty degrees plus today! And the clocks change! The birds are singing, children are outside playing and laughing, horses manes are being braided..it's just glorious!

Now that Max is back in work mode, our homework has been to keep up with the forward. I still start my rides out with a quick lunge to help him work out any stiffness.

Yesterday we had a blast galloping around the arena and cantering over poles. We even jumped one! He definitely seems happier to go fast. So looking forward to seeing how he does in a hunter pace!

Today I had a lesson with J and it was another fabulous ride. She noted that my left elbow moves forward too much when asking for a canter to the right and if I hold it steady I'd see an improvement in our canter depart. And true enough he went straight into a canter without any rushy steps. Oh and did I mention the snow and ice came crashing down like train wrecks, left right and center? Max didn't even flinch ..save at the very end when another horse spooked. He took a few trot steps forward but came back. Such a good boy!

Looking forward to another warm week ahead!