Updates

I have quite obviously been neglecting my blog!! Things got quite busy and the blog fell to the back burner. In March I took an equine massage and vertebral realignment course, and I'm trying to get my business with that off the ground. The course was absolutely amazing, my instructor was fantastic and quite a horsey inspiration for me. I learned SO much not just about horse health but about handling horses, bonding with horses and the whole emotional aspect of being a horsewoman and the connection with them. Wow that sounded super sappy!! But anyways, I also met some amazing people. One girl who is getting into endurance this year even, which makes me very happy that I'll get to see her lots on the trail hopefully!

After that, hubby and I took a month long trip to the States in April/May. We went all over, through Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California (Disneyland!), Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana. Holy moly! Mind you a lot of those states we just drove straight through. One of my closest friends lives in Arizona and was getting married in New Mexico, and I got to be a bridesmaid so that was fantastic! Plus it was a great excuse to have a little escape with my wonderful hubby <3

But all of that led to a lot of time off for my ponies. Which pushed back our endurance goals this year. Which is okay, there are still 5 or 6 rides I am hoping to make it to this year. I probably could have taken Player to a ride in June, or the one next weekend, but I don't feel comfortable pushing him when he had all that time off in addittion to the 4 months off he had this winter due to his injuries. I know some think I'm a little too paranoid and careful but better safe than sorry. I want my horses to be high mileage horses and last a long time on the endurance trail, so that means some extra care and precautions.

So here's a bit of an update on the ponies and my plans for this year. Player is back in conditioning full time. And he's feeling great! Finishing up our rides with energy to spare so I'm gradually building him up again. I'm aiming for a 25 miler on July 16th with him. Not enough recent pics of him, I should get more, but here is one from after one of our rides last week. You'll probably hardly recognize him or LJ in these pics considering their last ones resembled wooly mammoths (or cows). Sleek and handsome now!

LJ is back in training full time now too. He's still green, so he's getting mostly pen work right now. In July I plan to add more trail riding to that, but right now we are still working on getting a good foundation on him under saddle. He tends to be very reactive on the trail so I want 110% trust (and control) with him before taking him to a ride. I'm hoping to take him on a 25 mile CTR (competitive trail ride) in August as his first ride. The atmosphere there is a lot more laid back, no high emotions. I think this is the best way to start him. With his high energy I could see him being prone to getting 'race brain' and that's the last thing I want. No recent under saddle pics but this is from the other day in the round pen. When my hubby gets home from work I will have somebody to take pics of me in saddle :)

Totally looks like a different horse huh?

Anyways, I'll be adding some posts regarding equine massage and health as well. Whatever comes to mind I guess! So that should have you all up to speed on what's going on in my horsey life. Here's a few pics of LJ getting some TLC today to end this entry.

Dang he's cute <3