Winter training is not a favorite

Out to the barn I went and while it was a mild 32 degrees with a gentle breeze blowing at the top of Sawyer Hill, I felt the chill in my bones and dreaded the march out to the paddock to retrieve my pal.

Since the road to the paddocks was terribly icy, I cut through the main barn and when I opened he doors at the other end, there was Blu with his head high in the air calling to be let in. He had had enough and some of his friends had made it into the coziness of the barn before him. So I went up to him and hooked on his lead and he decided he had to run to the barn. WRONG! I have never had to shank him but he got it yesterday. It jolted him back to reality and instead of being 19 hands tall he shrunk to his meager 16.3. He still danced his way back up the hill though. He is not to be left behind.

After some late winter currying -- white hair flying everywhere, I saddled him up and off we went to the indoor. It was lovely because only a few friends were in the ring (they all knew how to steer so that made for a great ride!) Blu felt great from an energy perspective. He was ready to go. He wanted to go on his forehand so we spent a good deal of time working on transitions. This seemed to improve matters and I was able to manage to get some really great canter work. He was up in the bridle and all I had to do was let go. We worked on the simple changes and they were terrific. I am really focusing on keeping my weight on my inside seat bone and that seems to do the trick.

When we were done he got another currying... He is really feeling the late winter itch. I could not curry him enough. Then it was his favorite time of all... dinner!!! He may not like winter turnout but he looovvvveeesss his winter supper!