If I had my way, there'd be more daily structure and more riding lessons! I got some great shots of the pair of rides Shane went on over the past week or so.
Carrie had Shane jog alongside Maddie to help her warm up for the lesson.
She's been doing better healthwise, but we're expecting a vet bill at some point.
Carrie's cautious by nature, but Shane's light enough to not be too much effort for her.
Instead of it being my break, I tend to show up and play with my camera.
I'm not technically skilled, so I try to think of neat angles to catch action.
I really liked this series!
To parrot many warnings out there, I post highlights and what I feel make stories worth telling. There are ups and downs and lots of blah moments in between that never hit the page!
The weather has been a little confusing throughout. Shane was wearing a winter coat to deal with wind through this lesson, but it was coats off whether when Gay visited a handful of days later!
Carrie and Gay had a riding session on Lorelai and Sam.
Then Gay gave Shane a riding lesson on Maddie! Gay's a great teacher. She taught 4H and Pony club curriculum for years and works in an Elementary school.
Shane immediately started to point out everything different in what Gay said compared to Mom! He's not so good about knowing when to hold back or how to ask a clarifying question.
I watched the lesson while Carrie dealt with a boarder visit and the farrier dropping off something.
Shane acted like he was worn out by the end! He's dramatic!
Meanwhile, I haven't rode at all. Carrie wants to find a lesson horse that's been there and done that for me.
She found a possible free lease named Rowdy she wanted to try out.
She found a possible free lease named Rowdy she wanted to try out.
For those of you who don't know, a free lease is just that - free. It costs nothing.....other than what it normally costs to take care of a horse. If you don't have a barn, that means you're paying to board the horse somewhere. We have a barn, so it's much cheaper in our case.
It's normally an attempt for a win-win. Someone has a horse that needs handling, care, and something productive to do. Someone else wants a horse to handle and do something for some period of time, but they don't want to buy a horse.
Carrie wanted a summer 'husband horse.' I didn't want to spend any money, and Rowdy's farm wanted him to get some exercise since their lesson program was shutdown for the pandemic.
Rowdy wanted to remain feral. He'd come to enjoy the pure pasture life.
The owner had footage of Rowdy as a therapeutic riding horse. He worked with children with disabilities and was super calm, but seemed to have forgotten about it on "spring break!" He was full of energy when we visited.
They tried to run off his energy in the round pen and then with more lungework to get him ready to ride.
He was hopping not to go, though.
No one ended up riding. Carrie felt bad about dragging us along for nothing, but it was a short road trip (~35 minutes). I think that going on adventures whether they work out or not adds a new shine to the normal when you return to it!
Shane got to meet the stablehand's horse, Chunky Monkey, before we left. I thought it was a good attempt to be a blessing to everyone!
Related side story: We got a ton of rain overnight before our adventure. The James River had risen considerable.
The park area on the other side of the train tracks in town was underwater!
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