summer days of leisure

Happy Friday everyone! Even tho this was a short week for most folks in the US (that is, if you're not actually wholly on vacation haha) it's still kinda felt a little long.

For us, the reasons for that are kinda twofold: brutal heat combined with looking ahead to a long stretch of the hottest months with a fairly light schedule.

swans!!!!

We came out of our back-to-back show weekends feeling..... ready for some light hacking haha. Charlie got a day off of work, but still with lots of grooming and grazing and treats (and hoof care bc.... yea). But then when the next couple days were still stupid hot and we felt kinda blah about ring work? Yea. Trail time!!

honk honk!!

Monday I just headed out by myself. Apparently my efforts to cajole the program director to come join me on the naughtiest pony in the barn weren't successful. I wonder why?

more trail riding in ye olde snackamore too (tho charlie hasn't figured out how to do drive by snacking yet)

Anyway I did a familiar loop with Charlie (it's really the only loop that isn't too stupidly technical), tho I did it in reverse - starting where we normally finish and finishing where we normally start. Just to keep it interesting, ya know? These aren't exactly long trails.

these ain't my favorite trails... but sometimes they're still pretty great

He was a very good boy tho - and is legitimately getting better and better about handling the trail technicality every time we're out there. Sure, there are still a couple super sketchy areas - esp when the trail is just a narrow ledge carved into a steep hillside, and bends at a tighter degree than Charlie can typically contort his own body....

awww, Versed is eating corn like he thinks he's people!

For the most part tho, he figures it out. And the next day a barn mate wanted to go out too, so obvi we tagged along. We did a slightly shorter loop to accommodate her senior citizen - but Charlie's always super happy to have company, even if it means a shorter ride.

charlie quite enjoyed the corn greens!

Charlie's week of leisure continued with a massage appointment with his favorite equine therapist. He hasn't seen her since May, actually, at which time she had recommended he see a chiro. That happened last month, so this month it was back to regular programming.

and the stringy thready silk stuff too!

This particular equine massage therapist works really well for us bc she works fairly locally, is easy to schedule, is great with Charlie, and especially: is quite affordable. Oh and she takes paypal - can't get any easier than that!

he was a little less sure about the cob itself. tried to chomp into it like a carrot haha

Beyond that, tho, it felt like a good time to continue taking inventory of where we are. Namely: we've got the rest of July and all of August ahead of us to prepare for the fall event season. A 'summer bootcamp,' if you will. And I want Charlie to feel his best for it.

what can i say but that he's a goof?

My hope is to use this time to really solidify a lot of the concepts and skills Charlie has been developing and refining since Spring. Specifically: I want him to be fully confirmed at all things BN, and get a little more serious about our flat work in the process.

a goof who freakin loves his massage therapist tho. see him chomping on his lead rope too??

I'll probably flesh out the specifics of that plan in later posts, but we're gonna kick off this 'summer bootcamp' in a bigger way in the coming week. Starting with taking my first paid vacation since beginning the new job over a year ago. Which. Ya know. Is a little overdue.

"oooooh that's the spot!!" - charlie

That time off will undoubtedly involve quite a bit of 'me' time - ya know, time to enjoy my life and whatnot. But it's also going to include a lot of pony time too. Including a very exciting upcoming clinic with none other than Jimmy Wofford.

Part of me is super nervous bc I've actually never jumped in a clinic before (bc... my 'fraidy cat status means I basically only jump with my trainers) - but mostly I'm pretty freakin pumped!

big guy felt all good and loosey-goosey after too!!

I'm also sketching out some plans with my other regular, tried-n-true trainers. Which, cross your freakin fingers, might finally include a lesson from good ol' Dan. It's been close to a year since I've ridden with him, and he's never met Charlie. So that's something else very long overdue.

Mostly tho. We've used this week as a deep, refreshing breath. Making sure that we both feel good and whole, and ready to keep moving forward - but perhaps with smaller, more refined steps over the next couple weeks. And probably plenty of purely fun outings too. Bc. Ya know. You gotta balance that summer bootcamp with that summer vacation, right?

Do you feel similarly about your summers spent riding? Is it a time of ramping up your schooling or training or showing? Or a time to ease back and try to beat the heat? Or something in between?