What A Fantastic Weekend!

We could not have had any better weather then we did last weekend! It was perfect! Sunny and mid 60's! I have been waiting for so long to see the sun and feel the warmth of it on my face! We had a long list of things to do over the weekend. And we started early Saturday morning. We drained the water out of the hot tub, refilled it and now it's ready to go for some spring soaking. We tore my arena apart and made a round pen, again. The dogs played NASCAR around the outside of the panels while we drug panels around. I love watching those 2 Aussie's play! Bailey is so fast and Sadie does her best to keep up, but she just can't keep up with him! Then once we finished rearranging the panels, I went to get my Mustang Chance.



I usually tie her up to the fence of the pasture and get her ready there, but I decided she is going to start being a "big" horse, and so I took her down to the house to get her ready. She was a little worried about being there, but it's good for her. The neighbor was cruising around on his tractor, our dogs were still running around like crazy and my OH was making a racket cleaning up the tractor shed. She only jumped a couple times considering how much was going on. She just needs to get used to all of the activity that goes on around here, and the only way to do that is to put her in the center of it all. She did surprisingly well. I then took her to the round pen and lunged her to get any spunk out. She was feeling a little frisky and bucked quite a few times, which is not like her. She usually just goes right to work without any play. But it has been at least 6 months since I have done anything with her in the arena. She settled in quickly and so I then put the surcingle on. I have only had the surcingle on once before, but I wasn't worried about how she'd react. She handles everything so well, and again, she did not care that I tightened a cinch around her belly. I sent her off again on the lunge line. We went around both directions for a few minutes then I decided to put the crupper on. I have not put the crupper on her before so I first rubbed her butt, and lifted her tail quite a few times. I have done that before quite a bit so she would get used to her tail being lifted (good to do for when you have to take their temperature!). I then put the crupper on. She just stood there. I walked her around a couple laps then sent her back off on the lunge line. I had her trot and canter both directions to get used to the crupper. About 99% of the horses at work will kick out at the crupper the first couple times they wear one, or buck quite a bit. My filly did not do anything. She went around and did her job. She did not care at all. When I took her back to the house, she jumped a little when I took the crupper off, but that is normal. We had an excellent training lesson.

I then groomed my other 2 horses and let them all graze in the tall grass for a bit. Fritzy was starting to show signs of mud fever, so I moved her back into Chance's old pasture, with the goats. There is minimal mud there and most of it is gravel. I gave her some bute. I just do not want it to go into cellulitus like last year. That was not fun for me or her. I also mowed the lawn for the first time this year. It was still a little too wet, but it needed to be done before it got too tall! With all the rain we get, then a little bit of sun, it grows like crazy!

On Easter, we went to my OH's mom and step dads. Our 3 1/2 year old niece was there and she had so much fun finding Easter eggs! She didn't wear her Easter dress because she wasn't feeling well that morning and almost didn't come to the Easter festivities, but she did wear her horse pajamas!



When we got home, we decided to take the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. I found out that trying to take a picture and walking a dog does not work very well.



So I gave Sadie to my OH and made him walk them both for awhile so I could get a picture. It was gorgeous out! The dogs were loving every minute of their walk. We actually don't walk them that much because we have 5 acres that they run and play on. But we do like to get them out for a change of scenery when the weather is nice.



I woke up this morning and went to the feed store to get grain and dewormer. I then brought Chance out for another training lesson. Again I brought her down to the house. She was calmer then the other day. Also there was no activity going on at all. It was very quiet. I usually put the surcingle on in the arena, but since she has done so well with it, I just put it on her down at the house. I didn't put the crupper on until I got to the round pen. I started lunging her, and she was quite frisky again to start. But she settled down and we went through all the gaits. She listens so good! I decided to take her off the lunge line and work on the same thing. I have never done this with her before so I wasn't sure what to expect. She was awesome! She went around like she was on the lunge line, and listened to all my commands. Once I cooled her down, I let her graze for awhile. I then groomed my other horses and scooped poop out of both sheds. We are going to have a couple days of rain, then it is supposed to clear up and be nice again for a couple days. I am hoping to get the bridle on Chance this weekend. She is doing so well, I could probably just throw a saddle up on her, but I don't want to rush anything. I am planning on getting her in long lines and working her that way for a few weeks, then we will see if she is ready for a saddle. I have no doubt that she will be ready!



I love this time of year, when the sun is out, not too hot nor too cool. The trees are blooming and it is so pretty!