The scene of the crime...

...as well as the scene of the sentencing!

With time, turn-out and training, Lance has gotten less mouthy since moving here in January. He still uses his mouth plenty, though. One of his more recent habits is to grab the corner of the wire panel covering the upper half of Sammy's stall door and "spring" it loudly, demanding to be served quickly at mealtime. I noticed yesterday when I was getting Lance ready to school that the upper left baling twine tie had broken. The wire panel was slightly askew, so I straightened it.

Last night I was working frantically to finish a client's project so Rick did chores without me. He heard Lance clang the wire – and then panicked scrambling as my horse fled his stall. When he investigated, he found the wire panel askew – and against the electric wire that keeps the horses off the dividing wall between the stalls. That busy mouth got buzzed, but good!

The barn was much quieter at chore time this morning.... ;-)

If I didn't have Lance...

...this girl might very well be my next project!

No, seriously!!! Years ago (like, 20; EEK!) when I first started competing in dressage, a Shire gelding, OneMile Joey, from this same farm was being shown successfully in the area. This three-year-old filly is built a little lighter than her pasture mates, and her feet aren't huge (comparatively speaking). And she's my favorite color. ;-)

I'd better get out and ride my boy and stop dreaming about black beauties!

Three modes of transportation

Our family Sunday morning:

The beautiful valley at the foot of "our" hill:

Looks like we could have taken that fourth mode of transportation – our pick-up (with camper and horse trailer) – and gone horse camping after all this weekend. Oh well; better safe than soggy!

Wet, windblown, and well worth it!

Sometimes I forget just how out of sorts a lack of saddle time makes me feel. Today I got to ride Lance, and it is amazing how much better things have seemed since!

After getting my son through most of his homeschooling subjects, I announced I was going for a ride and invited my son to go with me. He wasn't interested in riding his pony, but he did want to go down the hill to an old, blocked off logging track with me if he could ride his bike. Fine by me as long as he was willing to listen (for safety all around). The rain had held off all morning, but by the time we headed to the barn it was sprinkling. No matter; we wouldn't melt, right? Well, it turns out Lance doesn't like working in the rain any more than Russell did. Instead of constantly shaking his head, though, Lance expressed his opinion by trying to stop and turn around. Fortunately it didn't shower on us the whole time, and I was able to keep him headed in the right direction.

After being cooped up since Monday night, Lance was on edge. Remembering just how high he could jump when I hand-walked him during his convalescence, I rode ve-e-ery carefully, giving him lots to think about. We leg-yielded side to side, went straight in shoulder-in, and turned in a few tight circles. Aside from a few minor spooks, he was wonderful and brave, even managing to pass a big, gaping "bear den" (a 3'x20' metal culvert lying on the ground) beside the trail! Hopefully Lance enjoyed getting out as much as I did. :-)

Washed out

It's been raining off and on all week and is supposed to continue for days more. I've gotten in one ride on Lance, the horses have gotten turned out on pasture one day, and our horse-camping trip has been cancelled. In fact, it was snowing on Wednesday at our planned destination!

Weneedtherainweneedtherainweneedtherain....