Riding Around

If we totally run out of gas, we've got horses. I can ride to work.

We had a bit of bad news on the horse front this week. Eowyn went lame. It was a shock she hurt herself, because she occupies the tiny lot. It was akin to someone hurting themselves in a padded room. The vet came out and diagnosed early onset arthritis in a rear fetlock. Eowyn is five years old. Carrie was "numb" after she got the news. We bought Eowyn to be her hunt horse, but now?

Thankfully, Lilly's been a windfall. The little tank keeps impressing Carrie more and more. Carrie started to work with her, because she was easier to get on and off with a bad knee. 

Now, she may end up becoming Carrie's main mount.

Lilly gets nervous on her own and Carrie's had to work with her on it, but she jumps, she canters, and she had a great attitude (and grunts a lot!).

This week, Carrie committed herself to riding more often. I caught these shots one day after work.

And Carrie brought Shane out for a couple of rides, too!

I was home in time to photograph one session.

I've been wanting Carrie and Shane to ride together!

Really, I want them to have some sort of routine. I've wanted Shane to take more riding lessons, but Maddy's just coming off restrictions after hurting herself! At the rate our horses pull a muscle or stub a toe, I don't know how they'd have survived outside of modern times.

Carrie asked me to help Shane remove the saddle and put Maddy out to pasture while she finished working Lilly. Then we went inside to enjoy the air condition while the girls powered through some more serious riding.

It's good to see the family riding. That's the reason we have the farm. When the weather gets hotter, riding will need to shift to earlier in the day. It's not summer hot yet, but it feels like it's creeping in.