Ride yesterday :)

I finally rode yesterday! It's about time, the rain hasn't allowed me to do much for days. Rode both of my rascals, except neither of them were very rascally! Both rides were fabulous :)

The first ride of the day was on Classy Lady, and we rode out with Jessica on Magic. We rode SOOOOOOO FREAKING FAR! Usually we just tool around on the land owned by the railroad that is behind our barn. However, this time we decided to trek out and follow the railroad for aways. We discovered this wasn't the best idea after two trains went by at the same time and Magic took issue with that. So, we headed back towards the road and ended up traveling up Eastern Valley Rd. Keep in mind, we did all of this BAREBACK. Nothing reinforces you calling yourself a rider like being able to stick it when it comes to walking, trotting, cantering, jumping, even rearing (Magic pops up her front up end if you collect her in and she wants to shoot forward). Classy Lady and I accomplished everything in that list minus the rearing :) We managed to make it across several deep creeks, up huge hills following the power lines, doubled back through neighborhoods, up Kimbrell Cutoff Rd., through other neighborhoods and back, and then finally followed Eastern Valley Rd. back to the railroad and cut through the fields to get back to the barn. Talk about a booty buster! Did I mention that Jessica and I both did this bareback? My tailbone is so sore from connecting with my mare's spine. No matter how fat she gets, she always has prominent withers and definition to her spine, which translates into uncomfortable fanny for me!

Back at the barn, it was still wet beyond belief, but Ivan really NEEDED to be worked at least a little. After riding for 3 hours on Classy, I wasn't really wanting to ride anymore, but Deb inspired me. I free lunged Ivan in the round pen for about ten minutes, then hopped on and puttered around practicing leg yields while Deb lunged her mare, Bama. After Bama took a nose dive into the sand due to goofing off too much, Deb wrapped up lunging and hopped on. Ivan was the calm one! Bama was acting so nutty for the first bit, but she finally settled and started behaving. After lunging Chance, Brittany hopped on and joined us, and the three of us just walked around the perimeter of the barn pasture. Lots of walking, lots of slow trot practice, but nothing faster than a light trot because of the lakes of water out in the pastures. The pastures are not draining well at all after all that rain :( At any rate, Ivan was SO VERY GOOD and actually was more on the lazy side than the too forward side. I'm so pleased with both of my horsey kids!