No Jacket Required

Today we have warm weather (50F) and clear blue skies.  When I went down to ride, Tuffy was taking a nap with Finessa standing watch.

Jackson and I had a good ride.  I was more mindful of taking my time and really listening to him tell me how he was feeling.  Yoga again.  I have, in the past, thought about resistance as a bad thing - like disobedience.  After working through the resistance in myself and seeing how relaxing and releasing into a pose works so much better than force, I did the same with Jackson.  We worked at a walk on 20m circles and voltes until he relaxed into the bend.  He was sooooo happy, chewing on the bit and blowing.  Then when we moved into the trot and canter work, he was able work through his body.  Eureka!!  We did have one tense moment at the beginning of the ride.  He spooked at a tarp Brett left on the slope below the arena.  Heavens, my, my.  Jackson will walk across tarps and I can drape them all over his body but this one was in a tarp free zone.  Funny how horses immediately notice when something is out of place.


When we finished our ride I gave Jackson a thorough bath.  His back legs were clean this morning and his manure is back to normal.  But, he hasn't had a bath since November - before the rain storms started rolling through.  So, he was kind of a brownish color instead of grey.  After his bath, I let him graze in the orchard while I waited for him to dry.  He was in heaven.

Then I put him back in the pasture.  I knew he would roll but I couldn't believe the spot he picked.  Check out the location of the pile of manure...

He had a glorious roll -

He's a happy horse.  And I'm his happy person.