sweet sweet release

Happy hump day, y'all. Things are chilling out a little bit now that the most intense phase of the heat wave is behind us.... we even got a few sprockles of rain the other day! Big stuff, y'all. 

But even bigger news, Doozy finally graduated to the next intermediate step in her introduction to the new farm: post quarantine paddock turn out with a friend!! Much Rejoicing!!

Getting her out of the tiny dry quarantine pen and back onto grass is a BIG DEAL, especially as it massively reduces my burden guilt related to managing her day to day life --- like alllllll that hand grazing, dear lord. 

So let's keep it light and happy with a quick pictorial run through of what we've been up to lately!

pictured: hand grazing, forever, everywhere. literally about an hour a day of just this, and even that felt painfully stingy... but it was also perfect for getting familiar with all the various views --- seriously, how picturesque is this place?? we are standing right behind the blue indoor here, so these are the same views you get while riding!

 

pictured: hot and sweaty at the absolute peak intensity of last week's heat wave, right around the longest day of the year... and so eager for grass that she's barely made it out of the quarantine pen (behind her) before diving down for some mouthfuls.

our typical habit was for me to arrive after turnout and give her a nice good hosing + hand graze... maybe sneak in a ride, with more hosing and hand grazing as needed lol.... aiming for late enough in the evening to start to see temps fall and the sun angle lower behind the hills by the time she had to go back into the pen.

 

for our rides, we've mostly stuck to the outdoor, since the sun exposure is counterbalanced by pleasant breezes... plus there are often fun little exercises and jompies set up --- like these two lines of trot poles, one straight and one bending! 

ooh and a little foreshadowing: peep that luscious green paddock in the far background!

 

poorly framed shot but another nice footwork exercise that was just begging for a little action!

 

we also jumped the cute little flower box. bc why not, right? we've been keeping the rides light and fluffy until everything feels more settled, but doozy has honestly been great

 

ooooh we ended up in the blue indoor the other night too!! look how bright it is, with windows and nice open doors --- i'll need to get better pictures out the doorways too bc the views are great. and obvi lots of fun footwork exercises set up in here too

 

hacking the path back down to the barn like she's lived here her whole life, good girl <3
also visible in this pic: that tiny little brown square quarantine pen in the distance directly above doozy's left ear, and then her new paddock in the farthest back beyond that!

 

guys. i love spending oodles of time with my horses. really truly. but sometimes it's nice to just go ride, then hose 'em off and chuck 'em out and go home lol. graze yo'self, dooz! #handsfree

 

new friendship is blossoming quite nicely too!! bebe morgan mare had a little run + cry when we first left her, and doozy answered a call or two... but honestly, it was way less drama than i expected.

this paddock is actually easily visible from the indoor bc of this farm's crazy hills, so i could see that the bebe was hanging out at the fenceline with the neighbors and not running. perfect! and she didn't even scream at us when we returned. no joke, this pic is about two seconds after i put doozy back out, and they're both just doing their own mare things. soooo much easier than massive attachment!

 

obvi i'll still be sensitive about stressing the ladies while it's just the two of them, but things feel promising. and having doozy on grass and with company is just such a relief!

this was kinda the big milestone still ahead of us before getting back to work in any serious sort of fashion. it's timely, tho, bc guys --- there might be some exciting new developments in the coaching landscape! stay tuned ;)